indigenous services minister 'scared' by lifted covid restrictions
"i’m going to be respectful of my provincial colleagues," marc miller said. "but it does scare the hell out of me."
aug 8 2021
2 minute read
saskatoon, sk-- august 5/2021 - 0806 news saskatoon tribal council child welfare - indigenous services minister marc miller makes an announcement of a funding agreement that gives full control of child welfare to stc in member nations. photo taken in saskatoon, sask. on wednesday, august 5, 2021.
michelle berg
/
saskatoon starphoenix
by: zak vescera
canada’s minister of indigenous services says he is “scared as hell” by the potential for infectious covid-19 variants to run rampant in first nations communities, particularly in provinces with no remaining public health restrictions like saskatchewan
minister marc miller declined to openly criticize saskatchewan officials while speaking in saskatoon thursday, but echoed concerns from northern first nations in the province who say the end of mandated masking and restrictions on gatherings has restricted their ability to control the virus in their communities.
“we need to have provinces, particularly the prairie provinces that have decided to open up in one fell swoop, to be a little more sensitive to that reality,” miller said.
“opening up an economy too soon —we’re not speculating, we know exactly what happened with respect to the second wave. it devastated parts of northern manitoba and we had to in some cases deploy the armed forces into those communities as they shut down.”
saskatchewan ended its last public health restrictions on july 11, including the mandatory requirement for people with covid-19 to self-isolate. that can still be enforced under an order from a medical health officer.
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and while case counts remain well below their winter peak, three far northern first nations communities have been hard-hit by outbreaks related to the extra-infectious delta variant. affected communities like hatchet lake denesuline first nation have said the lack of any enforceable public health measures makes lockdowns tricky if not impossible to maintain.
the provincial government has said it is working hard to increase uptake in the far north, where vaccination rates are well below the provincial average. indigenous services canada says it is aware of 20 communities across the country with delta variant cases.
miller agreed access to vaccination was key and pointed out the rate of inoculation in first nations surpasses the canadian average. as of aug. 3 his agency reported that more than 86 per cent of people aged 12 and older on first nations, inuit and territorial communities had received at least one dose of vaccine. miller said, though, that he is still worried about communities with a large population of people who are too young to receive the shot or those that are under-immunized.
miller declined to criticize provincial officials, saying they were partners in trying to stop the virus’ spread.
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“i’m going to be respectful of my provincial colleagues,” he said. “but it does scare the hell out of me.”
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