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61COVID-19
and First Nationsâ Responses
travel to these First Nations communities to stock up on cigarettes.
Simultaneously, there was an increase in online racism against First
Nations communities that issued temporary closures.33
To mitigate against the risk of infection within the Nation, some
First Nations communities are limiting access to the reserve to resi-
dents only (and in some cases excluding non-resident citizens of the
nation). This is in step with, for example, a province closing its bor-
ders to others (as Quebec has done, for example) or Canada closing
the border to the United States to slow the spread of COVID-19. As we
write, warmer weather approaches and many First Nations in Ontario
are discouraging non-resident cottagers from travelling to their com-
munities due to the increased potential for the spread of COVID-19.
Another unique constitutional question arises in this context: can non-
resident mobility rights under section 6 of the Charter be restricted
by the application of First Nations jurisdiction and the protection of
ârights or freedoms that pertain to the aboriginal peoples of Canadaâ
against charter claims?34
There have been tensions between First Nations that have exer-
cised their jurisdictional assertion to protect the health of their people
and non-resident cottagers. Cottage leases located on reserves are sub-
ject to various laws, including the Indian Act35 and the First Nation Lands
ManagementÂ
Act.36 Generally, reserve lands cannot be privately owned,
though they can be leased to non-residents and are often used for non-
resident cottagers. First Nations retain the right as to whether or not to
renew a cottage lease by way of statute37 or inherent right.38 A different
question arises when First Nations communities wish to exercise pub-
lic health authorities to prevent a non-resident cottager from entering
their community, where to do so would put the community at risk.
33. Kim Uyede-Kai, âCOIVD-19 and the Racism Pandemic We Need to Talk Aboutâ
(April 2020), online: ShiningÂ
WatersÂ
RegionalÂ
CouncilÂ
<https://shiningwatersregion-
alcouncil.ca/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/COVID-19-and-Racism-Pandemic-
SWRC-revised.pdf>; Roberta K Timothy, âCoronavirus Is Not the âGreat
EqualizerââRace Matters: U of T Expertâ, U of T News (8 April 2020), online:
<https://www.utoronto.ca/news/coronavirus-not-great-equalizer-race-matters-
u-t-expert>.
34. Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, s 25, Part I of the Constitution Act, 1982,
being Schedule B to the CanadaÂ
Act 1982 (UK), 1982, c 11.
35. Indian Act, RSC, 1985, c I-5, ss 38 and 53.
36. First Nation Land Management Act, SC 1999, c 24, s 18(1)(b).
37. Williston v Canada (Minister of Indian Affairs and Northern Development),
2005 FC 829.
38. Devilâs Gap Cottagers (1982) Ltd v Rat Portage Band No 38B,Â
2008 FC 812.
VULNERABLE
The Law, Policy and Ethics of COVID-19
- Titel
- VULNERABLE
- Untertitel
- The Law, Policy and Ethics of COVID-19
- Autoren
- Vanessa MacDonnell
- Jane Philpott
- Sophie Thériault
- Sridhar Venkatapuram
- Verlag
- Ottawa Press
- Datum
- 2020
- Sprache
- englisch
- Lizenz
- CC BY-NC-ND 4.0
- ISBN
- 9780776636429
- Abmessungen
- 15.2 x 22.8 cm
- Seiten
- 648
- Kategorien
- Coronavirus
- International