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CHAPTER D-6
Systemic Discrimination in
Government Services and Programs
and Its Impact on First Nations Peoples
During the COVID-19 Pandemic*
Anne Levesque** and Sophie Thériault***
Abstract
Historic and contemporary forms of colonialism predispose First
Nations peoples to higher risk for COVID-19. This chapter argues that
the health disparities faced by First Nations communities are directly
attributable to the underfunding and discrimination in public ser-
vices, especially on reserves. The first part of the chapter canvasses
the inequities in government services and programs that impede the
capacity of First Nations communities to effectively prevent and man-
age public health crises, such as the COVID-19 pandemic, in accor-
dance with their own priorities, circumstances, and needs. The second
part proposes Caring Society v Canada, a precedent-setting decision of
the Canadian Human Rights Tribunal (CHRT), as establishing the
legal standard for Canada when designing and funding its response
to the COVID-19 pandemic for First Nations communities. We argue
* The authors would like to thank the anonymous reviewers and Dr. Cindy
Blackstock for their insightful suggestions and thoughtful comments, as well
as our talented research assistants Jennifer Linde and Laurie-Anne Mercier for
their invaluable support in drafting this chapter. Any errors are our own. Anne
Levesque is one of the lawyers representing the First Nations Child and Family
Caring Society in its litigation against Canada discussed in this chapter.
** Assistant Professor in the French Common Law Program in the Faculty of Law
at the University of Ottawa.
*** Full Professor and Vice-Dean (Academic) in the Faculty of Law (Civil Law
Section), University of Ottawa.
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