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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,
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