SHA to collect COVID data on First Nations, Métis people

The Saskatchewan Health Authority is in the “early stages” of creating a system to collect data on how COVID-19 is affecting First Nations and Métis people in the province, a step leaders and academics say is important to managing the virus’s spread in those communities.

First Nations and Métis leaders need that data to prevent and prepare for the virus’s spread, said Dr. Malcolm King, a health professor at the University of Saskatchewan and member of a research group urging better pandemic data collection in Indigenous communities across the world.

“We need to know where the virus is to protect ourselves,” King said.

“We need to know if it’s in our own community and if it is affecting our people, particularly our elders.

“Especially from a public health point of view, it’s not good enough to just know that X number of people in the whole province of Saskatchewan have whatever it is … you need to be more granular than that.”

King said jurisdictions like Manitoba are already collecting such data. He said the ongoing outbreak in the La Loche region, which is primarily Indigenous, speaks to the need for the SHA to do the same.

“Public health officials in places like La Loche need that information,” he said.

SHA spokeswoman Amanda Purcell said in a prepared statement that the SHA has not been collecting ethnic identifiers up to this point because it’s not required under provincial law.

She said the SHA is “beginning the process of having dialogue regarding data infrastructure, indicators and reporting to meet needs of Indigenous communities,” stressing that the work is in its “early stages.”

When asked on Monday, Health Minister Jim Reiter said authorities were not collecting that information but that he was open to raising it with provincial and federal partners.

Federation of Sovereign Indigenous Nations Chief Bobby Cameron said he has not been consulted on those talks but wholeheartedly supports more data collection, given higher-than-average rates of underlying conditions like diabetes in many First Nations communities.

“If we don’t have all the information in front of us to help us make decisions, then how do we flatten the curve and stop the spread?” Cameron said.

Indigenous Services Canada tracks the number of confirmed COVID-19 cases in Indigenous communities, but that tally does not include people of Indigenous heritage outside those communities. The department also doesn’t specify which communities have reported cases; it releases only a provincial tally.

Provincial chief medical health officer Dr. Saqib Shahab noted on Thursday that requests for more detailed COVID-19 data in the early days of the pandemic could not be granted because of privacy concerns, but that “more granular” information was on the way. He did not say whether ethnic indicators were part of that.

Collecting such data carries privacy implications, noted provincial information and privacy commissioner Ronald Kruzeniski. He said authorities should plan for how to collect, store and safely share the data and make sure the process aligns with existing legislation.

The process for gathering the data may need to be vetted by Saskatchewan’s human rights commissioner, who declined an interview request.

In some jurisdictions, like Manitoba, data is already being collected but is only shared with the respective communities.

Kruzeniski said officials should strive to share as much data as they can with everyone, as long as peoples’ individual privacy can be respected.

“The overall answer is: more is better,” Kruzeniski said.