COVID-19 Daily News Digest – November 19, 2020
COVID-19: Hiawatha First Nation to not allow visitors from designated red zones into businesses
Hiawatha First Nation Chief Laurie Carr said while the First Nation won’t be utilizing checkpoints entering the community as it did earlier in the year, people will be asked where they are from. Access will not be permitted to areas such as the community’s restaurant, gas bar and store if a resident after a COVID-19 check states they are from an area that’s in a red-zone — the highest level short of a lockdown.
How the Cherokee Nation is beating the coronavirus pandemic even as surrounding areas surge
Speaking to STAT News, Cherokee health officials credit their success to simply following the science. Implementing measures such as stockpiling ample personal protective equipment (PPE), ensuring access to food, specializing in protecting tribal elders from the virus and disseminating health resources in both English and the Cherokee language are just some of the measures taken to keep people aware of public health protocols.
Local First Nations dealing with COVID-19 cases
Director of Operations James Jenkins said all of the band programs and departments have been closed for two weeks out of “an abundance of caution” and to be proactive in ensuring the safety of the staff and community. Jenkins added council will be updating the COVID-19 response plan for the Walpole Island community and will identify further measures and actions to ensure that it is well prepared for the second wave of the virus. The action plan will include all sectors including staffing and operations, community members, education, and businesses. The chief and council all agreed that the best course of action was to act now to ensure that the community was the main priority.
Fisher River Cree Nation gives students free laptops and internet access for online learning
“We learned from when the pandemic first started… that just sending homework packages home and having teachers flown home periodically just wasn’t cutting in regards to providing any kind of quality education.”
According to Kelly Selkirk, the Fisher River post-secondary co-ordinator, the online education that students are now receiving is “leaps and bounds above the pen and paper homework that they were getting.”
https://www.cbc.ca/news/indigenous/fisher-river-laptop-online-learning-1.5807465
For Mya Beaudry, scrunchies are a way to honour inspirational Indigenous women
What began as a nine-year-old girl’s fundraising idea has now grown into a prize-winning business, run out of her former bedroom in Gatineau, Que.
About a year ago, Mya Beaudry bought what’s called a kokom scarf at an Indigenous women’s craft fair. She was about to host a dance competition for young people at the Summer Solstice Indigenous Festival in Ottawa, and wanted to use the scarf as a prize.
Though COVID-19 forced the cancellation of the powwow, the business that grew out of that idea — Kokom Scrunchies — is now thriving.
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/ottawa/mya-beaudry-scrunchies-indigenous-women-1.5800064
Gov’t to book entire hotel for Neskantaga First Nation evacuees to protect them against COVID-19
About 250 members Neskantaga First Nation where evacuated from their homes in late October after an oily sheen was found in the Neskantaga water reservoir. Initial testing results found high levels of hydrocarbons in the water.
The majority of the evacuees have been staying at the Victoria Inn ever since.
Affordable housing, safety among the priorities in Ottawa’s Women and Gender Equity Strategy
A “series of tools were developed,” the update also stated, “to raise awareness and assist city staff to apply an Indigenous, and women and gender lens to COVID-19″ in recognition of the “disproportionate impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on Indigenous, women, and gender diverse groups.”
P.E.I. government launches COVID-19 workforce integration fund
The province is seeking proposals from organizations on how to help Islanders impacted by COVID-19 transition into or return to the workforce.
The COVID-19 workforce integration fund will support innovative projects from organizations that help Islanders gain skills and knowledge so they can find long lasting jobs, advance their careers and access entrepreneurship opportunities.
Government of Canada supports restorative justice initiatives across the country, including those supporting Indigenous communities and youth
Of the total funding, $5 million goes to research, awareness raising and education activities, including capacity-building training and pilot projects. In addition, over 40 Indigenous organizations have received additional support of approximately $500,000 in total to address the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on restorative justice initiatives in their communities.
Workforce rotation to resume at Keeyask Dam amid COVID-19 outbreak
As First Nations, this is not the first time we have faced deadly diseases that threatened our people and communities. But this time, we can do our part to prevent it,” Chief Doreen Spence of Tataskweyak Cree Nation said in a statement.
“We oppose any ramp up of workers at Keeyask until the outbreak in the province is under control.”
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/manitoba/keeyask-covid-19-workforce-resuming-1.5803211