Ottawa’s Bearskin Lake response shows ‘indifference’ amid COVID-19 outbreak: Angus
Global News
Indigenous Services Minister Patty Hajdu has said the government is either paying for or co-ordinating efforts by dozens of additional nurses and volunteers in Bearskin Lake.
The federal government’s response to a plea for help from the Bearskin Lake First Nation shows its “indifference” amid a COVID-19 outbreak that has infected more than half of the isolated community, says one northern Ontario MP.
The community, located about 600 kilometres north of Thunder Bay, declared a state of emergency on Dec. 28, then asked for military help on Jan. 3. In interviews, community leaders said they asked for 30 to 40 military personnel. The provincial government forward their request to the federal government last Thursday and while the province spelled out the kind of help required, the province did not specify the number of military personnel required.
Ottawa, in response, activated six Canadian Rangers, which community members have described as “disappointing.” Indigenous Services Minister Patty Hajdu has said the government is also paying the costs to deploy dozens of volunteers and health-care workers from nearby communities.
But NDP MP Charlie Angus, who represents the adjacent riding of Timmins—James Bay, said the decision not to offer the Canadian Forces members requested by the community demonstrates the government’s “indifference” to the health of Indigenous Canadians.
“I think what this government is doing here is sending a message not just to Bearskin Lake, but to all the other First Nation communities who are facing Omicron to say, ‘Don’t bother calling. You’re on your own,'” Angus told Global News on Tuesday.
He pointed specifically to a Twitter post by Defence Minister Anita Anand showing the Canadian Forces members who have been deployed to help out in COVID-19 vaccine clinics in Quebec amid rising cases of the highly infectious Omicron variant.
“You’re telling the people of Bearskin Lake: ‘Sorry — too bad, so sad, you get nothing.'”
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