Indigenous and Northern Affairs Committee on May 22nd, 2020

[Richard Jock]

It would be pre-Kelowna Accord. There was a lot of work done at the federal-provincial level. Leading up to that, there was a lot of work done by the AFN to bring together those opportunities. These relationships developed from there. Out of that Kelowna Accord, the relationship agreement that was done by the leadership in B.C. set the table for this enterprise. It was basically a 10-year developmental period.

As I said, it was done carefully and without haste, developing the trust that Charlene was talking about.

[Gary Vidal, Conservative, Desnethé—Missinippi—Churchill River, SK]

Thank you. I appreciate that perspective.

Before I run out of time, I will move on to another question. I'll open it up to all three of our witnesses.

There's been quite a bit of discussion about pandemic planning and about communities that had plans in place relative to communities that didn't have plans in place. I'll frame my question in two parts. One, how would you rate the success of those communities that had pandemic plans ready to enact? I know that sometimes it resulted in the plans having to be dusted off a little and maybe pulled off the shelves, but they were there. How would you rate that kind of comparison? Two, what lessons can we learn to make sure that if we ever face something like this again, we have effective plans in place for the future?

[Chief Charlene Belleau]

Do you want to go ahead, Richard?

[Richard Jock]

Yes. I think one of the approaches would be much more regionalized support for pandemic planning, getting closer to communities and having this as a continuous focus.

The other thing that's really important is that pandemic planning is also based on effective emergency planning; it's not independent from it. Having an effective emergency plan, with then the layering of pandemic plans, is really key to success. I would say that we would need to develop capacity, as we mentioned before, in stockpiling and preparation and in making sure that we're ready for whatever comes, because these seem to come about every nine to 10 years.

I would say that generally every one of our communities, through their agreements, has some form of plan, but obviously every pandemic and every circumstance is different, and even if you have the plan, you have to adjust it.

[Chief Charlene Belleau]

I want to add to Richard's comment around the pandemic planing. It's been really good over the past few months—and certainly over the period of time since we've taken over health—for our leaders to make health a priority. In the province of B.C., where our leaders are engaged and really involved in health, it's been really important to this COVID-19 response by the health authority. They know the needs, they express their concerns and they work closely with the health authorities so that their community concerns are addressed.

Again, I think it's about our leaders making health a priority, but that comes from a lot of previous work in dealing with residential schools and being willing to be in charge of our own lives; it's self-determination and how we want to be healthier. It's been really important, I think, for our leaders to be front and centre in a lot of that work and to have the First Nations Health Authority working closely with the provincial health authorities, in conjunction with our communities and our leaders, for those plans to be successful.

Within the different regions that the health authority is working in, I think we do have a lot of success stories from the pandemic that we can share with one another, as well as the challenges.

[The Chair, Liberal, Bob Bratina]

Thank you, Chief, and thanks, Dr. McDonald and Mr. Jock.

I can't finish this meeting without telling you this in regard to your comment on how good emergency planning is good planning. When 9/11 happened in New York, the hospitals in Hamilton had been preparing, by pre-arranged agreement, to take burn victims. Sadly, there weren't that many, because so many perished on the site, but this can be done.

I'm very impressed with all of our witnesses today and with our committee. I think we gave a lot of good information for our analysts to analyze and put into a report.

With that, I'll tell you that our next meeting is on Tuesday, May 26, from 5 to 7 p.m., and this meeting is adjourned.