TORONTO -- Provinces are slowly opening up businesses after seeing positive results from weeks of coronavirus measures, but as cases decline in certain regions, Indigenous communities in remote locations are seeing a new surge.
In Saskatchewan, there鈥檚 been a large outbreak in the northern community of La Loche, where more than 160 people have contracted the virus.
The nearby Clearwater Dene First Nations has 21 cases, , and two Indigenous elders who lived at the local seniors鈥� home in La Loche have died.
Advocates are saying the government should have seen this coming.
鈥淭his is very predictable,鈥� Dr. Anna Banerji, an infectious disease specialist and co-chair of the Indigenous Health Conference at the University of Toronto, told CTV News.
鈥淭here are many longstanding disparities between Indigenous communities and non-Indigenous communities. There are severe overcrowding in some of these communities, a lack of 鈥� water security, a lack of food security in these communities.鈥�
One of the current struggles that Indigenous communities are facing during the pandemic is a lack of personal protective equipment (PPE).
Banerji, along with Indigenous leaders from across Canada, urging the federal government to take more steps to assist Indigenous communities.
She pointed out to CTV News that within Indigenous communities, there are often disproportionately high rates of chronic disease and other illnesses, such as 鈥渄iabetes, heart disease, high blood pressure 鈥� which are all risk factors for COVID.鈥�
In a press briefing this weekend, Indigenous Services Minister Marc Miller acknowledged that Indigenous communities 鈥渉ave a higher risk of being disproportionately impacted by COVID-19.鈥�
The government has sent 129 PPE shipments to First Nations communities in Saskatchewan, he said, with 59 shipments sent to northern Saskatchewan communities.
A community-led response has also sprung up, aiming to get supplies to La Loche and other communities like it.
A Saskatoon family physician aiming to raise $15,000 to help send supplies to the northern community and by Sunday, the had already received more than $38,000.
鈥淲e鈥檝e also been working with volunteer organizations that are also trying to get PPE rapidly up to the communities,鈥� Banerji said.
She said they were working with organizations making cloth masks as well, and were trying to figure out 鈥渢he logistics on how to get some of these masks into the communities.鈥�
One organization is Ilisaqsivik, an Inuit charity based in Nunavut which is focused on community wellness.
鈥淧eople can to get the local community members to buy materials and supplies and make masks and distribute the masks in the Arctic,鈥� Banerji said.
Many reserves and Indigenous communities closed their land borders to outsiders early on in the pandemic, hoping to limit exposure. Because of this and the remote location of many northern communities, some regions that had low case numbers during the past few weeks are only seeing a spike now.
鈥淭his situation demonstrates that the onset of COVID in some Indigenous communities may have been delayed by remoteness,鈥� Miller said. 鈥淲e need to remain vigilant.鈥�
The remote location of many communities, particularly fly-in areas, may have contributed to the delay in the virus reaching them, but it also creates issues with getting supplies in, and seriously ill patients out.
Banerji said this was one of the issues she was worried about weeks ago.
鈥淧art of [our petition to the federal government] was asking for more funding, equitable funding across the different Indigenous communities, especially fly-in communities, where there can be major delays in getting people out,鈥� she said.
She added that these remote communities in most cases don鈥檛 have access to ventilators.
The current situation is all the more troubling for Indigenous community members who have not forgotten the last time the federal government failed Indigenous communities during a virus outbreak.
When H1N1 struck Indigenous communities in Manitoba more than 10 years ago, Health Canada caused an uproar by responding to the community鈥檚 need with a disturbing gift: shipments of body bags.
It鈥檚 something that sticks in the mind. Banerji said that 鈥渟ome communities were decimated,鈥� during H1N1 and also during smallpox before that.
Miller said that the government was learning from the mistakes made during those H1N1 outbreaks in Indigenous communities in 2009.
He also acknowledged the need for more data on just how COVID-19 is affecting the Indigenous population in Canada.
Miller pointed out that demographic data regarding Indigenous cases of COVID-19 are only gathered on reserves, even though Indigenous peoples live all over Canada.
鈥淕iven that La Loche is a Metis, Dene community of an overwhelming majority, the presumption than is that the entire 179 cases or so [in La Loche and the surrounding area] are Indigenous,鈥� he said. 鈥淎nd that鈥檚 a gap in the data, frankly.鈥�
When it comes to tracking how many Indigenous peoples are contracting the virus within cities hard-hit by the pandemic, such as Toronto or Montreal, he said, 鈥渢hat data is just not there.鈥�
Advocates and health experts have been asking for weeks for health officials to be collecting more demographic data in relation to the pandemic, but The Canadian Press reported Wednesday that the Public Health Agency of Canada was still only considering it.
Canada鈥檚 Chief public health official, Dr. Theresa Tam, acknowledged Wednesday that there were holes in the data.
Miller is now joining the call, saying in the press briefing that demographic data needs to be recorded for cases of COVID-19 among Indigenous peoples living outside of reserves. He said that in order for this to happen, provincial governments and health agencies would need to step up.
鈥淲e need to be able to put forward tailored measures to prevent further outbreaks, as well as to expand and improve effective interventions if they occur,鈥� he said.
In a step forward, he announced that the government is putting $250,000 towards an initiative to 鈥渋mplement a COVID-19 tracking and response platform for First Nations, Inuit, and Metis.
鈥淭his project will include the development of a COVID-19 consortium comprised of federal, provincial, territorial First Nations, Inuit and Metis partners, and their data analysis will help inform the response to COVID-19 by Indigenous communities with the support of the federal government,鈥� he said.
Banerji is hoping that the plight of Indigenous communities will wake up those in power.
鈥淢uch more needs to be done, and I think we need to listen to the Indigenous leaders as far as their communities and what the communities need,鈥� she said.
鈥淲e really need long-standing changes in 鈥� the relationship between Indigenous peoples and the government of Canada and the Canadian population.鈥�
Until there are equitable policies regarding housing, food security, healthcare and education, she said, these communities may remain vulnerable to disasters.
