First Nations communities are being hit especially hard by COVID-19’s third wave, writes Melissa Mbarki, Policy Analyst and Outreach Coordinator at the Macdonald-Laurier Institute.
Socioeconomic inequalities make these communities particularly vulnerable to infectious diseases, and limited access to health care, underlying health conditions, lack of access to clean water, and other critical issues are making a bad situation worse.
Gathering restrictions brought in to battle COVID-19 have hindered community practices crucial to maintaining cohesion and mental health.
“Ceremonies like sweats, feasts or round dances and powwows have been cancelled. These gatherings are integral to our traditions and ceremonies and are far more common, outside the pandemic, than many non-Indigenous people recognize. Losing that interaction has challenged all of us,” Mbarki writes.
Another issue is education: many First Nations children have fallen as much as two years behind their studies.
“First Nations,” she says, “including my own home community, have suffered a great deal over the past year during this pandemic. It will take years to fully recover.”
Short-term, band-aid solutions are no longer enough, she argues. It’s time to get serious about dealing with the many problems Indigenous Canadians face — problems existing well before the pandemic and now greatly exacerbated by it.
