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one-quarter (23.1%) of First Nations peoples on reserves live in
crowded housing, and 44.2% live in houses needing major repairs.17 It
is well established that overcrowding and substandard housing lead
to poor health outcomes.18 In the context of the COVID-19 pandemic,
crowded housing with poor air circulation would facilitate the trans-
mission of the virus and prevent First Nations families from comply-
ing with physical distancing recommendations.19
Moreover, housing shortages on and off reserves for low income
First Nations families, combined with public health directives on con-
finement, increase the risk faced by First Nations women and chil-
dren, who are disproportionately affected by domestic, physical, and
sexual violence, notably as a result of the intergenerational trauma
induced by sexist and patriarchal colonial laws and policies.20 The
harm for women and children is heightened by the dire lack of safe
houses and shelters on reserves21 and long-standing inequities in the
funding of child welfare services.22
Furthermore, First Nations peoples are more likely to develop
complications from COVID-19 due to the prevalence within their
communities of chronic diseases considered as risk factors, includ-
ing diabetes and severe asthma. Yet the capacity of First Nations
communities to prevent SARS-CoV-2 infections and address related
complications are considerably reduced by unequal access to health
care services.23 Many First Nations communities lack access to health
17. Statistics Canada, Census in Brief. The Housing Conditions of Aboriginal peo-
ple in Canada, Catalogue No 98-200-X2016021 (Ottawa: Statistics Canada,
25 October 2017); OAG 2011, supra note 10 at paras 4.35-4.45.
18. UNHRC, supra note 1 at 1.
19. Ibid.
20. MMIWG, supra note 11 at vol. 1a, 229-307, 319; Native Womenâs Association
of Canada (NWAC), âNWAC President Says COVID-19 is Increasing Violence
Against Indigenous Women, Says Government Must Release an Action Planâ,
NWACÂ
NewsÂ
&Â
PressÂ
Releases (7 May 2020), online: NWAC <www.nwac.ca/nwac-
president-says-covid-19-is-increasing-violence-against-indigenous-women-
says-government-must-release-an-action-plan/>; Teresa Wright, âViolence
against Indigenous Women during COVID-19 Sparks Calls for MMIWG
Planâ, CTV News (10 May 2020), online: <www.ctvnews.ca/canada/violence-
against-indigenous-women-during-covid-19-sparks-calls-for-mmiwg-plan-
1.4932833>.
21. MMIWG, supra note 11 at vol 1b, 149.
22. Marina Sistovaris et al, Child Welfare and Pandemics: Literature Scan (Toronto:
Policy Bench, Fraser Mustard Institute for Human Development, University of
Toronto, 2020).
23. Canada, House of Commons, TheÂ
ChallengesÂ
ofÂ
DeliveringÂ
ContinuingÂ
CareÂ
inÂ
FirstÂ
Nations Communities: Report of the Standing Committee on Indigenous and NorthernÂ
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