Indigenous and Northern Affairs Committee on May 26th, 2020

[The Chair, Liberal, Bob Bratina]

I call this meeting to order.

Welcome to meeting number 11 of the House of Commons Standing Committee on Indigenous and Northern Affairs. I would like to start by acknowledging that I am joining you today from the traditional territory of the Haudenosaunee, Anishinabe and Chonnonton nations.

Pursuant to the order of reference of April 20, 2020, the committee is meeting for the purpose of receiving evidence concerning matters related to the government's response to the COVID-19 pandemic. Today's meeting is taking place by video conference, and the proceedings will be made available via the House of Commons website.

During this meeting, the webcast will always show the person speaking rather than the entirety of the committee. In order to facilitate the work of our interpreters and ensure an orderly meeting, I would like to outline a few rules.

Interpretation in the video conference will work very much like it does in a regular committee meeting. You have the choice at the bottom of your screen of floor, English or French.

In order to resolve the sound issues raised in recent virtual committee meetings and ensure clearer audio transmission, we ask those who wish to speak during meetings to set your interpretation language as follows. If you're speaking in English, please ensure you are on the English channel. If you're speaking in French, please ensure you are on the French channel. As you are speaking, if you plan to alternate from one language to the other, you'll also need to switch the interpretation channel so it aligns with the language you are speaking. You may want to allow for a short pause when switching languages. This is found in the bottom centre of your screen where the globe is.

Before speaking, please wait until I recognize you by name. When you are ready to speak, you can either click on the microphone icon to activate your mike or you can hold down the space bar when you are speaking. When you release the bar, your mike will mute itself, just like a walkie-talkie.

Remember that all comments by members and witnesses should be addressed through the chair. Should members need to request the floor outside of their designated time for questions, they should activate their mike and state that they have a point of order. If a member wishes to intervene on a point of order that has been raised by another member, they should use the “Raise Hand” function. This will signal to the chair your interest to speak. In order to do so, you should click on “Participants”, at the bottom centre left of the screen. When the list pops up, you will see next to your name that you can click “Raise Hand”. When speaking, please speak slowly and clearly. When you are not speaking, your mike should be on mute.

The use of headsets is strongly encouraged. If you have earbuds with a microphone, please hold the microphone near your mouth when you are speaking to boost the sound quality for interpreters.

Should any technical challenges arise—for example, in relation to interpretation or if you are accidentally disconnected—please advise the chair or clerk immediately, and the technical team will work to resolve them. Please note that we may need to suspend during these times to ensure all members are able to participate fully.

Before we can get started, I will ask everyone to please click on their screen in the top right-hand corner, ensuring you are on the gallery view. With this view, you should be able to see all the participants in a grid view. This ensures that all video participants can see one another.

During this meeting, we follow the same rules usually applying to opening statements and the rounds of questioning of witnesses during our regular meetings. Each witness will have up to five minutes for an opening statement, followed by the usual rounds of questions from members.

Now I'd like to welcome our witnesses for the first panel. From the First Nations Health and Social Secretariat of Manitoba, we have Amanda Meawasige, director of intergovernmental relations, and from the Cellule stratégique COVID-19 de la Nation Innue, Chief Mike Mckenzie, Jean-Claude Therrien Pinette and Dr. Stanley Vollant.

Ms. Meawasige, you now have five minutes for your opening statement. Please go ahead.

[Amanda Meawasige, Director of Intergovernmental Relations, First Nations Health and Social Secretariat of Manitoba]

Good afternoon, everybody.

I want to thank you all for the opportunity to present to the standing committee today. As mentioned already, my name is Amanda Meawasige. I'm the director of intergovernmental relations for the First Nations Health and Social Secretariat.

Today I'm addressing you from Treaty 1 territory, the ancestral and traditional territory of the Anishinabe peoples.

I would like to start my comments by acknowledging the Manitoba first nations leadership who have responded swiftly and very effectively to the growing threat of COVID-19, despite limited resources. Our leadership has been very proactive in preventing COVID-19 from entering our communities. We don't have any cases in Manitoba to date, and they have done a really good job at anticipating risks and responding to these emerging challenges.

With the help of leadership, our organization and partnering organizations, the political bodies that exist in Manitoba, have implemented a very strong and collaborative process to support one another during this challenge, to share our expertise and to try our best to tackle the broader systemic issues.

First nations understand the critical nature of preventing COVID-19 outbreaks. The colonial legacy and the embedded racial approach to funding structures have definitely made first nations more vulnerable to COVID-19 infection and its associated harms. This is a result of the higher burden of high-risk conditions and the lack of access to appropriate and comparable health and social services. We can also look to issues around the social determinants of health, which include insufficient housing, food insecurity and a lack of adequate water infrastructure, which make it very challenging and sometimes not even possible to adhere to public health directives.

This data from the first nations atlas report in Manitoba, which we will send as an attachment with our submission, has strongly demonstrated that the gap in health status between first nations and the general population is growing, not closing. The COVID-19 pandemic has further exposed these inequities as well as the potential risk that these inequities place on Manitoba first nations.

Therefore, today we would like to take our time to stress not only some of the gaps within the system but also to talk about some potential pragmatic solutions.

First, as we spoke about earlier with respect to the higher burden of high-risk health conditions and the poorer access to health services, these environments in which first nations are placed put us at significant risk for COVID-19. Therefore, we are asking for the federal government to aggressively invest in self-determined and culturally inclusive wellness promotion efforts that are directly aimed at improving the social determinants of health, so that high-risk conditions with respect to COVID-19 can be improved. A good example would be to look at the drinking water situation in communities. Food insecurity is particularly of issue in our remote and isolated communities here in Manitoba.

Second, because first nations are placed at a disproportionate risk, we call on the federal government to provide sufficient investment in local and regional health services in order to equitably respond to this risk.

This means increased investment in the work that first nations are already undertaking while being under-resourced. This is inclusive of pandemic planning, mitigating risks that have emerged with the pandemic, increasing COVID-19 education, increasing access to testing, increasing access to any equipment that's required such as personal protective equipment, and more. There needs to be strong advocacy to ensure that first nations are front-of-line in receiving those services. Further to that point, these types of investments need to continue long after the pandemic is done. There needs to be a post-pandemic focus as well.

Third is with respect to data. Data pertaining to COVID-19 is key to monitoring and evaluating emerging patterns and trends, and to supporting better prevention and management, especially in populations that are placed at high risk or are considered vulnerable. While some first nations across the country are currently engaged in COVID-19 data collection and surveillance, approaches and measures captured vary widely across different jurisdictions. There's a bit of a patchwork of data collection with respect to the different jurisdictions, both federal and provincial health service providers.

Therefore, we are calling on the federal government to collaborate with first nations in developing a nationwide first nations COVID-19 data collection and surveillance system that is governed by first nations and has respect for first nations data sovereignty.

[The Chair, Liberal, Bob Bratina]

We're at time right there. Hold any further thoughts, and anything else you have to say will come up in our questioning rounds.

We'll go to our next witnesses. We have Chief Mckenzie, Mr. Therrien Pinette and Dr. Vollant.

Who would like to start, please, for five minutes?

[Chief Mike Mckenzie, Innu Nation COVID-19 Strategic Unit]

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Kuei.

My name is Mike Mckenzie and I'm the chief of the Uashat-Maliotenam First Nation.

I want to thank you for the opportunity to speak today, on behalf of the chiefs of the nine Innu nations in Quebec, representing a population of about 20,000.

On March 22, we agreed to develop a strategic unit to help us jointly respond to the risks associated with the COVID-19 pandemic.

We receive help from high-level experts on medical and psychosocial matters, and I'm joined here by Dr. Stanley Vollant, an Innu doctor and surgeon, who is one of our experts. He will also speak to you.

We believe that the strategic unit enabled us to better coordinate our local actions. We were forward-thinking, like our ancestors. We anticipated and showed innovation by working together to better support ourselves. Our collective leadership reflects our pride as an Innu people. The health of our people is the priority, and we are committed to continuing what we have been doing.

As elected officials for our territories, located in the administrative regions of Côte-Nord and Saguenay—Lac-St-Jean, we are very concerned. Our people are vulnerable to this pandemic because of the high risk of spread. A spread could be serious if we aren't able to maintain the staffing levels we scambled to put in place to keep our communities safe. For example, we chose to keep our schools closed in all of the communities and have offered innovative learning methods and personalized educational support.

One of the key questions is the following. What measures has the federal government taken to ensure that the health and safety activities in our communities will be maintained?

Since the pandemic is far from being eradicated, herd immunity is not a possibility right now, and there will not be a vaccine available for several months, we want the federal government to provide a clear plan for the future, to complement our local plans, and to include the first nations governments in the implementation of the plan.

We are calling on the federal government to support our measures through the following actions in the short, medium and long term. The measures involve health; social services; education; public safety; management and protection of the Nitassinan; and economic opportunities.

We are prepared to start gradually reopening. The government must maintain and increase its support to our businesses in order to protect what we have. Our economic levers must be maintained and supported to bridge the gaps and stay afloat in the quest for financial autonomy.

We must remember that our realities are unique and that we always have to fight for what is obvious. The spectre of federal and provincial authorities is always there and can often delay what is obvious. In fact, political good will is the ingredient that allows us to consolidate efforts and make a real difference.

We stepped up as a nation. We are also reaching out to show that the current crisis must serve as a lesson to do things another way, in order to save human lives.

Tshinashkumitinau. Thank you very much.

[The Chair, Liberal, Bob Bratina]

Thank you very much.

Dr. Vollant, Mr. Therrien Pinette, is there anything further to add or shall we go to our questions?

[Jean-Claude Pinette, Assistant to the Chief, Innu Nation COVID-19 Strategic Unit]

I'll let Dr. Vollant answer.

[The Chair, Liberal, Bob Bratina]

Okay. You have less than a minute. Go ahead.

[Dr. Stanley Vollant, Health Expert, Innu Nation COVID-19 Strategic Unit]

I'm Dr. Vollant. I'm a surgeon. I'm a physician. I'm also the counsellor for the Innu strategic unit for COVID-19. I don't have time to talk to you, but what we want from the federal government is to have 500 to 1,000 tests, so it's possible to do our tests in our communities to prevent the second wave of COVID-19.

That's all the time I have. I will answer your questions during the question period.

[The Chair, Liberal, Bob Bratina]

Thanks, Dr. Vollant. We will have time through the hour to get to any of the issues you missed.

Right now, though, we'll go to our six-minute rounds of questioning. We'll start with Mr. Zimmer.

Bob, go ahead for six minutes.

[Bob Zimmer, Conservative, Prince George—Peace River—Northern Rockies, BC]

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

I'd like to focus my questions on Chief Mckenzie.

My role in Parliament is as the economic affairs and economic development agency critic, so I'm going to have a bit of an economic lens with my questions for you. I trust you're well. It looks like you've personally weathered the storm of COVID okay, Chief Mckenzie.

[Chief Mike Mckenzie]

It was very difficult. The situation put a lot of pressure on the first nations.

There was a dispute over jurisdiction between the provincial and federal governments regarding Quebec's Public Health Act. That was very hard. We fought a lot with the provincial government. At the very beginning of the pandemic, everyone at the provincial and federal levels was passing the buck.

It took a long time to get testing clinics set up. We asked provincial and federal authorities about this for three or four weeks. It was very hard.

In the community I'm from, Uashat mak Mani-Utenam, there were eight cases of COVID-19. It was very intense. We worked 60 or 70 hours for nine weeks at the emergency measures committee. Although there were delays, we took actions that reflect the realities of the first nations.

[Bob Zimmer, Conservative, Prince George—Peace River—Northern Rockies, BC]

Thank you for that.

Again, Chief, with the lens on economic development, my concern about the next steps has been brought up by various guests already.

You mentioned testing. That's where I'd like to go too. A lot of us are asking questions, even Dr. Vollant. A lot have argued that the next step is to have adequate testing so that we can get back to the new normal of COVID, so that our economies and people can get back to work and things can return to as normal as possible.

We've also heard from other witnesses about a lack of PPE. The jurisdiction of the federal government is to provide PPE to indigenous communities. Although we've been told that PPE is available, we've heard from many that it's been difficult to access. I've seen in my local bands, up in my neck of the woods in northern B.C., that they were left scrambling when they had some cases.

It sounds like you've already affirmed that too. You've had some struggles getting tests and equipment. From now on, what's the plan? What do we need to do to get back to normal, as much as we can, in our indigenous and northern communities? What is lacking? Where do we need to be?

Dr. Vollant, please go ahead.

[Dr. Stanley Vollant]

The COVID-19 crisis will last several more months. Our communities will have to face this danger, this epidemic, in the coming months. It's important to keep our people safe. We need to continue with messaging that promotes healthy habits, such as washing and other instructions.

We'll have to do a lot of tests and will need a large number of swabs in our communities. With more than 4,000 deaths, Quebec is the hot spot in Canada. The virus is circulating a lot in Quebec, and a number of people from our communities live in Quebec City and Montreal. There's always a danger that the virus will spread to our communities. Ten people in the Innu community contracted the virus and have all recovered. The road is starting to reopen. Quebec has started reopening, and there is a serious danger that the virus will spread to our communities. We must be able to test the people coming into our communities.

We did a calculation with Côte-Nord public health officials and microbiology experts. The Innu nation, which includes 20,000 people in nine communities, would need approximately 500 swabs a month, which would have to be supplied by the federal government. We're calling on the federal government to help us protect our people.

There's another important point. School will start back up in the fall. Most of the quarantine centres in our communities are in schools. If we want our children to have access to education, which is an important public health criterion, the federal government will have to help us find quarantine centres, perhaps by providing cots or temporary shelters. Our communities need space to set up quarantine areas for people who are infected.

[The Chair, Liberal, Bob Bratina]

We're right at time there. Thank you for the response.

We'll go now to Mr. van Koeverden for six minutes, please.

[Adam van Koeverden, Liberal, Milton, ON]

Thank you very much, Mr. Chair.

Thank you to the witnesses for providing their insights and perspectives today.

We, as a government, can only make good decisions with good feedback, perspective and the insights of people who have been impacted by COVID-19. Your feedback is essential, so thank you very much for that.

Just recently we had Ms. Lorraine Whitman, president of the Native Women's Association, come to the committee, and she talked a lot about the impact that this had on vulnerable populations within indigenous populations, such as women and children, the elderly and LGBTQ2S. I'm wondering if perhaps Dr. Vollant could provide some insight on how information gathering, specifically, is challenging with more vulnerable groups and how the federal government could help in that regard.

[Dr. Stanley Vollant]

We have psychosocial experts within the Innu nation unit. They confirm that there are more cases of psychological and social stress in our communities. Our communities were already vulnerable before the crisis; they are even more so now, during the pandemic, and will be even more so after.

There are fewer reported cases of child abuse, but these experts believe that the cases are not being reported because the children are not going to school. There's an increased risk of violence against children and spouses. A number of studies have shown that violence against women has increased during the crisis, in Quebec and across Canada. Funding will be needed so that we can make social interventions in our communities during this crisis, which will last several months still. COVID-19 could do less damage physically than psychologically. I'm talking about suicide and violence in the communities.

[Chief Mike Mckenzie]

I can add to what Dr. Vollant said.

[Adam van Koeverden, Liberal, Milton, ON]

Thank you, Dr. Vollant.

I would ask Madam Meawasige the same question, if I could, with respect to the impact specifically on women and other vulnerable populations in your community, or in communities you've heard from or worked with over the last couple of months.

[Amanda Meawasige]

That's a really great question.

I think one of the underserved populations is our off-reserve first nation membership. That's a gap in terms of.... A lot of pressure is faced at the first nation community level to respond from reserve, even though there isn't the adequate funding there to provide on-reserve residents with adequate assistance.

That's one of the vulnerable populations we're hearing about.

Our data collection process, in collaboration with the provincial government, is to try to accurately track those types of people. The data-sharing agreement we've created with the province allows us to know all first nations, whether they're on reserve or off reserve, and that will allow us to tailor a better response and have better surveillance, and appropriate health services will be provided.

[Adam van Koeverden, Liberal, Milton, ON]

Thank you.

Chief Mckenzie, could I ask you for some insight on how this had an impact on vulnerable populations like women, children, the elderly and LGBTQ2S?

[Chief Mike Mckenzie]

First of all, I think that beyond vulnerable people, it's the lack of housing that has been the biggest problem for two decades. When there are too many people and no quarantine centre, it's harder to prevent spread among the first nations.

Housing is the top issue for all first nations peoples in Quebec, since it's very hard for them.

There are, on average, five or six people living in a single house. Investment in housing is needed. The first nations peoples have been waiting for housing for several years. We need 400 housing units in my community. Some other first nations communities that I work with need more than 50,000 housing units. That's the number of housing units the Innu nation needs, and maybe more. This is very important.

Some seniors are living with other generations in the house, but seniors are the most vulnerable. We also have a lot of people with diabetes and cardiovascular diseases. This is also a problem among first nations in Quebec.

[Adam van Koeverden, Liberal, Milton, ON]

Thank you, Chief.

I've had the pleasure and honour of getting to know Valérie Courtois from the Innu Nation over the years. The work she does with youth and with a lot of different other vulnerable populations is really inspiring, and I look to her for a lot of insight.

Mr. Chair, if I have time to go to Monsieur Therrien Pinette—

[The Chair, Liberal, Bob Bratina]

No, I'm sorry; you're right at time now.

[Adam van Koeverden, Liberal, Milton, ON]

Thank you very much for the insight.

[The Chair, Liberal, Bob Bratina]

Coming around now to the Bloc Québécois, we have Ms. Gill for six minutes.

Go ahead, please.