Thank you.
Chi-meegwetch for having me here. I consider this a privilege.
My apologies. I will go back to French.
As I was saying, in appearing with this group of witnesses, I would like to honour the memory of two young men from our community who passed away under tragic circumstances. Mathieu Pageau, age 41, took his own life on April 16, and last Friday, Nathan Wapache-Hoque, a young 19-year-old Cree man, was found dead in a dumpster in downtown Val-d'Or.
These lives lost are collateral damage from COVID-19. What did these two indigenous men have in common, other than a tragic end? Previously, their moccasins had carried them to the Val-d'Or Native Friendship Centre while they were going through a period of profound distress and great vulnerability, searching for an outstretched hand, for a sense of culture and identity.
In Val-d'Or, the Friendship Centre is like a great white pine tree that had served as a landmark for the urban indigenous community for 45 years. Our services cover a wide range of front-line needs in health care, social services, education, child and family services, skills development and social economy, as well as community housing.
Our services, like those of other friendship centres across the country, take a culturally relevant and safe approach that incorporates the world of meanings and relationships among indigenous people.
When the pandemic hit us hard at the Friendship Centre, we did what we have always done: we took care of each other.
As early as the day after the Quebec government declared a health emergency on March 13, we put in place a crisis management measures plan for COVID-19. Our response was local, community-based and immediate: we took action to protect the health, nutritional, physical and psychological safety of families, youth, women, men, seniors, and those who are homeless or have been released from prison.
We adjusted the access to our legal services and psychosocial intervention, and the medical services in our clinic to avoid disruption of our services to our members. We were aware that this unprecedented crisis would bring its share of consequences over the short, medium and long term.
The issue of funding did not guide our choice to take adequate measures to ensure the safety and well-being of our community during the pandemic. We took action because it was urgent and because it was the right thing to do. Fighting this crisis comes at a price. It is reassuring to see that the Canadian government has made efforts to protect indigenous people by setting up a $350 million emergency fund in response to COVID-19.