While local and provincial governments loosen lockdowns, vulnerable Indigenous communities across the country say they’re fighting an uphill battle to safeguard their residents:
Members of the Alexis Nakota Sioux Nation oversee a checkpoint near Stony Plain, Alta.
Instead of turning visitors away from the territory, Nuxalk watchmen and hereditary chiefs merely tracked traffic on the provincial highway into the valley, asking returning residents to self-isolate and urging tourists to reconsider their trips. That was until an outbreak swept into Alert Bay, an island community off Vancouver Island’s northeast coast, and claimed the life of a ‘Namgis Nation woman on April 24—the province’s first COVID-19 casualty in a First Nations community.
Transportation Minister Claire Trevena eventually responded to the letter on May 5, government officials say, highlighting measures to reduce non-essential traffic to the coastal regions, such as posting highway signs to discourage visits, screening passengers on B.C. ferries and tasking ferry terminal staff with warning travellers of lockdowns. But, while the minister’s response recognized the communities’ concerns, it added: “We need to leave our ferries and roads open for essential travel.
In mid-April, the federal government pledged $305 million to help First Nations, Metis and Inuit communities respond to the pandemic. But for Canada’s 634 First Nations, which includes 96 fly-in communities, that’s simply not enough, says Assembly of First Nations National Chief Perry Bellegarde. “Those dollars were spent on supplying food to the most vulnerable, to the elders, to the people that are staying in their homes, to supplying personal protective equipment,” Bellegarde says.
Quebec’s regional travel rules nevertheless allowed Montrealers and travellers from surrounding municipalities to venture on to Kanesatake territory, which led the council to set up checkpoints near its entrances to shut out visitors. Says Kanesatake Grand Chief Serge Simon: “We know it’s going to come in.
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