Feb. 17, 2022: CBC – As Ontario lifts more COVID-19 restrictions, First Nations in the province’s north are still grappling with the Omicron surge. Chiefs from several northern several northern communities were briefed Wednesday about the COVID-19 situation, and the Sioux Lookout First Nation Health Authority outlined the difference in northern data about the virus compared to the south.

“While things elsewhere in the province are maybe moving ahead and have all the resources at their disposal. First Nations in this region again do not have access to all the infrastructure that someone else down south might have access to,” said Dr. Lloyd Douglas, the top public health physician for the Sioux Lookout First Nations Health Authority (SLFNHA).

Douglas told CBC News the provincewide easing of many restrictions is missing the context of what’s happening in northern areas. He said not only is a historic lack of resources a concern at this stage in the pandemic, but the north is also weeks behind the rest of the province when it comes to test positivity rates and hospitalizations. The health authority is seeing a spike in COVID-19 cases in the region Eabametoong and Mishkeegogamang First Nations in outbreak, while Pikangikum is just starting to see a decline in spread of the virus.

Dr. Anna Banerji, an infectious disease specialist and founder of the Indigenous Health Conference, said the province has not fully consulted with people on the ground in remote First Nations.  She said the risks for having COVID-19 unleashed into remote communities is more consequential than in the southern part of the province.

She pointed to a number of factors that can worsen the situation, such as:

• overcrowding in homes
• a lack of surge capacity and 
• health-care infrastructure

The discrepancies between what’s happening in different parts of the province shows it’s time for more representation from the north at the Ontario COVID-19 Science Advisory Table, added Banerji. Sol Mamakwa, Ontario NDP MPP for the riding of Kiiwetinoong, echoes the concerns for northern Ontario as COVID-19 case counts climb. He said having representation from northern communities in the form of a separate chief medical officer of health is a crucial step toward having a strong public health system. 

“Sometimes, we’re not treated as part of Ontario, as citizens of Ontario. And I think it’s really important to put the uniqueness of First Nations when we speak about having a medical officer,” he said.