COVID-19 Daily News Digest – November 6th, 2020
The ‘Decolonization Bootcamp’ Uniting Cities and Indigenous Reserves
And though they have every reason to turn inward in the face of COVID-19, these relationships are proving their strength. The pandemic has revealed the lack of relationship between many municipalities and First Nations across Canada, as towns reopened without consulting their First Nation neighbours, many of which still have travel restrictions.
https://thetyee.ca/News/2020/11/06/Decolonization-Bootcamp-Indigenous-Reserves/
“The Spirit of Beads: Sharing Our Stories” presents Ukrainian and Indigenous cultures
The exhibition explores how the traditional art of beadwork has come to represent the complex identity of each of these cultures, from their earliest origins to their contemporary forms. In addition, the exhibition offers insight into how each artifact is made, delving into motifs, symbolism and spiritual meanings. The show also features the work of six contemporary Ukrainian and Indigenous beadwork artists who demonstrate how the different techniques of beading have evolved throughout history.
New survey initiated to better understand impacts of opioids and methampethamine in Wiikwemkoong, other First Nations
“This is my passion”, said Mr. Ominika. “I’ve always fought to help community members who are having challenges around opioid or substance misuse.” Mr. Ominika has been working in the areas of harm reduction and opiate addiction awareness since 2008. He helped implement an opioid antagonist treatment clinic in the community in 2014 while working for the health centre. “All the work was around issues some community members had with opioid dependencies and from doing that work, we developed a great understanding of opioid dependencies and how western medical treatment was not completely effective in a First Nation community.”
https://ca.news.yahoo.com/survey-initiated-better-understand-impacts-191758331.html
Manitoba First Nations Police officer test positive for COVID-19
The officer was informed by Manitoba Public Health officials on Wednesday Nov 4, of the positive test.
MFNPS officials say that the officer last worked on October 30, 2020, and did not attend any calls while on duty in the Southern Health region. The officer is self-isolating and will return to duty after they have recovered.
https://news4winnipeg.com/manitoba-first-nations-police-officer-test-positive-for-covid-19/
Indigenous healing space opens at London Health Sciences Centre
“We know that on a medical basis, that health outcomes for Indigenous peoples are way worse than they are for almost any other community,” said Dr. Paul Woods, the president and CEO of LHSC.“One of the very first things that I charged him with was to start to explore this path about how we could do a much better job of providing culturally safe healthcare for Indigenous folks (and) to provide a place where traditional or Indigenous medicine can be practiced,” said Woods.
Additional federal funding on the way to help First Nation reserves battle coronavirus
“We have to be very careful with who comes in and there are very few speakers left so those that are impacted by this are the elderly and we want to make sure we keep them safe as they are the knowledge keepers.”
“There is a lot that is happening right now including the second wave and every little bit of funding helps first nations. We have been running a couple of programs here and helping out with gift cards and hamper baskets for first nations and those that are on the streets so every little bit helps.”
NATIVE AMERICANS, HIT HARD BY COVID-19, FACED MAJOR BARRIERS TO VOTE
COVID-19 has disproportionately hit Native Americans, adding to a long list of obstacles to voting in many tribal communities: high rates of poverty, long distances to polling places, limited access to transportation, slow and/or limited U.S. Postal Service delivery, and voter registration and voter ID laws that don’t recognize nontraditional addresses on tribal land.