So, A few weeks back there was a piece on the news (APTN National News – which from now on is what I mean when I say ‘news’) about a reserve in Manitoba that had an outbreak of H1N1.
In fact, there was an H1N1 threat to many Northwestern reservations.
First Nations national Chief Shawn Atleo attributes this fact to the “inadequate housing, overcrowding, poor water supplies and isolation.”
I’ll blog more about Atleo in the coming weeks, but for now we’ll get back to H1N1.
Chiefs from these reserves asked Ottawa to send them hand sanitizers (hand sanitizers don’t require water, which can be in short supply in many Northern reservations) in bulk to help them combat the virus. If memory serves me right, some hot shots in Ottawa expressed concern over the idea of giving alcohol-based sanitizers to Indians, who they felt would simply drink them away.
You ask, “Is that fact?” I reply, “Yes, I saw it on CTV Newsnet.”
A few weeks pass and the reserve receives a shipment from Ottawa. Expecting to find hand sanitizers in the package the community finds body bags.
Body bags.
Sick isn’t it? Blatent racism aside, that’s a human rights issue. How and why does a fully-able government decide to shrug their shoulders to such a small number of people (in comparison to the rest of the country)?
I wonder what would happen if any other town or city in Canada needed something as simple as hand sanitizers to stay alive. Would they receive a slap in the face in the form of body bags?
Any thoughts? I am always up for discussion, my email is [email protected]. Send me your thoughts, questions, comments or complaints (put Native Issues in subject box) and I will get back to you as fast as I can.
