Covid-19 Daily News Digest – March 28, 2020
Indigenous Peoples and COVID-19
When you combine loss of culture, poverty, higher incidence of underlying health issues, crowded and unhealthy living conditions, lack of clean water, faulty sewage systems and limited access to health care you can see why Indigenous Peoples living on reserves are highly vulnerable to epidemics and pandemics.
https://www.ictinc.ca/blog/indigenous-peoples-and-covid-19
Government of Canada’s response to COVID-19
This webpage was created to provide the latest information on legislative and other measures adopted to protect Canadians in response to the pandemic.
https://www.justice.gc.ca/eng/csj-sjc/covid.html
COVID-19 information and resources for paediatricians
Information on the COVID-19 pandemic is changing quickly. While your local public health authority and children’s hospital will be among your primary sources of information, the Canadian Paediatric Society also has a number of resources to help you manage this rapidly evolving situation.
https://www.cps.ca/en/tools-outils/covid-19-information-and-resources-for-paediatricians
Indigenous Elders write to the church on COVID-19
The National Indigenous Elders Council advise us all to take care of each other, to heed medical advice, and to continue to engage in prayer and ceremony even as we are unable to come together to do so.
https://www.united-church.ca/news/we-are-all-relatives
Indigenous Service Canada’s Preparedness and Response to COVID-19 and Guide on Accessing Additional Supports
Indigenous Service Canada’s Preparedness and Response to COVID-19 and Guide on Accessing Additional Supports
COVID-19 Rapid Response Program Funding For Studies in Indigenous Populations
Two University of Manitoba researchers have received nearly $1 million in COVID-19 Rapid Response Program funding from the Canadian Institutes of Health Research for research projects that focus on public health responses in Indigenous populations.
UPDATES ON COVID-19 from the National Collaborating Centre for Indigenous Health
Our team at the National Collaborating Centre for Indigenous Health (NCCIH) will be frequently updating our home page and social media channels to provide reliable, accurate and up-to-date information as well as information sources in relation to COVID-19 in response to the rapidly-evolving global pandemic. These updates will relate to official public health guidelines and any information specific to First Nations, Inuit and Métis peoples and communities.
https://www.nccih.ca/485/NCCIH_in_the_News.nccih?id=450
COVID-19: Indigenous Minister says communities should postpone elections
The Metis National Council chose this week to postpone its upcoming election due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Vice-president David Chartrand says a special assembly and elections had been planned for April, but now neither will go ahead.
“There’s no way we can have that type of election in April,” he said.
Manitoba chiefs organization wants Cuban doctor aid on COVID-19
Southern Chiefs Organization Grand Chief Jerry Daniels said a letter would be sent by Friday morning formally asking Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to allow Cuban Health Care Brigades into the country to provide medical aid to First Nations.
Daniels said half of his organization’s 34 member Anishnaabe and Dakota communities want Cuban doctors to help them deal with the pandemic. He wants to see doctors on the ground within the next two to three weeks.
The Cuban embassy could not be reached for comment.
https://www.cbc.ca/news/indigenous/coronavirus-manitoba-sco-wants-cuban-doctors-1.5511712
H1N1 hit northern Manitoba First Nations hard — some worry COVID-19 will do the same
Just over a decade ago, hundreds of people started to become ill with flu-like symptoms in Manitoba’s Island Lake region. It was 2009, and H1N1 influenza had begun to spread. It would take a devastating toll on remote First Nations in the area, including St. Theresa Point.
The First Nation was hit hard. Hundreds became ill and some were admitted to hospital in Winnipeg, about 460 kilometres to the south, in critical condition. Babies became sick. One woman who was pregnant had a miscarriage after getting the virus.
Eleven people in Manitoba died from H1N1. At least three of those deaths were on the Garden Hill First Nation, where a fourth death was also suspected to be connected to the virus.
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/manitoba/covid-19-concerns-remote-first-nations-manitoba-1.5510388
Indigenous leaders manage to keep COVID-19 at bay, but ‘disappointed’ with federal response
Tyler White, CEO of Siksika Health said First Nations communities face unique challenges in preparing for COVID-19.
“You have to look at the health and medical issues First Nations people face… There’s definitely some health inequities and disparities and high-risk and vulnerable populations here, so that to me is a great concern: How are we supporting and responding to our members in a timely fashion?”
How Indigenous artists are getting even more creative during COVID-19
Indigenous artists who rely on performances — including at festivals and powwows — to sell their work have been especially affected. To address this, Cree artist Crystal Semaganis, who runs the Sudbury Indigenous market Facebook page, created the Turtle Island Quarantine Festival, an online outlet for Indigenous artists to share and sell their work and exchange tips. She started accepting art submissions last week; the virtual festival will run until May 15. “I was supposed to be at Cambrian College powwow, and the Barrie powwow this weekend got cancelled. This is where I usually make my money,” she says. “Me and so many of my friends are now sitting at home wondering, when is the next powwow? Will there even be a powwow this season? And there’s a lot of uncertainty. There’s a lot of unknowns. There’s a huge void.”
https://www.tvo.org/article/how-indigenous-artists-are-getting-even-more-creative-during-covid-19
Today’s letters: In era of COVID-19, don’t forget Indigenous people in our jails
Governments at all levels have been handling the COVID-19 crisis quite well, but one area may have been overlooked. Canadian jails are seriously overcrowded, the proportion of Indigenous inmates is very high, and they suffer from poorer health than average Canadians. When COVID-19 hits the prisons, the effects on them could be out of all proportion to other Canadians and even their relatives on the reserves.