COVID-19 Daily News Digest – June 7, 2020
Plains Cree artist Ruth Cuthand adds coronavirus to her collection of beaded diseases
It’s what her series of work titled Trading looks at, shedding a light on the relationship between colonization, disease, and beads using colourful beaded depictions of microscope images of influenza, bubonic plague, measles, smallpox, typhus, cholera, scarlet fever, diphtheria, chicken pox, yellow fever, and whooping cough.
https://www.cbc.ca/news/indigenous/ruth-cuthand-artist-beading-coronavirus-1.5600024
First Nations appeal decisions to suspend Alberta oil patch monitoring
The three nations, Athabasca Chipewyan First Nation, Fort McKay First Nation and Mikisew Cree First Nation, said the decisions would have “significant” health and environmental impacts, but the Alberta Energy Regulator (AER) failed to consult them
Brazilian president says dying is ‘everyone’s destiny’ as coronavirus death toll spikes
With the numbers continuing to climb, concern has been raised that the pandemic could begin reaching parts of the nation with weaker health care systems, like the poverty-stricken hinterlands in the nation’s northeast.
First Nations nurses find inspiration and reward in serving Indigenous communities
Bourque-Bearskin is from Beaver Lake Cree Nation in Alberta and her mother is also a nurse. She said when she thinks about why she went into the profession, she thinks about her Indigenous family and the experiences they had growing up.
“My coming up here, it’s just solidified everything that I’ve been learning and I’ve been advocating for in the last several years,” she said.
https://www.cbc.ca/news/indigenous/first-nations-nurses-communities-1.5600549
Social distancing will limit pipeline protests, Alberta’s Energy Minister
Climate Activist Greta Thunberg referred to Savage’s comments in a Twitter post, saying “at least she’s being honest.” Thunberg’s comments are most likely in reference to the Alberta Government being named “most secretive provincial government in Canada,” which was an award bestowed upon the government by The Canadian Association of Journalists (CAJ) earlier this year.
COVID-19 Testing and Contact Tracing: Its Importance to Native Communities
The best contact tracing programs are for the community and by the community – it’s important to hire contact tracers who are part of the community they’re serving. Contact tracers who are Native American will be best positioned to serve native communities, as they’ll have a strong understanding of the local languages spoken, community resources available, and the cultural dynamics that influence how people describe and communicate their symptoms and interact with people in ‘helper’ or authority roles.”
Reported COVID-19 case in Wabaseemoong sparks concerns
“They’re assuring the community, with certainty, that they’ve got this contained and [it] will not spread,” he wrote on Facebook. “The same protocols and procedures they used for the other First Nations will be [used] for our community and has proven to work… even after they’ve been hit harder than us.”
PM urges bands to comply with limits on gatherings
“The best outcomes are outcomes that are led and driven (locally) and I think we should keep saying it, again because there are tangible, measurable results,” he said.
Assembly of Manitoba Chiefs Grand Chief Arlen Dumas said he expects bands will hold ceremonies in a safe way, even if they attract more people than provincial rules allow, regardless of what Trudeau says.
In Ecuador, A Model In How To Protect Indigenous Villages From The Coronavirus
“We were mainly trying to protect the elders, because they are the ones with all the knowledge of the forest and the medicinal plants. We knew they’d be the first to go if they caught Covid-19. Protecting them was our main objective,” he says.
Guest View: Police brutality, COVID-19 and climate change
Instead of addressing the social justice and health crises at hand, the Trump administration is capitalizing on the public’s outrage over the killing of unarmed black men and women. He has prioritized the protection of industry and corporate entities’ economic gain over the health and well-being of those most affected by COVID-19.
Bolsonaro using virus against indigenous people: leader
Bolsonaro has faced criticism for pushing to open protected Amazon lands to farming and mining, which he argues would benefit indigenous communities.
Indigenous leaders and activists are skeptical, however, and have condemned the president for some of his comments, including that indigenous people “are becoming more and more human, just like us.”
https://au.news.yahoo.com/bolsonaro-using-virus-against-indigenous-people-leader-144153031–spt.html