Committee
Consult the user guide
For assistance, please contact us
Consult the user guide
For assistance, please contact us
Add search criteria
Results: 1 - 15 of 37
View Adam van Koeverden Profile
Lib. (ON)
I thank the minister, Mr. Chair.
On June 2, the coroner's inquest into the death of Joyce Echaquan ended. Throughout the inquest, Canadians across the country learned new details about the mistreatment that Joyce Echaquan suffered shortly before her death.
What plans have been put in place to combat anti-indigenous racism in the health care system? What could the government do to ensure that the indigenous peoples, in particular indigenous women, have equitable access to health care?
View Marc Miller Profile
Lib. (QC)
I presume that all Canadians who were able attended the inquest or heard the reporting on those painful moments. This is what is experienced by many if not all indigenous people, who are apprehensive about a health care system that I consider to be first class, myself, but that has often treated them as second class or even third class persons.
During the coroner's inquest, we once again heard things about the reality of daily life for indigenous people who use the health care system, at a time when they are most vulnerable. I have been in almost daily contact with Joyce Echaquan's husband Carol Dubé, who is going through a very difficult time that he is facing with courage and strength. He and his family are still having some very hard times. As I said before, this is the reality experienced by some indigenous people who use the Canadian health care system, which is a jurisdiction jealously guarded by all provinces. That is the case everywhere in Canada.
My mandate is to put in place a law based on the distinctions, to combat anti-indigenous racism in the indigenous health care systems, in particular, but also to transform the system. Some elements have to operate at the same time. Obviously, this reform will be a lengthy and very difficult process, given the jurisdictional disputes that have existed in the past.
One thing that we announced in the budget was a $100 million fund in honour of Joyce Echaquan to combat racism in the health care system directly. I want to stress that this racism exists everywhere in Canada.
Cornelia Wieman
View Cornelia Wieman Profile
Cornelia Wieman
2020-12-01 12:19
Boozhoo. Aahni.
I'd like to thank the chair, vice-chairs and members of the standing committee for the invitation to appear before you. My name is Dr. Nel Wieman and I am originally from Little Grand Rapids First Nation in Manitoba. I'm a psychiatrist by training, and the current president of the Indigenous Physicians Association of Canada, also known as IPAC.
I also work as the acting deputy chief medical officer at the First Nations Health Authority in British Columbia. I am joining you from the traditional ancestral and unceded territory of the Coast Salish peoples—the Musqueam, the Squamish and the Tsleil Waututh.
These are some of the key messages IPAC would like to convey, organized around various themes, regarding support for indigenous communities and individuals as we are going through the second wave of COVID.
Regarding IPAC, the Indigenous Physicians Association of Canada is the national representative organization of indigenous physicians, residents and medical students. We have approximately 250 members who are studying, training, living and working across this country from coast to coast to coast. We also know there are other indigenous physicians and medical learners out there.
IPAC members have a collective intent to collaboratively use our skills, abilities and experiences to improve the health and wellness of indigenous peoples across the country. This includes advocating for individuals, families and communities who have experienced COVID-19 infection and outbreaks, those who remain at risk of infection and those who are at high risk of experiencing severe courses and outcomes related to COVID-19 illness, including death.
However, IPAC cannot represent the many diverse views of all indigenous people across Canada, in this instance regarding the supports needed as part of the response to COVID-19.
During the COVID-19 pandemic, indigenous physicians have participated in the response in a variety of ways: as primary care providers on the front lines in indigenous urban, rural and remote communities, either in person or virtually; as specialists working in communities or in hospitals, including academic teaching hospitals; as public health physicians contributing to the COVID-19 response in cities and health authorities; as administrative and medical education leadership in health organizations and universities; and also in governments at the local, regional, provincial and federal levels.
We have also created a series of public service announcements—five altogether—which feature eight to 10 indigenous physicians from across the country. The PSAs convey culturally safe and relevant information on themes important to our communities and nations during COVID and highlight our indigenous strengths and resilience.
IPAC members have also served during the pandemic on various committees and advisory groups, including the Public Health Agency of Canada's health professionals forum and on more focused initiatives such as providing review and input into developing Canada's COVID-19 immunization plan.
We respect all indigenous peoples' right to self determination. Support for first nations communities should recognize and reinforce first nations' self-determination and systems of self-government. One example is the ability of communities to declare closures and/or limit access during the pandemic. Communities also express self-determination and the capacity to assess or declare their need for funding for emergency measures. Such a decision should only need to come from the community itself and there should not be an additional layer of verification required from an external body.
IPAC continues to be concerned about the health and wellness of indigenous people across the country during COVID. We are especially concerned about the mental health and wellness aspects, and note the particular challenges when there is concurrent substance use.
In B.C., we are dealing with dual public health emergencies: COVID-19 and the opioid crisis. We are seeing that the significant rise in overdose events and deaths are particularly tragic, unintended consequences of the imposed public health measures to reduce the spread of COVID-19. Indigenous people are unfortunately overrepresented in the overdose crisis. We are supportive of increased funding for harm-reduction services, treatment programs and building up capacity for establishing a safe supply in order to separate people who use drugs from the toxic street supply.
IPAC draws particular attention to the capacity of indigenous communities to access health services, including primary care, virtual services and timely COVID testing, which has been mentioned already. There are long-term investment needs including medical transportation and infrastructure, Internet access to telehealth, necessary medical equipment, technology and supplies. The pandemic has only highlighted the disparities in health services to indigenous people.
There is also a need for sustainable, healthy homes. COVID-19 thrives in inequity. During the pandemic the overcrowding and poor conditions of some homes mean that self-isolation is impossible, and the spread of the virus within a family group is inevitable. Given the past harms and devastating experiences of indigenous people during pandemics, historically and in more contemporary times, it is important to clearly articulate messaging around COVID-19 and the public health response.
For example, we are concerned about vaccine hesitancy when one becomes available, in part, because of indigenous peoples' past experiences with medical experimentation and poor treatment. We do advocate for indigenous people to be a high priority when vaccines become available, given their health and exposure vulnerabilities.
Indigenous people want access to their own health systems, including funding for elders, traditional medicine people and healers. Many of us see this as vital to our own health and well-being.
Finally, yesterday's release of the B.C. provincial inquiry report into anti-indigenous racism in the health system, in plain sight, reminds us that we have a long way to go to create a health system for indigenous people that is safe to access during the COVID-19 pandemic and beyond.
Meegwetch.
View Rachel Blaney Profile
NDP (BC)
Thank you. That's very helpful.
If I could come to you, Professor Martin, you said a couple of things. The first thing you talked about was timely and culturally safe health care. I just want to make sure that we clarify on the record what that looks like.
The other thing you talked about, which I've seen in numerous studies, is the barrier created by a lack of data. It's hard to measure what's working and what's not working and the long-term impacts, simply because we don't have substantive data. I hear that across Canada.
Could you answer these two things? What direction do we need to take in terms of getting more clear data, and what is timely and culturally safe health care?
Debbie Martin
View Debbie Martin Profile
Debbie Martin
2020-11-26 19:33
They are two really good questions.
I think there are two different things in terms of the timeliness of access to care. For remote, rural and isolated communities, access to timely care becomes urgent in the case of COVID-19 if emergency services are needed. Again, with issues related to weather and geographic isolation, timeliness is sometimes difficult to enact and the ability to have supports in that way becomes impeded. I think one way to address that would be through improved access to telehealth opportunities and better connectivity in rural, remote and isolated areas.
In terms of culturally safe care, I think we have seen in the media and know very well the impact of racism and systemic racism in our health care system. It's one thing to require services, but it's certainly another thing to choose not to have those services because you know that the way you're going to be treated once you enter the health care system is not culturally appropriate or is in fact racist. I think that's what I wanted to bring out. I'm glad you asked me about that, because it was a very condensed sentence I put in there.
Then again, the lack of access to data is a massive problem as well. What I would suggest here is turning to some of the amazing work that's being done already by indigenous communities in terms of improving their own access to data.
Nationally, we have the First Nations Information Governance Centre. They have done some amazing work in collecting data from very diverse first nations communities across the country to address that gap, but that doesn't mean the capacity is there to now pivot to understand how to collect this epidemiological data that's needed to understand, and to do contact tracing and all of that other stuff for COVID-19. What we're left with is a huge gap in our knowledge about the epidemiology of COVID-19 in indigenous communities. Without that information, we can't act accordingly.
I think what needs to happen as the first step is a full and complete engagement with the appropriate indigenous leadership that can advise on how to engage with that type of data collection that has to happen. Without that, I don't think any amount of government funding would improve access. We are already facing a lot of skepticism and reluctance from indigenous communities around participating in research because of a massive history of colonialism that has created a negative taste in the mouths of many people who have taken part in research in the past. There really needs to be a lot of capacity built within communities for them to be able to do that work themselves.
William Goodon
View William Goodon Profile
William Goodon
2020-11-26 19:46
Thank you very much, Mr. Chair.
To all the committee members, thank you very much for the opportunity to be here today. I'm very pleased to speak to you about the support for indigenous communities, businesses and individuals through the second wave of COVID.
I want to say thank you again for inviting the MMF to speak to the committee on the COVID crisis gripping the world and our country, and in particular on its impact on the Manitoba Métis. I am here on behalf of our president, David Chartrand.
The Manitoba Métis government has been dedicated to providing supports to our citizens, families, workers and businesses as they try to cope with the hard impacts of COVID. The Government of Canada has heard our concerns, which President Chartrand expressed to you in his other appearances. We need to continue to work together to address the continued standing challenges.
We acknowledge Canada has responded quickly, meaningfully and in partnership with us to adjust the programs to allow our Métis government to deliver a flexible financial lifeline to our indigenous communities, businesses and individuals. This is especially important to recognize, as we have had no support from the Manitoba provincial government. We have been delivering food security income and other supports for many of our more vulnerable citizens, including our seniors, students, early learners and homeless.
These are difficult times we are facing here in Manitoba. We are deep into code red, with job losses, closures and significant COVID cases. We have lost loved ones here in the Métis community as a result of this pandemic. There is no doubt that Canada's indigenous support programs, in addition to its broader COVID-19 economic response plans, have helped with preventive measures to slow down the devastating impact on our communities. We are working to do all we can with these preventive measures to minimize the impacts.
At the same time, COVID has had a significant influence on our people, even before the onset of its second wave. Historically and in modern days, the Métis were and are well known as entrepreneurs and business-minded people. The concern for the future of this sector is significant. Many of our citizens are employed in the services and construction sectors. Their type of employment does not enable them to work from home. The lack of reliable and sufficient Internet bandwidth for both our rural and urban citizens, and in particular our entrepreneurs, creates further challenges during these unprecedented times.
Ensuring all criteria are met, we are dedicated to release the federal supports intended to provide flexible, immediate support. In Manitoba, we are in the depth of full closures of non-essential activities across the province. The funds being released through the Louis Riel Capital Corporation and our Metis Economic Development Fund are there to help those in the crisis we face now and to assist in reopening in a safe and responsible manner.
We currently have three COVID-19 Métis business support programs.
Our MMF COVID-19 economic response for entrepreneurs was an early and urgent response that was launched on March 23 and at that time disbursed over $650,000.
Our MMF COVID business support program was launched on November 3 and has provided $1.173 million approved to date, with applications approved in 72 hours and funds distributed within the week.
The Métis emergency business loan program has approved and disbursed over $4.3 million in financial supports to our businesses and entrepreneurs.
The COVID crisis has also exposed the particular vulnerability of our citizens and communities resulting from our long-standing exclusion from the federal health supports available to other indigenous peoples. While the First Nations and Inuit Health Branch branch of Indigenous Services Canada worked with first nations and Inuit to provide PPE and other forms of medical assistance, the Métis were left to fend for ourselves. While we are all now focused on the need to contain the second wave, we hope that as Canada tries to build resiliency with an equitable and sustainable economic recovery plan, the impact that COVID is having on our people will figure in this plan.
. We believe an equitable and sustainable economic recovery plan should incorporate the commitments made to us during the 2019 election campaign. Acting on these commitments will serve to stimulate economic activity and resolve long-standing inequities.
These include commitments by Canada to, first, close the infrastructure gap in Métis communities by 2030 through investments in critical health infrastructure, such as Métis Nation health hubs; second, to codevelop distinctions-based indigenous health legislation to ensure indigenous control over the development and delivery of services; third, to attain a 5% indigenous procurement target in federal spending; fourth, to establish a major projects benefit framework that will ensure that Métis communities benefit from major projects.
The federal government's budgets in 2018 and 2019 contained significant allocations over a 10-year period for Métis-specific programs and services, such as housing, early learning and child care, and post-secondary education. The MMF applauds this dedication to a government-to-government and nation-to-nation approach. Accelerating the release of the balance of this funding in a shorter time frame may also help to address long-standing needs and provide economic stimulus in our communities.
Michelle Driedger
View Michelle Driedger Profile
Michelle Driedger
2020-11-24 12:15
They weren't quite familiar with how the virus spread and what people could do to protect themselves. We answered a lot of questions, as many as we asked of participants, and we also went back to the community to share things through school presentations, as well as a call-in TV station that they had locally within the community.
With that example, the reason I use it is to highlight the important lesson not only of engaging with communities through partnership, but also of making use of existing communication infrastructure in areas where cellphone and Internet coverage may be poor.
When I started on the work with the Manitoba Metis Federation, I was asked to also conduct an evaluation of an intervention that had been developed specifically between the Metis Federation and the Manitoba health government. One of the things to understand during pandemic H1N1 was that part of the response tables involved not just the standard public health and surveillance tables. There was also a social justice and equity table, as well as specific engagement with indigenous peoples—specifically, the Assembly of Manitoba Chiefs, INAC, Health Canada and the Province of Manitoba— but there was no seat at the table for the Metis Federation, despite their representation of 40% of Manitoba's indigenous population.
The Metis Federation had to advocate hard to be included in these indigenous response tables. Part of their success is owed to the strong research capacity they had in partnership with the university to create what was at that time the very first Métis atlas in Manitoba, which documented Métis health status alongside that of other Manitobans. It was one of the first times that the Metis Federation could provide some evidence and could document experiences and outcomes similar to those of first nation citizens.
What is important to understand is that the Métis live diffusely in the province, with approximately half of our citizens living in Winnipeg and the rest living in the broader Red River Settlement areas along the lake systems, where Métis depend on access to the land for survival. If you were to look at a distribution map of first nations reserves alongside a map of Métis communities, you would see that they are quite close in proximity, particularly in the northern parts of the province.
While on a first nations reserve you might have access to a health centre, Métis citizens often have to access health services much like other Manitobans do: through provincial health offices that might be available in larger centres. This means that Métis in smaller communities and more isolated communities have to travel considerable distances to access primary care, as well as to seek more specialized care, and this travel has to be covered out of pocket. Métis do not receive benefits from first nations and Inuit health grants, such as access to medical van transportation, as an example, and this was something that was frequently raised in focus groups that I was conducting in different Métis communities about why they would—
Jennifer Bone
View Jennifer Bone Profile
Jennifer Bone
2020-11-24 12:27
[Witness spoke in Dakota and provided the following text:]
Han mitakuyapi.
[Witness provided the following translation:]
Hello, my relatives.
[English]
Thank you to the Standing Committee on Indigenous and Northern Affairs for the invitation to speak today.
My name is Chief Jennifer Bone, and I represent Sioux Valley Dakota Nation in Manitoba.
As I present before you, I ask for you to hear me with an open mind and heart. The year 2020 has been an incredibly difficult year for many of us. It's widely known that the COVID-19 pandemic does not differentiate between nationality, gender, religion, wealth or the economies and markets it affects.
We as a self-governing nation can attest to this. Dramatic challenges have impacted businesses in every part of the country and, in this context, Sioux Valley Dakota Nation was not spared. The COVID-19 pandemic still hangs over our community. It has brought economic activity to a standstill and has resulted in dramatic declines in community growth and self-reported indices of well-being. It has also brought this theme into a sharp focus. The loss of livelihood, social isolation and fear of contracting the virus have created fear and anxiety among our people, which has led to mental illnesses with an exacerbation of chronic disease, deepening addictions and other types of severe illnesses.
With a state of emergency announced in October due to a suicide contagion, our Oyate have mourned in loneliness. The severity of COVID-19 illness and subsequent risk of death is increased among those of us with underlying health conditions, such as cardiovascular disease, cancer or pulmonary, renal or endocrine comorbidities. Reductions in health care access will differentially impact on indigenous populations for non-COVID-19 outcomes, for which we already have inequities.
Combine this with excessive ambulance wait times, and a bleak situation is further worsened. Action beyond the health system is vital to reduce such health injustices.
Equally, as an indigenous community, as we have known since before its onset, the impact of the pandemic and responses to it are not felt equally by different groups. Differential access to health care as a result of colonization and racism plays an important role in the creation and maintenance of inequities in health for indigenous populations.
The main priority in today's scenario has been to save the lives of individuals. This can be accomplished in part by creating awareness amongst them to follow social distancing measures and maintain proper hygiene. Socially isolating is easier for people with spacious homes with areas to walk and reliable[Technical difficulty—Editor] . On-reserve people living in overcrowded conditions with few or unsafe open areas, lack of running water and inadequate access to the Internet have been and will continue to be more vulnerable to the negative effects of isolation measures.
Social distancing and personal hygiene requirements have highlighted a legacy of housing neglect. Through the collaborative fiscal policy process, self-governing indigenous governments have provided Canada with concrete evidence of gaps that exist between our communities and other non-indigenous communities in Canada. We have hired experts in infrastructure and housing to provide factual information, yet Canada continues to underperform on its promises to resolve long-standing issues in these areas.
Our most urgent need at this point is adequate housing, both in terms of repairs required for healthy living as well as new housing to help with overcrowding.
Within Sioux Valley, the impacts evolving from COVID-19 are causing extensive social, psychological and economic damage. Far from being just a disruption, the pandemic is an indication of the urgent need to reset economic and industrial relations, health and other policy sectors. Those of our members holding insecure and casual jobs have been the first to be laid off and face unemployment with its attendant mental and physical health effects.
Overall, the pandemic will almost certainly increase inequities both between and within our members both on and off reserve. As a consequence of the widespread unemployment generated by the pandemic, our people continue to suffer systemically.
Eliminating all forms of mistreatment such as discrimination by reason of race or social class should constitute the crosscutting axis of all responses formulated by the standing committee to halt the spread of the virus within indigenous communities.
The Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada called on the federal government to close the gap in health outcomes between indigenous and non-indigenous communities and to recognize indigenous healing practices.
Like many indigenous nations, Sioux Valley had stepped into this jurisdictional fear in response to COVID-19 with limited resources and funding. Some broad issues for deliberation have already been identified, including the rebuilding of public health care infrastructure, protection of workers, welfare, promotion of community voice, ownership of key instrumentalities, and more effective measures to address inequality.
The history of first nations' relationship with industy has been one of give and take. First nations gave and industry took. This cannot continue today.
Thank you again for your time and consideration.
[Witness spoke in Dakota and provided the following text:]
Pidamaya ye.
[Witness provided the following translation:]
Thank you.
View Sylvie Bérubé Profile
BQ (QC)
Thank you, Mr. Chair.
My question is for Minister Miller.
Since the COVID-19 pandemic began, the council of Gespeg has taken the necessary measures to reduce the impact of the crisis on its members. However, like many other communities in similar situations, the community of Gespeg was shut out of government support programs.
That is still the case, so should the government introduce programs that fairly and more effectively address all the needs of communities, to give all indigenous people access to supports?
View Marc Miller Profile
Lib. (QC)
Thank you, Ms. Bérubé.
Another layer of the challenge I was describing concerns urban indigenous communities. We provided funding to the Gespeg nation to address many of its needs. Whether a community is covered by an agreement or not, whether a community is located in an urban area or not, our goal is the same. All indigenous communities deserve appropriate high-quality health care, something they have been denied for far too long—well before the pandemic. We are endeavouring to do what is needed to keep COVID-19 out of communities.
Brenda Restoule
View Brenda Restoule Profile
Brenda Restoule
2020-11-17 11:14
Good morning.
[Witness spoke in Ojibwa]
[English]
First Peoples Wellness Circle is pleased to be a witness before the standing committee today.
As an indigenous-led organization dedicated to advocating for mental wellness in indigenous communities and supporting a segment of the mental wellness workforce, we would like to focus our comments around the first nations mental wellness continuum framework, where we get our mandate, to talk about mental wellness during COVID-19.
A recent workforce survey completed by the implementation team of the first nations mental wellness continuum framework found reports of noticeable or significant increase in rates of stress and anxiety related to COVID-19 and public health measures, including depression, substance use, violence, financial stress and stress in meeting basic needs. This matches the June 2020 Stats Canada report data on indigenous peoples mental health impacts during COVID-19, which saw fair or poor mental health, with stress and anxiety particularly noticeable for indigenous women.
Children and youth are experiencing higher rates of loneliness, stress and anxiety as a result of public health measures, and although there's a lack of indigenous-specific data, past evidence suggests that negative impacts are exacerbated by family and community challenges, such as intergenerational trauma; difficulty meeting basic needs related to housing, clean water and food security; financial insecurity and poverty; violence, substance misuse and mental illness; and inequitable access to health, community and social supports. Informal reports have also indicated that the public health measures have also retriggered memories of colonial trauma and are negatively affecting the well-being of families and communities.
This same workforce survey noted there was a noticeable decrease in access to health and social support services, although there is a noticeable increase in need for information around mental wellness and for better and more reliable connectivity and access to technology. This same survey highlighted how nimble the mental wellness workforce in our communities has been in meeting needs by increasing their partnerships to support families and communities; continuing to provide access to mental wellness services, including increased access through virtual care; being innovative in their approaches; and ensuring access to land-based activities and cultural events. However, there is concern around the capacity to meet the increased demand for services and supports for children, youth, families, elders and populations at greater risk of mental health issues as this pandemic continues.
It's expected that the mental wellness pandemic will last far beyond this pandemic and requires a thoughtful and planned approach. We offer the following suggestions.
Number one is access to culturally relevant mental wellness supports and services across the lifespan. Mental wellness supports and services in indigenous communities have been consistently underfunded compared to Canadians, resulting in a patchwork of supports and services that vary across the country. The pandemic has exacerbated pre-existing inequities in mental wellness services, as noted by higher levels of crisis, violence and overdose deaths. Services have not been funded in ways that support the world view of indigenous people.
The first nations mental wellness continuum framework identifies the need to invest in community-defined and community-led programs and services across the lifespan that lead to collective outcomes for families and communities. They must be accessible in the home, schools, workplaces and community. Programs and services must be grounded in cultural practices, values and knowledge, including enhanced access and funding for cultural practitioners. We have seen many creative efforts by first nations to virtually share cultural teachings, engage in cultural practices, access land-based learning and activities, and access cultural practitioners to address negative impacts of COVID-19. These efforts support indigenous citizens to feel connected and give hope during these unprecedented times.
Number two is equitable access to virtual care for mental wellness. The public health measures required many mental wellness services to pivot to virtual care so that services could still be accessible to those in need. Wellness workers in indigenous communities have also pivoted to provide virtual care; however, there are challenges in accessibility and competency in using virtual care. Connectivity, access to reliable Internet services and the cost of services and technology are primary reasons that indigenous communities experience significant difficulty with shifting and accessing virtual care. These challenges are more pronounced in remote, isolated and northern communities. Canada has committed to digital health for first nations by 2030, but this is much too late.
Mental wellness teams and NNADAP treatment centres have already shifted services to virtual platforms, but the shift is hampered by poor connectivity and accessibility to technology as well as limitations in workforce capacity related to both reliable and culturally relevant information on ethics, privacy and liability, and access to supervision and IT support. Investments in connectivity, infrastructure, technology, sustained access to virtual care and human resources must happen more immediately. Otherwise, the gap in health inequity for indigenous people will continue to grow.
Number three is support for the mental wellness workforce. A needs assessment of mental wellness teams completed in 2019 identified that human resources did not match the need in communities to address the complex issues stemming from colonial traumas. Recommendations called for additional funding to meet the health human resource demand and to provide wellness services to the workforce to minimize effects of burnout, compassion fatigue and retention issues.
The heightened pressures on the workforce during COVID-19 to do more—to respond in creative and innovative ways, often with limited resources and tools; to provide advice to leadership; and to address the mounting crisis of violence, substance misuse, overdose deaths and mental health challenges occurring in communities—is taxing an already overburdened workforce. The workforce survey highlights the noticeable efforts by the workforce to respond, and initiatives spearheaded by indigenous health organizations have provided some level of support to the workforce, but it's not enough.
Investments to increase the mental wellness workforce are part of a solution to alleviate the pressures. However, investments should also consider strategies, such as debriefing, supervision and workforce wellness programs, including access to elders, healers and ceremonies, as being critical to maintaining and retaining the workforce.
Finally, investments to define evidence from an indigenous knowledge perspective on workplace mental wellness are required. Production of indigenous evidence-based materials on workplace mental wellness strategies, support for people to return to work, mental wellness training for supervisors and managers, and setting up—
Marlene Poitras
View Marlene Poitras Profile
Marlene Poitras
2020-11-03 11:14
Tansi. Kinanâskomitinâwâw.
Thank you all for the invitation to speak with you today.
With the rise in cases of COVID-19 across the country, we have seen a rise in cases among our first nations and with that the concern and fear for our people has also risen. In times like these, it is incumbent upon us to not only focus on the crisis at hand but to look at the steps that brought us to where we are today and to identify the steps we need to take in the future to protect against these situations.
As you are all aware, first nations experience greater health, social and economic inequities than the rest of Canadians, which makes us particularly vulnerable to COVID-19. Our nations face chronic housing shortages, lack of access to drinking water and poor access to quality health services, as well as many other challenges. The health and well-being of first nations in Canada has been and continues to be affected by colonial governing structures, inconsistent policy schemes and underfunded program allocations. Collectively, these systemic issues impact the daily lives of first nations people both on and off reserve.
Ongoing experiences of racism in the health care system exacerbate these issues. First nations have an inherent and treaty right to health. Our treaties have established our treaty right to health through the obligation of the Crown to provide medicines and protection through the “medicine chest” clause found in Treaty No. 6. Treaty No. 6 also contains the pestilence clause under which the modern context is understood to be for the Crown to provide assistance in times of natural disasters, diseases and pandemics. These treaties speak to the beginning of first nations' relationships with the Crown, and it is these relationships that continue to be at the heart of what needs to be worked on.
This pandemic has highlighted the inequities in this country and exacerbated existing challenges. It has also shown us where the relationships between first nations and federal, provincial and territorial governments require more effort. This is the time when we need to draw on each other's strengths and support one another through transparent and respectful communication and joint decision-making. Leaders across the country were forced to respond to the COVID-19 crisis quickly, with limited information, and make decisions for the well-being of their people rapidly, but too often first nations were the last to receive information and were left out of the decision-making process at the federal, provincial and territorial tables. There is room to be better, and as first nations we look to the Crown to support our relationships with the provinces and territories.
It is particularly important, as we plan for vaccine distribution, to ensure that first nations' needs are considered as per the National Advisory Committee on Immunizations' recommendations. Throughout the pandemic, first nations have done much with very little. We have been innovative and creative and stretched our human and economic resources to respond to this threat. However, with the second wave of the pandemic and with the threat of the third in the future, first nations' capacities to respond are dwindling. Had more been done earlier to support our technological infrastructure and human capacity, first nations would not be as vulnerable to the impacts of COVID-19 as they are now.
First nations continue to rely heavily on the funding provided through Indigenous Services Canada to support the pandemic response. We were pleased to hear of the additional investments announced on Friday, but more will be needed before this pandemic is over. The investments made by the federal government to support all Canadians during the pandemic have been important and necessary. However, I want to emphasize that this unprecedented level of funding has shown us that first nations have not been a funding priority in the past, even though our people have been living through chronic health, mental health and addiction epidemics for years. Had more meaningful investments been made earlier to address systemic issues and build capacity, our first nations would not be as vulnerable as they are now. These investments are needed so that first nations are better prepared for future pandemics and emergencies. First nations need to be a priority.
We have an opportunity to learn from our experiences with the pandemic to date, to be stronger in our response together as we move forward. First nations need to be afforded equitable opportunities to make it through the next waves of the pandemic with minimal illness and loss of life.
As Dr. Tam stated in her recently released report, no one is protected until everyone is protected. Into the future, first nations need to be provided opportunities to be part of the economic recovery and response. Let us not return to normal. Let us work together to provide a better way forward for first nations and all Canadians.
Hay-hay. Knanâskomitinâwâw.
David Chartrand
View David Chartrand Profile
David Chartrand
2020-11-03 11:20
Thank you, Mr. Chairman, for allowing me to speak.
Natan—of course a very close friend of mine—it's great to see you again.
Marlene, it's been a while since I saw you. It's great to hear your opinion and views.
Natan, you'll see me now reading something, which I'm not typically used to doing. They're structuring me here.
Let me start off again by thanking you for inviting us to speak as the Métis National Council again on the COVID-19 that is gripping our country—we all know that—and, in particular, its impact on the Métis nation.
Since my last appearance, the Métis nation governments have worked hard to provide support for our citizens, family, workers and businesses as they try to cope with the hard impact of COVID-19. The Government of Canada heard our concerns, which I expressed to you in my last appearance, that some of the key support programs, such as the Canada emergency business account, were not reaching many of our people. However, after many calls and some push forward, it responded quickly and meaningfully and in partnership with us to adjust the program to allow our Métis nation governments and capital corporations to deliver a financial lifeline to our entrepreneurs, which we called a Métis nation CEBA.
It has also provided additional support to our governing members to ensure food security, income and other supports for many of our more vulnerable citizens, including our seniors, students, early learners and homeless. To give you an example, in the spring the Métis government in Manitoba delivered over 6,000 hampers to our seniors and vulnerable across the province. We're already now moving on our second phase.
There is no doubt that the government’s indigenous support programs, in addition to its broader COVID-19 economic response plan, have helped to stave off what truly could have been a devastating and disastrous impact on our communities.
At the same time, COVID had a significant impact on our people even before the onset of the second wave. Métis constitute the largest indigenous labour force in Canada, and the data coming out of Canada’s labour market survey shows we have lost jobs at a faster rate than other groups.
In case you have forgotten my last brief, there are an estimated 400,000 Métis in the Métis nation homeland in western Canada. We are the largest indigenous nation in this country. Many of our citizens are employed in the services and construction sectors. Their type of employment does not enable them to work from home.
We are also concerned for the future of many of our businesses. Yesterday, the Métis government announced $5.5 million, because we're in a red zone in Manitoba, to help any of our businesses that would potentially find themselves near bankruptcy or complete closure. We announced $5.5 million to be eligible to all Métis businesses in Manitoba. We know that we are a stopgap measure that cannot be relied upon for too long.
The COVID crisis has also exposed the particular vulnerability of our citizens and communities, owing to our long-standing exclusion from the federal health supports available to other indigenous peoples. While the First Nations and Inuit Health Branch of ISC worked with the first nations and Inuit to provide PPE and other forms of medical assistance, the Métis were left to fend for ourselves. As you heard from me last time, we ordered a lot of our stuff from China.
While we are all now focused on the need to contain this second wave, we hope that Canada tries to build resiliency with an equitable and sustainable economic recovery plan. We'll figure out in this plan the impact that COVID is having on our people.
We believe an equitable and sustainable economic recovery plan should incorporate the commitments made to us during the 2019 election campaign. Acting on these commitments will serve to stimulate economic activity and resolve long-standing inequities. These include commitments by Canada to close the infrastructure gap in Métis communities by 2030 through investments in critical health infrastructure such as the Métis nation health hubs; co-develop distinctions-based indigenous health legislation—with which we're in dialogue with Canada right now—to ensure indigenous control over the development and delivery of services; attain a 5% indigenous procurement target in federal spending and establish a major projects benefit framework to ensure Métis communities benefit from major projects.
I should add that passing federal legislation to implement UNDRIP will greatly assist in helping shape this major project framework. The MNC is engaging with the mining, oil and gas, and pipelines industries on UNDRIP, and we are all of like mind in working together to support legislation that can ensure our rights are respected and that certainty is provided for major projects to continue in this country. We will be meeting with many of the executives of the mining sector and the pipeline sector. We're making it very clear from our sector, the Métis nation, that we work hand in hand together and that UNDRIP is not a veto.
I should also add that the federal government’s budgets in 2018 and 2019 contained significant allocations for Métis nation-specific programs and services such as housing, early learning, child care and post-secondary education over a 10-year period. That was an essential, very wise investment because, as you know, all universities and most post-secondary institutions are shut down, so they're learning from home, and so are our kids. We've been able to provide supports to them at home.
Accelerating the release of the balance of this funding in a shorter time frame may also help in addressing the long-standing needs and provide economic stimulus in our communities. We hope the money would be released in a much broader context and we can get all of it into our banks so we can make sure we can put our long-term plans into action.
I hope this committee will lend its support to our important work ahead with the government.
Again, thank you for the invitation. Thank you for allowing us to be here and speak. I commend each and every one of you, from all parties, and I hope you're all safe. At the same time, I hope that all parties that are listening today take the time to reflect on where the Métis nation sits on your party's platform; and where you sit on ensuring the Métis government and Métis citizens—who, as I say, are the largest indigenous nation in this country—are well protected and part of your platform, your policy and your think plan.
To end, take care, and again, be safe, everybody. It was a pleasure speaking to you.
View Marcus Powlowski Profile
Lib. (ON)
Thank you.
Welcome, guests. It seems that MPs from northwestern Ontario are a dime a dozen today, including Eric and me.
The indigenous communities in northwestern Ontario have, I think, done pretty well with the pandemic and haven't been that affected by it. I think they've done a really good job. Certainly, one of the concerns, however, is with the dependence on health care referral centres in more southern places. In northwestern Ontario, that isn't such a problem, because Thunder Bay is on the receiving end and Thunder Bay doesn't have a lot of COVID cases either.
Manitoba, however, used to be really good, but now places like Norway House, where I worked before as a doctor.... We used to refer all our cases, including pregnant women, to Winnipeg, which is obviously potentially a big problem now. Similarly to Mr. Obed, I worked in Iqaluit, and the more complicated medical cases there went either to Montreal or to Ottawa. Again, there's a big concern regarding possible source of transmission when people come back from health services.
My question is, what are you doing to ensure that you don't get transmission that way? Are you just getting people to self-isolate for a couple of weeks? Is there enforcement of that? Have you considered possibly changing referral centres so that instead of sending people from Iqaluit to Montreal, you send them to somewhere that has a lower number of cases?
The other concern is that people who are sick have to go to those places, but also.... Say you're in Norway House and you've been having chest pains. You'll want to get a stress test. You may not want to go to Winnipeg, given the concern about COVID in Winnipeg. Similarly, if you need a colonoscopy and you are from.... I guess Iqaluit can do them, but if there are other kinds of testing, you'd have to be sent down. I would think that's a concern, that we're not picking up cases early enough because of people not wanting to go to the referral centres.
I leave those questions to anybody who wants to answer them.
David Chartrand
View David Chartrand Profile
David Chartrand
2020-11-03 12:20
If you don't mind, Marcus, let me start off with Manitoba. Of course you know we're in red and orange. We're definitely in one hell of a crisis here right now. It's a scary place to be right now. We're at 97% capacity in our hospitals province-wide. There's just no way that anybody can take anybody right now. Over 200 physicians, doctors and experts warned the province that they should never have sat down, rested and taken it for granted that we were in good shape, that everybody else was in bad shape but we were good. There should have been a strategy, and that strategy was not there. Now we're paying the price for that. There's obviously a lesson to be learned, and we should go back and reflect upon it.
We are very fearful of it right now. We don't know where we can go if something does come, if the pandemic hits our villages. For our Métis villages, for example, or the Norway House example—you know that—and next door to them also, if they get hit hard out there, there'll be hell to pay. There's nowhere to go. They have a small facility there that will be fully utilized. I think they're still building their hospital. If you look at it in general terms, you're absolutely right. From anywhere in the north you have to go south. Nobody wants to go to Winnipeg, but you can't anyway. Nobody's going to take you. If you're sick, if you're in the ICU for a heart operation or something, you're in big trouble because they're delaying surgeries now. We're in a very, very dangerous zone right now in our province.
I shouldn't be critical, but our government failed miserably on this one, and it's going to hurt. It's costing lives. We've never seen that. Yesterday we were at 80 deaths altogether already. It's rapidly increasing. As you say, we're worse off than anybody else in this country, and I don't know where we're going to find ourselves when the dust finally settles, when we get some kind of control.
I'm very thankful, as a Métis leader. We have a very strong communication system. As I said, we delivered over 6,000 hampers last year to keep all of our elders inside their houses, and we're doing it again right now. We're in full swing right now across the province and we're trying to make sure that our young generation.... That's another one that all of us in this country need to focus on. We need to tell the younger generation that they, too, have a responsibility to be carrying the value of their grandparents and their parents.
We keep using our communication strategy and we tell them, “Yes, you're strong. Yes, you may survive this COVID, but just imagine for a second that you give it to your grandpa, your grandma, your uncle or your aunt and they die. What are you going to carry on your shoulders for the rest of your life?” We've tried to scare them on that because it's real. We're not trying to make it up. It is real. We have a very good, robust communication strategy and the numbers are showing that our communication strategy is working. I think, as I said, if it weren't for federal Canada right now, for us, we'd be in a hell of a big trouble in our province, in the Métis nation, and I think among indigenous people in general.
Again, I cross my fingers. I'm a religious man. I pray at night and I pray in the morning. I do pray that we're going to find a way out of this mess, because this is a scary one right now for us in Manitoba.
Results: 1 - 15 of 37 | Page: 1 of 3

1
2
3
>
>|
Export As: XML CSV RSS

For more data options, please see Open Data