COVID-19 Daily News Digest – May 26, 2020
Take lessons from First Nations to come out of COVID crisis a better country
Looking forward, we have the opportunity to embrace the emergence of knowledge systems shared by First Nations communities since time immemorial. This work can begin now.
Higher COVID-19 risk in northern First Nations, Mamakwa
“First Nations in Kiiwetinoong have been doing everything possible to keep COVID-19 out of their communities. They have gone to great lengths to keep communities safe. But this government needs to do more to remedy the issues that make First Nation people more vulnerable in the first place.”
https://www.drydennow.com/local/higher-covid-19-risk-in-northern-first-nations-mamakwa
AMS passes new sustainability plan — but with ‘inappropriate’ Indigenous consultation
Hakim, along with a few other councillors, also raised concern that the Indigenous Coordination section of ASAP — one of the plan’s six key target areas — was missing from the document.
Stancer responded that she had reached out to the Indigenous Committee to consult on the section but that COVID-19 had interrupted the committee’s work.
Poirier-Jewell also said that during this time, the Indigenous Committee was unable to get together in order to finalize this section of ASAP, as most people returned to their families or to their reserves all across the country.
https://www.ubyssey.ca/news/ams-sustainable-action-plan-passed/
Brazilian mayor launches attack on ‘stupid’ Bolsonaro over coronavirus response
Bolsonaro has repeatedly tried to downplay the lethality of the virus, although his rhetoric has shifted more towards the need to protect the economy as Brazil has risen to become the nation with the second highest number of cases after the U.S.
COVID-19 reopening may bring more blockades of roads and highways that are gateways to fearful First Nations communities
“It is not to be mean or anything. As a matter of fact, I felt really bad telling a young mother and her two kids, please, understand, please go back home,” Kanesatake Grand Chief Serge Simon said.
“If you look at what decimated First Nations populations in the Americas, it was a virus: small pox rubella tuberculosis Spanish flu,” he said. “We were almost extinguished just by a virus.”
Indigenous group strikes deal to dismantle blockades at Manitoba Hydro site
York Factory First Nation Chief Leroy Constant, meanwhile, called the situation “extremely frustrating and unnecessary.”
“If Manitoba Hydro had fully engaged with its Cree partners from the beginning, this situation would not have happened,” he said in the release.
In pictures: Indigenous nurse on frontline in virus fight
On the outskirts of the city of Manaus, Parque das Tribos is a settlement of descendants from 35 different tribes.
Many homes lack plumbing and electricity, and there is no public health clinic nearby.
Nurse Vanderlecia Ortega dos Santos has responded by volunteering to care for her indigenous community of 700 families.
https://www.bbc.com/news/in-pictures-52634669
Why Native Americans took Covid-19 seriously: ‘It’s our reality’
“We are survivors of genocide, our numbers prove it… for nations with less than a thousand citizens, losing one person is too many,” said Rodriguez-Lonebear. “And losing even one of our elders threatens the future of our tribal nations as it means losing our language, oral histories and the cornerstones of our families and communities.”
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2020/may/26/native-americans-coronavirus-impact
How small-scale fishers are struggling amid COVID-19 crisis
As COVID-19 affects global food systems, tremendous impacts are being felt by coastal communities and small-scale fishers, many of whom are self-employed and rely on the catch to feed their own households or local communities.
In a review published in Coastal Management, researchers explore the impacts of the COVID-19 crisis on small-scale fisheries in Canada and worldwide, and provide recommendations on how to support them.