Indigenous and Northern Affairs Committee on Dec. 1st, 2020

[Christopher Sheppard, President, National Association of Friendship Centres]

Thank you, committee. Good afternoon, or good morning in Saskatchewan.

I'm Christopher Sheppard, the president of the National Association of Friendship Centres. I want to recognize that I'm joining you today from Treaty 6 and the homeland of the Métis. I am so thankful for the welcome I've received while being a visitor in their territories.

As is customary, I'm here with Jocelyn Formsma, who is our executive director, We'll field questions jointly and try to answer as many of them as we can.

I want to thank you for the invitation once again to appear before you today on the timely topic of support for indigenous communities, businesses and individuals during COVID-19.

From our previous testimony to this committee, you are already aware that the NAFC represents more than a hundred local friendship centres and PTs—provincial and territorial associations—in every province and territory in Canada, except Prince Edward Island.

Friendship centres are urban indigenous community hubs that are owned and operated by indigenous people and provide a wide range of programs and services for every age and demographic of people. We offer services in justice, health, violence prevention, housing, homelessness, economic development, entrepreneurship, employment and training, children and youth programming, education, languages, culture, sports and recreation. Collectively, we are one of the largest and most comprehensive service delivery networks in Canada, and not just among indigenous organizations.

When the pandemic was declared, friendship centres rolled up their sleeves and got to work. Having to pivot quickly, we moved to collect items—food, supplies, protective equipment—and began delivering kits to community members. We had friendship centre staff cooking food in their own homes to package and deliver and had staff and volunteers going out to pick traditional medicines to include in deliveries.

Delivery of these items also allowed friendship centres to check in on community members to see how they were dealing with the pandemic. In one instance, a friendship centre discovered that a family had a broken stove. The friendship centre arranged for a new one to be delivered to the family so that they could cook their own food.

Friendship centres rented handwashing stations and portable toilets to ensure that people had access to sanitation, especially those who were unsheltered. Friendship centre outreach workers have been ensuring that unsheltered or homeless members of the community know what indigenous specific supports are available.

Friendship centres have spearheaded or joined COVID-19 joint task forces and worked with numerous other community organizations to ensure a joint response in collaboration.

We have secured and delivered more than 400 tablets and distributed them across the country. These tablets went to children and young people for school, families for work, seniors to reduce isolation and foster connections, and to friendship centre staff to transition to providing online support. We are so proud of the way our members network has stepped up and stepped forward in these times.

Our work has not come without challenges. As urban indigenous organizations, we experienced what continues to be an ongoing jurisdictional wrangling that has been noticed since the beginning. Neither the federal nor the provincial governments stepped up early to provide supports specific to urban indigenous organizations, with each inquiring of us what contributions the other level of government was making.

Once friendship centres did receive funding, there were misunderstandings about what the funding was for. While friendship centres applied for and received funds to provide community-wide supports, we received many calls for individual or family financial support.

Despite these challenges, friendship centres' responses have been quite incredible. While we do not expect the level of service to decline any time soon—in fact, we expect it to increase over the next four to six weeks, as the holidays are close—we are also looking to the future.

Current funding is set to end on March 31, 2021, and we are gravely concerned that the community supports that people are now relying on will not be able to continue into the new fiscal year. We forecast that the current levels of support, eventual vaccine distribution and then the “building back better” phase will require heavy engagement with urban indigenous people, organizations and communities.

Indigenous people are a priority population in this pandemic, and we need to ensure that urban indigenous people are not left behind.

The NAFC has offered and continues to offer its perspectives, expertise and knowledge of urban indigenous communities and community members to the federal government to help inform them and to guide effective remedies both now and as we continue on this journey. We look forward to being part of the ongoing conversation and continued investment in this work.

Thank you so much.

[The Chair, Liberal, Bob Bratina]

You had a whole minute left, but we appreciate that, because I know that our questioners are eager to speak to you.

Now we have Vice-Chair McLeod. I have you up, along with Mr. Vidal, for a six=minute questioning round.

Please go ahead.

[Cathy McLeod, Conservative, Kamloops—Thompson—Cariboo, BC]

Thank you. We're certainly happy to take the extra minute, Chair, as I share my time.

Thank you to all of the witnesses. It's very important testimony in terms of supporting a committee report with some recommendations to help the government move forward.

I want to start my questions with Dr. Wieman.

This is something that you didn't address, but it's something I have been wondering about and is a concern, and that is the issue of the caregivers you represent, the physicians, who are working in very challenging circumstances with no end in sight. Have you contemplated if there are any supports or things that would be helpful in terms of the burnout and the tremendous stress that the caregivers and the physicians must be under, especially those on the front lines?

[Dr. Cornelia Wieman]

Yes, there were probably many things I left out of what I was able to share in six minutes, but that is really an important issue you raise. I know from speaking to some of our members who are working on the front lines that burnout is definitely an issue, and not just for physicians but also for the nurses, the health directors, etc., all the different front-line staff working in our communities. Even for the indigenous physician members, like me, who work in public health, this has really been a challenge to address in terms of human resources. We have to remember that we are experiencing the pandemic, as well as working on aspects of health care during the pandemic.

I haven't actually heard of anything specifically for that, for caregivers who work with and on behalf of indigenous communities. I think that's a really important point you raise and also very necessary. I can definitely speak from personal experience about the need for something like that. It would be amazing. I know in my health authority where I work, in British Columbia, we have access to cultural supports, but that may not necessarily be the case for other caregivers across the country.

[Cathy McLeod, Conservative, Kamloops—Thompson—Cariboo, BC]

Thank you.

Given that I'm sharing my time, I'll turn it over to my colleague, Mr. Vidal.

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

Thanks, Cathy.

I have a couple of questions, and we'll see if we can get to two. I'll get to the first one first. It's for the National Association of Friendship Centres folks, Christopher and Jocelyn, if you would.

I was in Ottawa last week and I raised with Minister Miller the concern about a lack of data, especially as it relates to urban indigenous people. This is also something I raised at this committee way back in April, and Christopher, you talked about even the jurisdictional wrangling that goes on with the people you folks represent.

Our suggestion is that it's time for a coordinated effort, especially as it relates to the rollout of a vaccine strategy. I also raised the point that I think vulnerable people and communities must be a priority as we consider how this happens. My question for you is actually quite simple. Has your organization or have you, in your engagement with the government, been able to be involved in discussions around the lack of data or the rollout of a vaccination strategy as it effects urban indigenous folks?

[Christopher Sheppard]

Thank you, Mr. Vidal.

If you've seen Jocelyn and me present at any federal committee, the lack of urban indigenous health data and other sources of disaggregated urban indigenous data in Canada is, I guess at minimum, shocking, because what you don't know, you don't know. What we do know is that urban indigenous people make up the majority of indigenous people in this country, so you actually don't know how to connect with them, how to support them or what things you need to be doing in health policy.

We've been working specifically with Well Living House on data and maybe a health data strategy nationally, because no one is doing it. If the governments can't figure out the jurisdictional issues and figure out a way to collect that data, then someone else is going to have to. For us, while we wait for the governments to figure out whose jurisdiction it is to count people, we're going to work with our indigenous physician partners and health centres to figure that out in the meantime. When you're on the ground in urban communities, it's shocking that people aren't paying attention to the basic idea that this is where most of us are.

For the vaccines specifically, Jocelyn can answer that, so I'll toss it to her to finish.

[Jocelyn Formsma, Executive Director, National Association of Friendship Centres]

Quickly on the vaccine rollout, we've been in conversation with Indigenous Services' first nations and Inuit health branch as well as the Public Health Agency of Canada, just to get in early with some of those conversations. Now it's the same issue in that the rollout of the vaccine will happen provincially. In some of the guidelines that the Public Health Agency of Canada is developing, we're just trying to ensure that they are inclusive of urban indigenous when doing their planning to get the vaccine out to indigenous people.

We're especially concerned about some of those more vulnerable folks who may not feel comfortable accessing mainstream health services, as President Wieman mentioned in her opening remarks. We're experiencing the same thing. We're trying to see if there's a way to see if they would like to utilize the friendship centre network. We just need to know as soon as possible so that we can be clear about the kinds of resources and the capacity we would need to be able to support that kind of rollout. We have halls, gyms, parking lots that community members may feel a bit safer coming to than a mainstream health clinic. All we're asking them is to just be up front in keeping us engaged sooner rather than later.

[The Chair, Liberal, Bob Bratina]

Thank you very much.

We have Adam van Koeverden for six minutes. Please, go ahead.

[Adam van Koeverden, Liberal, Milton, ON]

Thank you very much, Mr. Chair, and thank you to the witnesses for joining us today. It's an honour and a privilege to hear from you.

The first part of my question will be for Dr. Wieman.

Dr. Wieman, I had the honour and privilege of meeting Dr. Nadine Caron, who I am sure is maybe a colleague or a friend, or somebody you have heard of. She was one of the most inspiring people I've ever met. I just thought I would make that connection here and pass that along.

My question is regarding the $631 million that was announced yesterday in the FES for enhancing public health measures in indigenous communities. It sounds like a lot of money, but it's also a huge issue and requires a tremendous amount of work. The implementation of these monies is more important than the total investment. The intention is to help mostly seniors who will be most severely impacted by COVID-19, and it says that the measures should help to prevent and contain the spread in indigenous communities.

I listened to your testimony today about how absolutely critical and important that is, but I just wanted to highlight that amount as being large but the problem is bigger. I'd love to hear your input on the implementation of this funding and what needs to be done to ensure that it actually achieves the goal.

[Dr. Cornelia Wieman]

Thank you for that. I'll just quickly say that I get a chance to interact with Dr. Caron quite regularly, so thanks for that. I'll say hi.

I think the one thing that's really important to, I guess, emphasize is that our elders are in the older age ranges. Included in our elders are our language keepers and our knowledge keepers. They are a precious, irreplaceable cultural resource. I think that is part of the reason there's a lot of anxiety in different communities—urban, rural, remote—about trying our best to protect our elders from COVID-19 as best we can.

Part of my response is based on the B.C. context in which I'm working. Communities themselves and groups of communities and nations have their own kinds of pandemic plans that they would like to enact in order to slow, reduce and prevent the spread of COVID-19 in their communities. That includes very much protecting elders, and it ties into some of the testimony you already heard earlier today, even in the session before this one, around providing basic comfort measures, the ability to maintain cleanliness and sanitation in the homes regarding the virus. Then we have pure mental health, things that would help everybody, but in this case, older people's and our elders' mental health. We're quite concerned about the lack of ability to connect with one another during this time, being physically distant while remaining emotionally and spiritually connected.

As you say, I think it sounds like a lot of money but once it gets distributed or allocated it will be interesting to see the communities' ideas for how they would like to invest those funds.

[Adam van Koeverden, Liberal, Milton, ON]

Thank you, Dr. Wieman.

With my remaining time, I'd like to focus on the money that's going, also from the FES, to territorial isolation hubs. I would love to see a hub of this sort, if it's an infrastructure investment, be reutilized eventually as such a valuable piece of infrastructure. We know that places to meet, places to play, places to gather and certainly housing are all in short supply in the north.

What is your experience or what are your thoughts on these so-called isolation hubs? Do you have any insight or perspective on this investment?

[Dr. Cornelia Wieman]

I'll do my best, but my knowledge is really relatively limited around that. I think some of the other people who have provided their experiences at this meeting today recognize that at times self-isolation in the family home, for example, is not feasible or anywhere near possible because of issues like overcrowding and just the small space and relative limitations of a particular home.

I work in public health in my day job, so when new cases arise we're always interested in working with that particular person and their family to ensure that they have a safe place to go to have their self-isolation period. That includes people who are deemed to be close contacts. Certainly, any investment to be able to be helpful to people in those situations is necessary and needed.

[The Chair, Liberal, Bob Bratina]

You have 10 seconds left.

[Adam van Koeverden, Liberal, Milton, ON]

It catches up. Thank you.

[The Chair, Liberal, Bob Bratina]

Thanks so much.

Ms. Bérubé, you have the floor for six minutes.

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

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

I'd like to thank the witnesses for taking part in this meeting.

I represent the riding of Abitibi—Baie-James—Nunavik—Eeyou. My question is for Ms. Siouï.

You spoke earlier about the economic recovery, of the First Nations report card and the fact that there were major issues. How do you think the federal government supported you and how can it support you more during the pandemic?

[Marjolaine Siouï]

The investments that have been made to date have been an important support for the communities as a whole. However, among the issues that persistent is temporary housing. We spoke about it earlier. Building for the future requires resources. We must also have infrastructure that will remain permanently.

However, I believe that the leadership provided by the communities has helped to minimize the spread of the virus. There's also the way it was done. Another issue that has been brought up a lot by our political leaders is the fact that not all police services are considered essential services at this point in time. Many communities still have to rely on provincial police services. So we need to establish this governance and these resources to ensure safety in the communities.

In terms of funding, we have successfully implemented GeneXpert devices in several communities. However, the issue of rapid testing and the strategy with the provinces for the upcoming vaccine remains an issue. We're once again caught up in legal battles and jurisdictional disputes, and that needs to be addressed.

The last point, which is just as important, is access to data. We were talking about this earlier. Several initiatives have already been taken, but we need to develop this strategy so that we can access and manage our own data.

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

Thank you, Ms. Siouï.

I'll now turn to Mr. Robertson.

You spoke earlier about economic catch-up. What are your expectations of the government in terms of the funds you'll need to carry out your economic plan?

[Mickel Robertson]

We quantified the catch-up that is necessary in terms of housing. The cost could be as high as $4 billion. Of course, $4 billion is a huge amount of money, and we don't necessarily expect to receive that amount. What we want most of all is for a range of solutions to be deployed to facilitate the retrofit.

Earlier, I talked about building homes for seniors. This is densified housing that creates space in communities and frees up single-family homes for families who are waiting.

There is also housing for professionals. This would be another great opportunity to create temporary housing. In this case too, the objective would be to free up single-family residences. At the moment, these are occupied by professionals who work in the communities.

In addition, there is the whole issue of temporary housing for the homeless. If this had been deployed in advance, places could have been used to put people in isolation. Because of overcrowding, it's very difficult to isolate oneself in houses. Normally, this would have been a solution for people who are temporarily or permanently homeless.

These are all areas in which we think the government could invest. It would have a lasting effect on communities. It would create a tremendous amount of spinoffs in our communities and the surrounding communities. Whether we like it or not, we're not able to do all of this without collaboration. We need to work in partnership. As a collective, we believe this is a major opportunity for economic development, not only in the short term, but in the long term as well. We know that there are many ramifications, including the links between housing and health and socio-economic indicators.

There really is a problem of overcrowding and overdensity in our homes, but we see this as an opportunity to change things. However, the state of vulnerability is very serious in these times of pandemic.

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

The pandemic has highlighted the need for Internet access.

How are things going in your regions? Do you need more funding to make your Internet access easier?

[Mickel Robertson]

Yes, Internet services in many rural communities are deficient. Not having access to telemedicine, for example, increases the vulnerability of the population. Information is more difficult to obtain. It also increases isolation.

As you know, we are holding this session using the Zoom platform. The use of such platforms has allowed the whole world to continue turning. But many of our communities don't have access to that. They're excluded from it. Whether we like it or not, it makes them more vulnerable, not only in terms of health, but also in terms of the economy. Many businesses have been able to continue to operate and have access to their customers because they had high-speed Internet access.

Our communities that don't have access to such services are excluded. I don't have the exact list of these communities, but I can tell you that there are some.

[The Chair, Liberal, Bob Bratina]

We're at time.

I'm sorry. We had better leave it at that.

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

Thank you.

[The Chair, Liberal, Bob Bratina]

Ms. Blaney, you have six minutes. Please, go ahead.