Don’t reopen too quickly, PM says
Trudeau concerned about ‘protection of our older citizens’
Federal officials have stressed the dangers to long-term care residents and Indigenous communities if COVID-19 restrictions are lifted too quickly after projections in Quebec painted a dire picture of the potential cost.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said Saturday he is “very worried” about residents of Montreal — the epicentre of the COVID-19 pandemic in Canada — where the province is preparing to loosen confinement measures despite a rash of fatal outbreaks at nursing homes.
“We must make sure that we are ensuring protection of our older citizens as an absolute priority,” Trudeau told reporters.
“I understand the economic pressures we’re all under and I understand people do want to go outside. But we need to do it in ways that we are sure are going to keep people safe, because the last thing that people want is a few weeks from now is being told: ‘OK, we loosened the rules and now COVID’s spreading again and you’re all going to have go inside for the rest of the summer.’ ”
The comments came less than 24 hours after Quebec’s publichealth institute said deaths could soar to 150 a day in Greater Montreal area if physicaldistancing measures are lifted. New cases could mushroom to 10,000 by June amid a potential surge in hospital admissions.
Premier François Legault said last week that elementary schools, daycares and retail stores with outdoor entrances in Montreal can reopen May 25 — the second time he has pushed back the date, but ahead of other large cities.
Federal officials remain concerned about a rising death toll.
“I’m afraid of more people dying and more outbreaks,” said Dr. Howard Njoo, the country’s deputy chief public health officer.
Long-term care residents account for more than 80 per cent of deaths caused by the virus across Canada despite making up only one in five cases, chief public health officer Dr. Theresa Tam said Saturday.
Stricter measures “may have to be reinstated” if controls ease up too soon, she said, calling the impact on seniors “a national tragedy.” Tam said: “The virus has not disappeared from the face of the Earth.”
Questions about access to supplies are emerging among other vulnerable populations as health officials and community leaders work to contain the spread of COVID-19 in Saskatchewan’s far north. The region has seen a spike in cases in and around the remote Dene village of La Loche, a community of 2,800 about 600 kilometres northwest of Saskatoon, where an outbreak has affected more than 100 residents.
Indigenous Services Minister Marc Miller said outbreaks of COVID-19 in First Nations communities might have been delayed because of their remoteness, but the government needs to remain vigilant. “You could see languages disappear,” he said, referring to elders who make up the last generation to speak some Indigenous dialects. Miller cited a need for more resources and better data collection to help protect the communities and understand the spread of the virus among Indigenous people. He called on provincial governments to help.
The full scope of the outbreak among Indigenous populations remains unknown because federal data collection is carried out mainly among on-reserve and northern communities, he said.
NDP MP Niki Ashton criticized Miller after the government sent medical tents to the First Nations community of Pukatawagan, in northern Manitoba, that “weren’t requested,” calling the move “paternalistic.”
“Rather than listening to the community and respecting their request to retrofit their youth centre into a temporary quarantine space, your department decided to impose an outside solution that was unwanted, unneeded, dangerous and simply wrong,” Ashton wrote in a public letter Friday.
Canada’s case count climbed past 67,000 on Saturday.
Quebecers make up more than half of the total cases, with 36,986, about half of which are in Montreal. On top of sustained community transmission in pockets of the city, long-term care homes have come under such strain that 1,350 Canadian Forces soldiers will have been deployed to 25 facilities by mid-May to help residents, the federal government says.
Ontario Premier Doug Ford said provincial parks will reopen Monday after one of the lowest daily case counts in recent weeks — 346 new confirmed cases for a total of 19,944, including 1,599 deaths.
Trudeau said Canada will not pay the full price for medical masks that do not meet medical standards. On Friday, the federal government suspended shipments of N95 respirators from a Montreal-based supplier after about eight million masks, made in China, failed to meet specifications.
“There are ongoing discussions with them about whether there are alternative uses for these masks, but we will not be paying for masks that do not hit the standards that we expect to give to our front-line workers,” Trudeau said.
LA LOCHE, Sask. — Amanda Black feels lucky that her symptoms have remained mild since she tested positive last week for COVID-19. She and her six-yearold son, Malachi, have runny noses and can’t taste their food.
“We seem to be OK so far,” Black said in a video call from her home in La Loche in northern Saskatchewan.
The Dene village of 2,800 people, about 600 kilometres northwest of Saskatoon, is the centre of a large outbreak of COVID-19. Each day the number of confirmed cases in the area goes up.
As of Friday, there were 136 cases in La Loche and 21 among members of the nearby Clearwater River Dene Nation. The majority of cases are still considered active. Two elders who lived in La Loche’s continuing care centre, have died.
The village sits in the boreal forest on the shores of Lac La Loche near the Alberta boundary.
Each winter, a road is built connecting the village to Alberta’s oilsands, where many La Loche residents work. That connection likely brought COVID-19 to the isolated community.
The outbreak is what many health professionals had feared would happen if COVID-19 made its way into an Indigenous community. Chief public health officer Dr. Theresa Tam has called the situation concerning and Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has said Indigenous, isolated and remote communities are particularly vulnerable.
Diane Janvier Dugan lives in Saskatoon, and was born and raised in La Loche. Her 90-yearold mother and much of her family still live here. Dugan said she often yearns for the fishing, hiking and traditional ceremonies she grew up with.
“La Loche is full of culture,” she said. “Dene culture is just everywhere.”
Dugan dropped off supplies for her mother at the start of March and began to cry on the long drive back south. She knows what’s at stake if the virus continues to infect the elder population.
“When my mom goes, the culture, everything she knows, all of her knowledge about being Dene in La Loche, is gone.”
Leonard Montgrand, regional representative for Métis NationSaskatchewan, said, by and large, most people are taking the risk seriously and staying home. But it’s not easy.
“A lot of people are frustrated and angry: angry at people that are passing the virus, angry that they have to stay in isolation for 14 days.”
Everybody knows each other in La Loche, and word has spread about who has tested positive.
Some residents with addictions will need extra help if La Loche is going to get COVID-19 under control, he added. The community is increasing its capacity to house the homeless and is developing a special alcohol program.
It’s also hoping to set up a retreat north of La Loche to keep elders safe.
Montgrand is frustrated, but also determined. He has seen the community overcome a lot, including a mass shooting at the high school in 2016.
The shooting did not define La Loche, he said, and neither will this outbreak.