COVID-19 Daily News Digest – October 22, 2020
“Concerning trend,” number of Manitoba First Nations people with COVID-19 reaches all-time high
The total number of Manitoba First Nations people infected with COVID-19 reached 339 on Monday. Global’s Erik Pindera looks into what’s happening.
Climate change harming Indigenous access to healthy food and ‘the worst is yet to come’: report
“The horrible irony is that we have contributed very little to climate change, but are facing the biggest impacts,” Vern Cheechoo of the Mushkegowuk Council, a regional Cree group in northern Ontario, said Wednesday at a press conference organized around the report’s release.
HRW brought together these two issues, showing how they combine to pose problems for lives and livelihoods in remote Indigenous communities.
Indigenous people wanting to support Mi’kmaw fishermen in N.S. get creative
She was expecting a couple hundred dollars in donations and was surprised to get over $3,500. She put a good portion of it to covering people’s gas money, and used the rest of it for supplies and to help the fishermen who have had their equipment vandalized.
“It just feels amazing to know that other people and not just L’nu [Indigenous] are wanting to honour the treaties and honour our rights,” said Metallic.
https://www.cbc.ca/news/indigenous/mi-kmaw-fishers-creative-support-1.5770229
NACCA in receipt of 500,000 Personal Protective Masks for distribution to high-risk Indigenous communities
Working together, we can achieve great things. This unique collaboration demonstrates that we all have a role to play in ensuring that even the most remote First Nations can access proper safety equipment. Between the FNHMA and VIO Volunteers, our hope is that communities in greatest need will receive support in the coming weeks.” Adds Duane Wilson, Vice-President of Arctic Co-operatives Ltd: “As an Indigenous-owned cooperative, we welcome the opportunity to collaborate and show our commitment to the Co-op Principle “Concern for Community.”
COVID-19 in Indigenous communities: Total cases on-reserve surpass 1,000
Indigenous Services Canada said as of Sept. 30, the percentage of First Nations individuals living on reserve reported positive for COVID-19 is currently one-third the rate of the general Canadian population.
“The curve is not slowing down. In order to flatten the curve, individuals should continue to be careful and listen to the advice of public health experts,” the update stated.
“The more cases there are in the community, the greater the opportunity for the virus to be introduced into workplaces, schools and vulnerable settings like long-term care centres.”
https://www.cbc.ca/news/indigenous/indigenous-covid-19-update-1.5769070
Russia’s indigenous peoples are in the crosshairs of COVID-19
Initially, these regions’ remoteness and sheer size was an advantage — it helped them avoid the high traffic which facilitated the disease’s quick spread in well-connected metropolitan hubs such as Moscow.
But mining facilities which extract oil, gas, and other raw materials are abundant in lands inhabited by indigenous people. Russia’s Arctic and sub-Arctic regions are estimated to contain 90 percent of Russia’s natural gas and 10 percent of its oil resources. Because of these areas’ remoteness, workers from all across Russia move to company towns for months at a time.
Long road to peace: An Indigenous protest movement emerges in Colombia
Fed up with growing violence, deepening poverty due to COVID-19 lockdowns, and a federal Colombian government they view as exploitative and negligent, thousands of Indigenous people have crossed this vast Andean nation to demand answers from President Iván Duque.
“The government promised us autonomy and our lands back as part of the 2016 peace accord,” said 20-year-old Ruiz. “We got neither. And now they want to send soldiers instead to occupy our lands. In the past when that has happened, they often keep what the soldiers take.”
https://www.thenewhumanitarian.org/news/2020/10/21/Colombia-conflict-Indigenous-protest
42 new cases of COVID-19 involving First Nations people in Manitoba
The number spiked by 42 cases Monday, rising to 339 people infected since the novel coronavirus pandemic began, according to numbers released Tuesday by the Manitoba First Nations COVID-19 Pandemic Response Coordination Team.
The majority of those cases involved people living off-reserve — 212, compared with 127 on reserve.
SEEDCAST: INDIGENOUS FILMMAKING, USING TECHNOLOGY TO ADAPT TO COVID
I can now imagine an entire genre of filmmaking emerging from remote production, even long after COVID-19 is no longer a threat. A genre where filmmakers can design, produce, and distribute films from anywhere in the world. I’m hoping that both independent media and creative tech companies will continue to design and implement new ways of using technology to push the boundaries of what is possible in our field.