Page - 390 - in VULNERABLE - The Law, Policy and Ethics of COVID-19

VULNERABLE390 First Nations peoples in Canada. Firstly, measures taken in response to public health crises, such as the COVID-19 pandemic, must reflect their cultural, historical, and geographical needs and circumstances. Secondly, the additional costs associated with responding to new public health crises cannot be offset by cutting into existing services and programs geared toward First Nations peoples. Put more simply, the Government of Canada must allocate new money to fund these services. Thirdly, care must be taken to ensure that services and pro- grams for children are culturally appropriate and safeguard their best interests. Finally, it must be recognized that any measures taken in the context of the pandemic will inevitably be futile if they are not cou- pled with swift and effective strategies to comprehensively and holis- tically address all inequities in government services and programs for First Nations peoples. To borrow the analogy of the CHRT, the house will fall down if Canada does not fix the foundation. The COVID-19 pandemic has cast in the starkest light the urgency of comprehensively addressing the inequities in government services for First Nations peoples. Fortunately, a roadmap for doing this already exists. Knowing that the discrimination identified by the CHRT in Canada’s child services was just the tip of the iceberg, the Caring Society and the AFN have proposed a plan to Canada to end all of the inequalities in public services for First Nations children, youth, and families. The “Spirit Bear Plan” calls on the Government of Canada to proactively identify inequities in all services offered to chil- dren of First Nations, such as preschool, elementary, and secondary education, health, and water, and to address them comprehensively and holistically. As Canada has refused to implement the Spirit Bear Plan, the long-standing inequities in government services continue to harm First Nations peoples. The failure to implement the Spirit Bear Plan during the pandemic will further aggravate these harms. Conclusion At the time of writing, the Government of Canada had begun rolling out measures aimed specifically at limiting the spread of SARS-CoV-2 in First Nations communities across Canada. For example, as detailed by Aimée Craft, Deborah McGregor and Jeffery Hewitt in Chapter A-2 of this volume, Canada has provided portable and temporary shel- ter solutions for health services, reminders to self-isolate for 14 days after travel outside of Canada, and the stockpiling of bottled water,