(File photo/CKOM)

By Teena Monteleone

More enforcement needed

FSIN calling on province and RCMP to help curb spread of COVID in northern Sask

Jul 27, 2021 | 8:00 AM

The Buffalo River Dene Nation in Northern Saskatchewan is battling the quick spread of the coronavirus and the Federation of Sovereign Indigenous Nations (FSIN) executive said it’s due to a lack of public health orders and a lack of enforcement by RCMP to ensure positive COVID-19 patients stay isolated. Now, they’re calling on the province and police to ramp up their efforts to help curb the spread.

“Chief Elmer Campbell and his health staff are running out of options and the death of our most vulnerable could increase unless reinforcements are brought in by the province and RCMP to enforce rules to keep COVID-19 numbers from continuing to climb. We support his calls for action and are calling on Premier Scott Moe to help immediately,” said FSIN Chief Bobby Cameron. “We understand that many community members are frustrated and facing ‘COVID Fatigue’ but we must come together to ensure our vulnerable community members are safe. We encourage everyone to get vaccinated immediately and continue to follow safety protocols like wearing a mask, practicing ceremony safely and isolating if you’ve tested positive to stop the spread of COVID-19.”

Buffalo River, part of the Meadow Lake Tribal Council, falls into the ‘North West’ zone of the Northern Inter-Tribal Health Authority’s (NITHA) COVID-19 update. On July 16, the North West had 18 active cases. As of Monday, that number is 87 and 56 of those are Variants of Concern (VOCs) cases. Last Friday, NITHA declared an outbreak in Buffalo River.

“We are doing all that we can to support Chief Elmer Campbell and his staff who are working around the clock to help contain this COVID-19 outbreak but more must be done,” said Meadow Lake Tribal Council Tribal Chief Richard Ben. “They need more health support staff and they also need the RCMP to step in to enforce health and safety protocols to ensure gatherings are stopped and COVID-19 is taken seriously.”

The Athabasca Health Authority (AHA) represents communities in the far north including Black Lake, Stony Rapids, Fon-Du-Lac, Uranium City and Camsell Portage. AHA CEO Allan Adam said one of their communities saw a 140 per cent increase in cases in the last week. He said COVID positive residents are roaming freely because there are no public health orders in place and the RCMP have nothing to enforce.

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“We were warning two to three months before the lifting of the health order that we’re not ready up here yet and because our people are not vaccinating enough,” said Adam. “Our numbers are too low—25 to 30 per cent total vaccination rate—we’re too low and we need more people totally vaccinated.”

Adam said there was a shift in the attitude of residents on July 11 when provincial COVID restrictions were lifted.

“The attitude seems to be that ‘ok, well things are normal now’,” Adam said. “But we’re not done yet. It’s still here.”

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Teena.monteleone@pattisonmedia.com

On Twitter: @MonteleoneTeena