As more Manitoba First Nations continue to shut access to their communities, doctors are preparing to treat their on-reserve patients remotely. The response plan for about 20 remote Northern First Nations is being co-ordinated by Ongomiizwin – Indigenous Institute of Health & Healing at the University of Manitoba. The department provides health care to northern…

Some Yukon First Nations want the territorial government to put a stop to any mining or staking in the territory during the COVID-19 pandemic.  The Na-Cho Nyak Dun First Nation says Victoria Gold’s Eagle Gold Mine operations, with hundreds of workers on a rotating shift schedule, are an enormous risk to the community.  The mine is about 85…

Two First Nations communities in Manitoba have made a direct appeal to Defence Minister Harjit Sajjan to establish a military hospital in their region in anticipation of an outbreak of COVID-19, CBC News has learned. A third community included a similar request in a recent, more wide-ranging appeal to Indigenous Services Canada. Pimicikamak, also referred…

A few dozen people waiting to go home to Nunavut are under strict self-isolation orders in a Winnipeg hotel that they aren’t allowed to leave unescorted and where they remain under 24/7 security surveillance. Angel Aksawnee, her mother and others from Nunavut are among those under isolation. They say they can’t leave the room without permission and a…

Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland appeared Monday to reject a request by a group of First Nations in Manitoba for Canada to allow Cuban doctors into their communities to bolster their health care services in the face of the COVID-19 pandemic. Southern Chiefs Organization (SCO) Grand Chief Jerry Daniels sent a letter to Prime Minister Justin…

A Quebec couple, apparently fearing the spread of COVID-19, travelled thousands of kilometres across the country to find haven in a remote northern Yukon community — only to be sent packing a couple of days later by police. “They dreamt about it, pointed at a map, jumped in their car, and now they’re in the Yukon,” said Chief…