Indigenous and Northern Affairs Committee on Nov. 26th, 2020

[The Chair, Liberal, Bob Bratina]

I call to order this meeting of the Standing Committee on Indigenous and Northern Affairs.

In view of the information I have with regard to our other witnesses, we'll commence the meeting. Hopefully, we'll take a moment to get them connected when they're available.

I acknowledge that we are meeting on the traditional unceded territory of the Algonquin people, for those in Ottawa, and for my location, it is the Anishinabe, Haudenosaunee and Chonnonton first nations.

The committee is meeting to continue its study of support for indigenous communities through a second wave of COVID-19.

There are some best practices to tell you about. Please look down at the bottom centre of your screen, and you'll see a little globe. When you touch on that globe, you'll see “off”, “English” or “French”. At that point, you would select the language you wish to speak in and wish to hear.

When speaking, please speak slowly and clearly. When you're not speaking, your mike should be on mute. The issue of all this technology and microphones and so on is for accuracy of the interpretation. Without proper interpretation, the meeting can't legally proceed. We need everyone to be heard properly and interpreted properly.

With that, by video conference for the first hour, we have the following witnesses: Chief Bryan Mark will be joining us. From the Confederacy of Mainland Mi'kmaq, we have Angeline Gillis, Janna MacKay and Amber MacLean-Hawes. Appearing as an individual, we have Professor Debbie Martin.

Welcome to everyone.

I now invite Angeline, Janna or Amber to go ahead for six minutes.

[Janna MacKay, Senior Director, Health and Social Services, Confederacy of Mainland Mi'kmaq]

Good evening, everyone.

The Confederacy of Mainland Mi'kmaq would first like to acknowledge and commend the swift action taken by Nova Scotia community leadership to proactively lock down their communities at the start of the pandemic. Some communities closed borders and had checkpoints for entry, implemented community-wide curfews and shifted to offering only essential services in the early days of the pandemic. Undoubtedly this strong leadership helped convey the seriousness of the situation and the importance of following provincial public health guidelines, and contributed as well to having no reported cases of COVID-19 in our first nation communities.

The Confederacy of Mainland Mi'kmaq, or the CMM, is a tribal council organization representing the eight Mi'kmaq communities of mainland Nova Scotia. Our mission is to proactively promote and assist Mi'kmaq communities' initiatives towards self-determination and enhancement of community.

At the CMM, we have an emergency management team. In mid-March, the organization shifted to an emergency management structure. Soon after that, daily calls with chiefs and government officials began, which explored issues in the region. Early questions included how communities access ample PPE and testing supplies, what were considered eligible expenses for various COVID funding envelopes, what were considered essential services, and jurisdictional issues around who was responsible to respond if there was a community outbreak.

Some challenges noted here were very long delays in receiving responses to questions, clear communication lines that took too long to be established and information overload. Eventually, trilateral calls were established between the Nova Scotia first nation communities, the Province of Nova Scotia and Indigenous Services Canada.

As public health is a provincial responsibility, the ability to receive clear responses to questions directly from Nova Scotia's chief medical officer of health, Dr. Robert Strang, was vital.

Existing health disparities were exacerbated by the pandemic. Similar to other indigenous populations, the Mi'kmaq experience higher rates of chronic disease, food insecurity, overcrowding in homes and impaired access to health services, all of which create barriers to employing adequate public health measures.

This past August, our communities, along with representatives of provincial and federal governments, came together for a COVID response debriefing session. The primary lessons learned here can be summarized into the following categories: communication, mental health impacts, economic impacts, jurisdictional issues and human resources.

For communication, throughout the pandemic there has been a lot of information shared, but it was not always coordinated effectively. There was too much information provided to single touchpoints, such as chiefs, to effectively distribute within the communities. We recommend fully transparent communication lines between communities, all levels of government and supporting organizations at the start of the decision-making process.

In terms of mental health impact, mental health supports were already under-resourced, and the pandemic made it worse. When communities started locking down, a trauma-informed and harm-reduction approach was used. However, communities observed an increase in drug use and relapse, with the added challenge of accessing appropriate services. Even as services began to reopen, the very low capacity that is possible cannot meet the need.

We recommend improved access to treatment centres now, with a specific focus on youth treatment; appropriate care planning for future treatment centre closure; and access to culturally appropriate mental health supports.

In terms of economic impact, the funding opportunities made available during the pandemic did not adequately meet Mi'kmaq communities' needs. Communities relied heavily on own-source revenue to fill gaps not met by government support programs. First nation communities were also left out of decisions that would affect the financial livelihood of communities, such as closure of fisheries and gaming. This left communities in debt and uncertain about their financial futures.

We recommend increased funding, including economic recovery plans, for community own-source revenue.

In terms of jurisdictional issues, the pandemic response has amplified the disconnect between first nations community bylaws and their enforcement. It is the observation of community leaders that neither federal nor provincial law enforcement would assume authority for community bylaws.

We recommend that law enforcement respect and support bylaws developed by community leadership.

In terms of human resources, the pandemic highlighted the need for improved emergency management support at the local community level. First nation communities had to pull from already understaffed community-based resources, which contributed to staff burnout and high stress.

We recommend targeted funding for permanent emergency management coordinator positions at the local community level.

In closing, improved communication, access to more human resources and the provision of mental health supports will positively impact health outcomes for Nova Scotia Mi'kmaq when faced with a second wave of COVID-19. Economic recovery plans need to include Mi'kmaq community governments, businesses and entrepreneurs. First nation communities will be better prepared for the next wave; however, improvements for increased preparedness will require continued communication and co-operation on all levels of government. Fortunately, the challenges ahead are better understood, staff are better prepared and agreements are being put in place.

Future success in this pandemic requires attention at all levels. We are all in this together.

Wela'lioq.

[The Chair, Liberal, Bob Bratina]

Thanks very much. Thanks for noting the time almost exactly to the second. It's important, because we need to make sure we get our rounds of questioning in.

With that we go to Professor—

[Marilène Gill, Bloc, Manicouagan, QC]

Mr. Chair—

[The Chair, Liberal, Bob Bratina]

I'm sorry?

[Marilène Gill, Bloc, Manicouagan, QC]

Sorry, Mr. Chair.

I have a point of order.

There was no interpretation. I wanted to bring that to your attention so we can have it fixed.

[The Chair, Liberal, Bob Bratina]

Ms. Gill, were you on the French line on the global icon?

[Marilène Gill, Bloc, Manicouagan, QC]

I still am, Mr. Chair. I can hear the witness fine, but when you speak, I can only hear you in English.

[The Chair, Liberal, Bob Bratina]

I see.

[Marilène Gill, Bloc, Manicouagan, QC]

I hear you fine now.

[The Chair, Liberal, Bob Bratina]

We'll continue.

Professor Debbie Martin, it's your turn now. You have six minutes. Please go ahead.

[Debbie Martin, As an Individual]

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Nakurmiik and wela'lin for the invitation to speak to the Standing Committee on Indigenous and Northern Affairs.

I am speaking to you from Mi'kma'ki, which is the unceded and ancestral territory of the Mi'kmaq.

I am a Canada research chair in indigenous peoples' health and well-being at Dalhousie University and an associate professor of health promotion.

When people ask me what health promotion is, the best description I've heard is an analogy that has to do with a cliff. Our health care system is meant to deal with all of the things that happen at the bottom of the cliff, after people have fallen off. The ambulance arrives—

[Sylvie Bérubé, Bloc, Abitibi—Baie-James—Nunavik—Eeyou, QC]

Mr. Chair, I have a point of order.

I can't hear the witness or the interpreter.

[The Chair, Liberal, Bob Bratina]

We'll suspend for a brief moment.

Mr. Clerk, can we determine what the interpretation issue is?

[The Clerk of the Committee, Mr. Naaman Sugrue]

Yes. It's under way.

[The Chair, Liberal, Bob Bratina]

Okay. Signal me when we're functional again so we can continue.

[The Chair, Liberal, Bob Bratina]

I'm going to continue the meeting now. Chief Mark will have an opportunity to speak after we listen once again to Ms. Martin, who is our witness.

Please begin from the beginning again, Ms. Martin. Go ahead for six minutes.

[Debbie Martin]

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Nakurmiik and wela'linfor the invitation to speak to the Standing Committee on Indigenous and Northern Affairs. I am speaking to you from Mi'kma'ki, which is the unceded and ancestral territory of the Mi'kmaq.

I'm a Canada research chair in indigenous peoples' health and well-being at Dalhousie University and an associate professor of health promotion.

When people ask me what health promotion is, the best description I've heard is an analogy that has to do with a cliff.

Our health care system is meant to deal with all of the things that happen at the bottom of the cliff after people have fallen off: The ambulance arrives, they are brought to the hospital, and they get triaged and then treated.

The role of health promotion is to prevent people from falling off the cliff in the first place. It might include messaging, physical infrastructure and policies that prevent people from falling off the cliff. Essentially, health promotion is a close cousin of public health, because it is concerned with keeping people healthy and keeping them from requiring services offered by health care.

Our health care workers are frequently referred to as our first line of defence against COVID-19, and I disagree with this description. In the fight against this disease, our health care workers, in fact, are the very last line of defence. They play backup to strong, evidence-based public health policy. Public policy is the offensive line, and you, as elected leadership, have become front-line workers.

The offensive line in the Atlantic region has done tremendous work. We have had great success with the Atlantic bubble. What has characterized the success of the Atlantic bubble has been strong public health leadership, strong policy directives and a well-organized and collaborative approach by provincial, indigenous and municipal leadership. However, we are well aware that we are not immune to this disease, and we are quickly seeing an exponential rise in COVID-19 cases in both New Brunswick and Nova Scotia.

Here is where the concern lies, because once the virus begins to spread in this region, we know all too well that indigenous communities face particular vulnerabilities, and those vulnerabilities are now magnified by COVID-19. These are ongoing structural inequalities that disproportionately affect first nations, Inuit and Métis peoples. This region has some of the highest levels of both food and heat insecurity in the country. There are multiple ongoing drinking water issues: Some Inuit communities in southern Labrador, for instance, are faced with not just an issue related to clean water but in fact lack any form of running water at all.

There are issues with overcrowded housing and with homelessness that are compounded during the pandemic because there are fewer alternative public spaces for homeless people to occupy through the day, such as libraries. There is a lack of services and supports for indigenous women and girls who are fleeing violence. There is inequitable access to timely and culturally safe health care.

These are just a few of those structural inequalities. Each of these things makes it that much more difficult to abide by public health protocols that are required to ward off the virus. In other words, should the virus enter our communities, we are not equally well positioned to fight it.

I have heard three major concerns raised about the funding formula that is being used to calculate COVID-19 supports for indigenous communities. The first one is that per capita calculations include data from the 2016 census, which does not paint an accurate portrait of the number of people per community. The Indian Register, for example, would be a much more accurate representation for on-reserve populations.

The second thing is that definitions for “remote” do not currently account for the poverty experienced by many who live on-reserve. Even a 10-kilometre distance between reserve communities and large population centres can make services completely inaccessible.

Third, not all communities have even been eligible to apply for Indigenous Services' COVID-19 support. NunatuKavut communities, for instance, are scrambling to write funding proposals where funds are not assured, serving to deepen the inequities experienced even among indigenous communities within this region.

Looking ahead to the hopefully not-so-distant future, our communities are already expressing concern about whether there will be access to any form of transition assistance once people are no longer able to receive COVID supports. Many of these federal funding dollars have provided a desperately needed infusion of funds, but it isn't clear what happens once that funding runs out and when the need is still very high. This issue is especially important for those in the lowest income brackets, who have begun to rely on the extra support for heating their homes, addressing food security and so forth.

Earlier this week, Indigenous Affairs minister Marc Miller noted that we do not have solid epidemiological data for first nations, Inuit and Métis communities; thus, we may be vastly underestimating the scope of the problem. Combined with the fact that many indigenous communities also have limited access to testing, not only might we not have a good understanding of the numbers of people who are reporting infections, but we are unable to accurately identify who is infected and then undertake appropriate contact tracing. Without access to data, indigenous communities are unable to project what their needs will be in order to effectively respond to the crisis.

To conclude, Mr. Chair, my recommendation to the standing committee is this: Think of yourselves at the top of the cliff as the front-line workers. What good public policy decisions can you work towards to ensure that the community spread is minimized? PPE and hand sanitizers are important, but let's think instead about what helps keep people healthy and keeps them away from the cliff in the first place. That's food security; affordable, safe housing; access to safe, clean sources of drinking water; access to timely and culturally safe health services for communities; and improving access to much-needed epidemiological data that is specific to indigenous communities.

Nakurmiik and wela'lin for your time and attention.

[The Chair, Liberal, Bob Bratina]

Thank you very much, Ms. Martin. You're right on six minutes.

Chief Mark, welcome. Please go ahead for six minutes.

[Chief Bryan Mark, Conseil des Innus d'Unamen Shipu, Innu Nation]

I would like to start by thanking you for giving me this opportunity today.

On behalf of the chiefs of the nine communities that make up the Innu nation of Quebec, representing approximately 20,000 members, I want to thank you for the invitation you extended on May 26 to appear before the committee. That was exactly six months ago today. I want to thank my colleague, Chief Mike McKenzie, for participating in that meeting and standing up for the needs of the Innu nation. I also want to thank Dr. Stanley Volant, an Innu doctor and one of our members.

As you know, we have highly knowledgeable experts providing medical support as part of the Innu nation unit in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. Since the first wave, we have been able to protect our communities, and that continues now, in the midst of the second wave. The Côte-Nord is one of the only regions in Quebec that is not considered a red zone—an area deemed to have the highest risk of transmission of COVID-19. The Innu make up 12% of the population in the region. We are convinced that, thanks to the strategic unit, we were better able to align our local efforts with regional measures.

Like our ancestors, we were forward-thinking, anticipating future events and taking initiative to mobilize and better support our community. Our collective leadership is a testament to the pride we have as Innu. Our priority is the health of our people, and we will keep up our efforts. Now, we must continue working to prevent outbreaks that would send us into reaction and response mode.

Our members have made enormous sacrifices. The reality is we are geographically isolated and that puts us at risk. We have many people who continue to come and go in our communities, ranging from construction workers and health care workers to educators and transportation service providers. Understanding our reality is paramount. We accept all essential workers, but we are also confronted with the challenge of keeping our people, especially our seniors, healthy. Luckily, they have been spared thus far thanks to our collective efforts.

The overriding concern of our elected representatives in the Côte-Nord and Saguenay—Lac-Saint-Jean administrative regions is the vulnerability of our populations to the pandemic given the high risk of spread. That spread would be serious, indeed, if we could not afford to keep the resources we had managed to put in place to protect our communities. Since the second wave began, we have been able to implement co-operation-based protection measures, with the help of our partners.

The question we were asking back in May, during the first wave, was this: What steps has the federal government taken to ensure the continuity of health and safety services in our communities? Some funding supports are in place, but restrictions are in effect, restrictions we have to explain to our people.

We have gleaned bits and pieces about the vaccination strategy that has been so talked about of late, and we urge federal authorities to set out a clear plan for the months ahead, one that goes hand in hand with our local approach. First nations governance must have a hand in developing and implementing the plan. We are calling on the federal government to ensure its short-, medium- and long-term measures support those we have taken, whether in the area of health care, social services, education, public safety, the management and protection of Nitassinan or economic opportunities.

As my colleague Chief Mike McKenzie said back in May, we must be able to rely on the federal government to support 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. The economic recovery has nothing to do with us. I would even go so far as to say that a recovery is incompatible with the reality of some of our communities; there can only be talk of an economic beginning.

On a social level, our members need a boost. As you know, winter is long, but it is even longer where we live. We are, for the most part, isolated, but we must encourage our people to keep up the fight against an invisible enemy that few saw coming. We are in solution mode, and we have a plan. We do, however, need help to carry it out.

Come winter, food security becomes a real concern.

Our elders need reassurance that they will be able to eat caribou, that the essential cultural connection between the Atik caribou and Innu will not be broken, that our families will be able to find comfort during the holiday season and celebrate—in accordance with the rules—by at least eating what our people have eaten since time immemorial.

We are requesting substantial support for our traditional food security. With respect for the resource and the rules, our hunters are ready to set off in search of food to feed their families, as our ancestors have always done. That is vital.

Bear in mind that our reality is 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. The fact is political goodwill is the ingredient that will help ensure measures are aligned to make a real difference.

We stepped up as a nation and we are continuing to do so. However, we need support if we are to keep the situation under control. People's lives are at stake.

Tshinashkumitin. Thank you.

[The Chair, Liberal, Bob Bratina]

Thank you very much, Chief.

We're going to have time for one round of questioning from each of the parties from members of our committee. They are Mr. Melillo, Ms. Zann, Ms. Gill and Ms. Blaney.

Our first questioner, for six minutes, is Eric Melillo. Please go ahead.

[Eric Melillo, Conservative, Kenora, ON]

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

I have a question for Chief Mark.

Chief Mark, does your community now have enough personal protective equipment?

[Chief Bryan Mark]

I can't speak for all nine communities, but in my community, we had a lot of trouble accessing personal protective equipment in response to COVID-19. We had to turn to private companies while keeping to our allocated funding.

[Eric Melillo, Conservative, Kenora, ON]

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

I hope I'm coming through clearly. I think I have a bit of a delay.

[The Chair, Liberal, Bob Bratina]

You're coming through fine. Go ahead.