Canadian Rangers on the ground in Fond du Lac

Exhausted community volunteers to get help with tasks like food, water delivery

Canadian Rangers have been deployed for “humanitarian work” on the Fond du Lac First Nation in Saskatchewan's far north, though there's no sign yet the province will ask for more military support as it grapples with devastating COVID-19 outbreaks in long-term care homes.

On Monday evening, federal Public Safety Minister Bill Blair posted on Twitter that Ottawa has approved a request from the Saskatchewan government for assistance to contain COVID-19 on the remote First Nation.

He said Canadian Rangers are now “on the ground to work with community members and bolster their efforts against the virus.”

Don Mcmorris, Saskatchewan's minister of government relations, said Tuesday that the Saskatchewan Public Safety Agency made the request on Dec. 4. He said the Rangers, who are local to the area, will provide humanitarian services like getting food or firewood for self-isolating residents.

Mcmorris said he isn't aware of any other ministry that has requested military help to cope with pandemic pressures. That comes amid a CBC report that reservists are preparing for a possible deployment in the Prairie provinces due to high COVID-19 rates.

NDP Leader Ryan Meili pressed the government on whether it will be making use of that resource to face up to a COVID-19 surge he says is “clearly out of control.”

“Does the premier recognize he needs some help and has he been reaching out to the federal government?” said Meili. “Will there be military support for health care delivery here in Saskatchewan.”

Premier Scott Moe mentioned the support in Fond du Lac and the military's role in vaccine distribution, but he didn't cite any wider request for military support.

Everett Hindley, Saskatchewan's minister of rural and remote health, said the government is looking at “any and all options” to back up its response at long-term care homes, where several residents have died in recent days. He said that could include asking for reservists. But his ministry hasn't reached out yet.

The head of Fond du Lac's emergency response team says the help in her community is appreciated, but she noted that it comes weeks after the community asked the province to request military aid.

Fond du Lac's emergency response co-ordinator, Diane McDonald, said there are currently just three active known cases of COVID-19 in the Dene community of roughly 1,000. Two members were in hospital as of Monday.

At the outbreak's peak in mid-november, 60 people were known to be actively sick and hundreds were required to self-isolate.

Mcdonald said they had to go through the provincial government to request federal military aid, but says they never heard back even after rangers were deployed to nearby Hatchet Lake, which has no known cases of COVID-19.

“So we put in a second request just over a week ago,” she said.

The provincial government could not confirm whether it received the earlier request, though the Saskatchewan Public Safety Agency (SPSA) said there were already community volunteers on the ground through November paid for through Indigenous Services Canada.

The SPSA statement explained that those volunteers were doing humanitarian work like gathering firewood and traditional food, and “the community identified an ongoing need for assistance for these supports.”

Mcdonald said the community wanted the Canadian Rangers to help with water and food delivery, caring for elders and harvesting supplies, something she still hopes they will help do to give the overwhelmed volunteers and staff a break.

“We're satisfied with the rangers being activated right now because it's Christmas break and we're tired,” she said.

“Everyone was risking their lives on a daily basis at that time,” she continued. “It worked out in the end for us but it was longer hours, like 18-hour days.”

Mcdonald says the community is now preparing for a very different type of Christmas and hopes to prevent the virus from flaring up again.

Does the premier recognize he needs some help and has he been reaching out to the federal government?