Page - 387 - in VULNERABLE - The Law, Policy and Ethics of COVID-19
Image of the Page - 387 -
Text of the Page - 387 -
387Systemic
Discrimination in Government Services and Programs and Its Impact on…
professionals, adequate health facilities, and emergency ambulatory
services. While these issues can in part be attributed to the barriers
created by the complex shared jurisdiction over First Nations’ health
care, the lack of consideration for the specific health needs of First
Nations in the allocation of resources is a leading cause of health ineq-
uities.24 Moreover, experiences of racism and prejudice in health care
delivery can have grave consequences during an ongoing pandemic,
such as deprivation from exams and tests, and delayed diagnosis and
treatment.25
Other long-standing inequities in access to essential goods and
services increase the risk presented by SARS-CoV-2 to First Nations
communities. Lack of consistent access to sufficient and affordable
healthy foods will be compounded by potential disruptions in the
food supply chain.26 Unreliable internet connections make distance
education impossible in many First Nations communities, with
adverse consequences for the dissemination of public health informa-
tion, in severing of social relationships among families with members
on and off reserve, and for the educational progress of First Nations
learners.27
These structural inequities pose distinct challenges for First
Nations communities in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic. Yet
there are valuable lessons to be learned from past experiences in the
design and funding of services and programs when confronting these
new circumstances.
Affairs, Chair: Honourable MaryAnn Mihychuk (Ottawa: House of Commons,
December 2018) at 42-1; OAG 2015, supra note 10.
24. Colleen M Flood, William Lahey & Bryan Thomas, “Federalism and Health Care
in Canada. A Troubled Romance?” in Peter Oliver, Patrick Macklem & Nathalie
Des Rosiers, eds, The Oxford Handbook of the Canadian Constitution (Oxford:
Oxford University Press, 2017) at 459-63; OAG 2015, supra note 10 at 4.92-4.96.
25. Commission on relations between Indigenous Peoples and certain public ser-
vices in QuĂ©bec, Final Report of the Public Inquiry Commission on relations betweenÂ
Indigenous Peoples and certain public services in QuĂ©bec: Listening, reconciliation andÂ
progress, Chair: Honourable Jacques Viens (Québec, Commission on relations
between Indigenous Peoples and certain public services in Québec, 2019) at 367.
26. Elisa Levi & Tabitha Robin, “COVID-19 Did Not Cause Food Insecurity in Indig-
enous Communities But It Will Make It Worse”, Yellowhead Institute (29 April
2020), online: <yellowhead institute.org/2020/04/29/covid19-food-insecurity/>.
27. Cindy Blackstock & Isadore Day, “History will repeat itself if First Nations remain
underfunded in the fight against COVID-19”, Globe and Mail (8 April 2020),
online: <www.theglobeandmail.com/opinion/article-history-will-repeat-itself-if-
first-nations-remain-underfunded-in-the/>.
VULNERABLE
The Law, Policy and Ethics of COVID-19
- Title
- VULNERABLE
- Subtitle
- The Law, Policy and Ethics of COVID-19
- Authors
- Vanessa MacDonnell
- Jane Philpott
- Sophie Thériault
- Sridhar Venkatapuram
- Publisher
- Ottawa Press
- Date
- 2020
- Language
- English
- License
- CC BY-NC-ND 4.0
- ISBN
- 9780776636429
- Size
- 15.2 x 22.8 cm
- Pages
- 648
- Categories
- Coronavirus
- International