Remote First Nations not prepared for COVID-19 outbreak, MP says – CBC

Mar 16, 2020

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 lack adequate infrastructure to deal with COVID-19, which has been declared a pandemic by the World Health Organization.

But Angus said it’ll be hard to isolate people because of a housing shortage where, in some cases, more than a dozen people live together.

“[COVID-19] would spread so fast,” he said. “How do you keep your distance in communities where you have very few resources and people are sleeping in shifts in overcrowded homes?”

Remote First Nations not prepared for COVID-19 outbreak, MP says – CBC

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