COVID-19 Daily News Digest – September 16, 2020
Update: Lack of COVID location disclosure breaks law: First Nations
“Giving lip service to reconciliation, while allowing public officials to continue to disregard our efforts to govern during COVID-19 is deeply wrong,” Nuu-chah-nulth Tribal Council President Judith Sayers said. “We must have access to the same health datasets the BC government has, on a government-to-government basis, if we are going to get through this pandemic together.”
Navajo Nation to participate in Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine trial
“Several COVID-19 vaccine clinical trials are making progress across the U.S. and it’s important that the Navajo people have an opportunity to participate in a Phase 3 trial,” Nez said. “The clinical trials will be done on a patient-volunteer basis, meaning that no one will be forced to participate unless they are fully willing to do so.”
https://www.nhonews.com/news/2020/sep/15/navajo-nation-participate-pfizer-biontech-covid-19/
B.C. First Nations coalition calls for COVID-19 case location information
“If COVID-19 proximate case information does not represent information about a risk of significant harm to our communities, we don’t know what does,” said Marilyn Slett, chief councillor of the Heiltsuk Nation in a release Tuesday.
The coalition says that its call for information sharing from the B.C. government is supported by the BC Freedom of Information and Privacy Association and BC Civil Liberties Association.
What we’re seeing in 2020 is Idle No More 2.0
But this past June, Trudeau discovered that there is a price to be paid for Canada’s continued human rights abuses at home and abroad. Indigenous peoples, together with hundreds of prominent individuals and civil society groups, campaigned against Canada getting a seat at the UN Security Council, citing ecological and human rights infringements from Canadian mining companies worldwide, the selling of arms to countries like Saudi Arabia, and using militarized police to force pipelines through Indigenous territories. Canadians called on member countries not to vote for Canada—and it worked.
First Nations Launch Challenge to Government’s COVID-19 Secrecy
The Heiltsuk Nation, Nuu-chah-nulth Tribal Council and Tŝilhqot’in National Government said in a news release today that their application seeking the information is supported by the BC Freedom of Information and Privacy Association and the BC Civil Liberties Association.
If successful, the order would force the province to reveal the location of confirmed and presumptive cases near their communities.
https://thetyee.ca/News/2020/09/15/First-Nations-Challenge-Gov-COVID-Secrecy/