Evidence of meeting #11 for Indigenous and Northern Affairs in the 43rd Parliament, 1st Session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was communities.
A recording is available from Parliament.
6:45 p.m.
Conservative
Arnold Viersen Conservative Peace River—Westlock, AB
All right. I'll cede the rest of my time then, Mr. Chair.
6:45 p.m.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Bob Bratina
It's 10 seconds. I don't think you could get an answer in that time.
Mr. Battiste, you have five minutes.
May 26th, 2020 / 6:45 p.m.
Liberal
Jaime Battiste Liberal Sydney—Victoria, NS
I just want to thank all of the participants and witnesses that we've had today for sharing their stories with us. I know that you've made it pretty clear that, when we talk about returning to normal, normal for first nations communities and first nations reserves isn't the normal that we know in Canada in many places. A lot of times we overlook some of the aspects.
Jean-Claude, you and I were on the AFN youth council, and I want to give you some time to talk about some of the challenges that the youth in indigenous communities are seeing. If Jean-Claude leaves any time, I'd also like to ask Ms. Meawasige to comment on what the challenges are that youth are going through. If there's not time, please submit something in writing so that we can make recommendations and be proactive, not reactive.
Jean-Claude.
6:45 p.m.
Assistant to the Chief, Innu Nation COVID-19 Strategic Unit
Thank you very much, Mr. Battiste.
I'm very pleased to be working with you again. We have worked together for a long time at the national level on youth issues.
As I said, young people are creating significant demographic pressure. Because of the situation in Montreal, the focus has been on elderly people in residences and long-term care facilities, which we call CHSLDs. Young people want to live their lives. It's not good for them to be cooped up at home. The psychological pressure of lockdown has put enormous pressure on family units in our communities.
We surveyed our communities to see how people are doing and understand the social context. We discovered that people are feeling a lot of pressure. People's first reaction was to protect themselves from the outside threat, from letting the virus into our regions, so they locked down. That meant other traumas in our young people's lives were put on the back burner.
Reopening means those traumas are coming back to light. It's spring, everything is thawing and it's nice out. What are organizations and the government going to do to help young people and encourage them to adopt good health habits given the prevalence of drug and alcohol consumption?
Violent incidents also became more frequent and severe. Right now, MDMA, or ecstasy, is in our community, and that leads to very risky behaviours and habits. It breaks down family units. When a user lives in a crowded house, as Chief Mckenzie said, that can affect 10 or 15 family members. That brings worry and tension into the home.
Young people today need to be able to grow, develop, have great experiences, and have access to solutions other than income support. They need to be able to achieve their full potential. They have the right to dream of a better future too.
We've talked about getting back to normal, but I think we need to really think and innovate because the future could be very different from what normal was before COVID-19.
6:50 p.m.
Director of Intergovernmental Relations, First Nations Health and Social Secretariat of Manitoba
A quick response is that there isn't access to services after hours. That's a really big gap in the community.
We also know that youth are really responsive to social media, Internet technology. Counselling services are available, and they are responded well to. Unfortunately, the issues are around connectivity. At what point will technology be considered an essential service such as water and really be considered a human right, particularly with respect to education?
With COVID-19, you're well aware of the lack of youth recreation, the boredom. Sometimes mischief, as a result, is apparent in these types of situations. There is a need for local, coordinated and supported recreational services for young people.
6:50 p.m.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Bob Bratina
Thank you very much.
We're right out of time, Jaime.
I'll go to a five-minute round of questions with Mr. Dalton.
6:50 p.m.
Conservative
Marc Dalton Conservative Pitt Meadows—Maple Ridge, BC
Thank you.
I'm wondering how difficult it has been for your people to follow the health directives in communities as far as the physical distancing is concerned. Has this been a real challenge? I know it is elsewhere, but I'm thinking specifically about your communities.
Ms. Meawasige, perhaps you could respond to that.
Then I'd like to hear from Chief Mckenzie.
That would be helpful.
6:50 p.m.
Director of Intergovernmental Relations, First Nations Health and Social Secretariat of Manitoba
Given that there are overcrowding situations, particularly in northern Manitoba, the ability to self-isolate poses a big problem, should that be a requirement. We've had to set up isolation centres outside of the home to accommodate that.
It's also been a hard directive to wash your hands regularly when you don't have potable water. There's only a limited amount of water. We have also had difficulties in accessing hand sanitizers, in the absence of having the ability to wash our hands. That's a glaring gap that needs to be remedied.
6:55 p.m.
Conservative
Marc Dalton Conservative Pitt Meadows—Maple Ridge, BC
Chief Mckenzie, how hard is it for your communities to follow health and physical distancing guidelines?
Is it really a problem or are people following the guidelines?
6:55 p.m.
Innu Nation COVID-19 Strategic Unit
As I said, we have about 20,000 members in all the first nations, including the Innu nation. Most of our communities don't have indigenous police services. Mine has one, but one-third of all Innu communities don't. I think it's important though because it's an essential service for all first nations. Our police services are provided by the Sûreté du Québec. It's important to mention that most communities are still waiting for their indigenous police services to make COVID-19 regulations.
Here in Uashat Maliotenam, it was hard to follow the regulations at the start, but when we got our first case of COVID-19, the community got on board. We are always connected to the community. Our Innuweb allowed us to communicate with the community directly. We also have a communications network, the Société de communication Atikamekh-Montagnais, or SOCAM, and that is important. I think public safety and communications in first nations have been successful because of that.
6:55 p.m.
Conservative
Marc Dalton Conservative Pitt Meadows—Maple Ridge, BC
Great. Thank you very much.
I'm wondering now about the economic impact, especially on first nations enterprises and businesses, whether they be in mining or in other fields. What has the economic impact been on the business side of things, specifically with their businesses but also perhaps even stores and other venues, outlets or services offered in the community?
If you could respond to that, Ms. Meawasige, it would be appreciated.
6:55 p.m.
Director of Intergovernmental Relations, First Nations Health and Social Secretariat of Manitoba
There is obviously an impact with rising costs and the new way of doing business with respect to flying and different restrictions. It is costing more to run these stores. I think there's really good compliance with respect to social distancing guidelines and such. Yes, in terms of cost, food is expensive, and bringing in the equipment is expensive. It is definitely having a negative impact on communities.
As mentioned, though, we don't want to put economic interests above first nations security at any point. There are ways to resolve this, given the strong collaboration and communication amongst partners.
6:55 p.m.
Conservative
6:55 p.m.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Bob Bratina
Thanks. I'm sorry to interrupt. We're right at the end time for the entire meeting.
I would like to thank our witnesses. It's been a bit of a struggle today with technology. Lightning blew things out for one of our clerks for a while, and I believe Ms. Gazan had some connection problems as well.
It's been a bit of a struggle, but we did get some remarkable evidence and testimony from our witnesses. One of the things we all take from this, I think, is that the discussion on COVID is far from over. We'll take that as direction and thank Amanda Meawasige, director of intergovernmental relations; Chief Mike Mckenzie; Jean-Claude Therrien; and Dr. Stanley Vollant.
Thank you, all. I declare this meeting adjourned.