Late last week when semi-trailers pulled up to the grocery store on Pasqua First Nation in Saskatchewan and started off-loading packages of cleaning supplies, medicine, toilet paper and dry food, people started wondering what it was all for. The first case of COVID-19 had just been reported in the province and a collective sense of panic…

Attawapiskat resident Lucien Lazarus says he and his family are now washing their hands every time they re-enter the house.  That’s because the COVID-19 pandemic is the talk of Attawapiskat, Ont., prompting some residents to stock up on toilet paper and hand sanitizer at the local Northern store, he said.  Lazarus returned home Monday afternoon from Moose Factory, Ont.,…

Several First Nations in B.C. are taking COVID-19 public health measures into their own hands by self-isolating their communities. While the federal government announced it would use isolation tents and temporary shelters in the case of outbreaks on remote reserves, community nurses are also preparing their responses. But some Indigenous leaders hope taking preventive measures now will…

Charlie Angus, Member of Parliament for Timmins-James Bay, is critical of the approach that the federal government is taking in case COVID-19 spreads to northern First Nations.  Last week, the Public Health Agency of Canada said they were working on procuring specialized isolation tents for screening and testing that could be used in communities that…

A tribal council representing eight First Nations communities in northwestern Ontario is partnering with a Canadian charity to train future water plant operators for its member First Nations. The Bimose Tribal Council is working with Water First Education & Training Inc. to offer a drinking water treatment and environmental water management internship program for young…

Dr. Stanley Vollant has spent much of the last decade travelling across Quebec sharing his message about healthy living and reconciliation, but he hopes to pass on that role to the next generation of Indigenous leaders. It’s why his non-profit organization Puamun Meshkenu launched a new youth ambassadors program aimed at giving 11 First Nations…