Page - 53 - in VULNERABLE - The Law, Policy and Ethics of COVID-19

53COVID-19 and First Nations’ Responses Federal Government’s Failure and the Argument for Enhanced First Nations Jurisdiction Today, there are 634 First Nations in Canada, with more than 50 dis- tinct languages; their financial, geographic, political, cultural, and social circumstances vary considerably.6 There is no homogeneous way to refer to an Indigenous experience of COVID-19, other than increased vulnerabilities and risk. Furthermore, within each commu- nity there will be a range of opinions and perspectives depending on capacity, geography, and access to resources. Some communities have recent experience with pandemics, including those that were signifi- cantly affected by H1N1 and SARS.7 Some now have emergency pre- paredness plans. Others have developed COVID-specific strategies. As noted above, Indigenous people are confronted with dispari- ties and disadvantages in every conceivable indicator of well-being.8 Anne Levesque and Sophie Thériault, in the Equity section of this vol- ume (see Chapter D-6), cover some of these issues, including the lack of responsiveness by governments and the wholly inadequate fund- ing of existing responsibilities, in violation of human rights. Many First Nations communities across Canada are in a continual state of crisis and have declared states of emergency in their communities in the following areas: health (suicide crisis); infrastructure, including inadequate and over-crowded housing and unsafe drinking water; child welfare; and the climate crisis (fires, droughts, and floods). Governmental attempts to address these crises have been inadequate and have left Indigenous people more susceptible to COVID-19. These inequalities will only be exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic “largely due to the pre-existing and ongoing impacts of colonialism and racism.”9 In our view, the federal government has fettered its jurisdiction by being non-responsive to ongoing human rights violations and by 6. René R Gadacz, “First Nations” in The  Canadian  Encyclopedia, (Toronto: Historica Canada, 2020), online: The  Canadian  Encyclopedia <https://www.thecanadianen- cyclopedia.ca/en/article/first-nations>. 7. Shanifa Nasser, “Early Signs Suggest Race Matters When it Comes to COVID-19. So Why Isn’t Canada Collecting Race-Based Data?”, CBC News (17 April 2020), online: <https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toronto/race-coronavirus-canada-1.5536168>. 8. Supra note 4. 9. Ontario Human Rights Commission, “Policy Statement on a Human Rights- Based Approach to Managing the COVID-19 Pandemic”, online: Ontario Human Rights  Commission  <http://www.ohrc.on.ca/en/policy-statement-human-rights- based-approach-managing-covid-19-pandemic>.