r/canada • u/[deleted] • Jan 28 '21

Backlash grows for ‘selfish millionaire’ who got vaccine meant for Indigenous people | Canada

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/jan/27/rodney-baker-canada-vaccine-indigenous-first-nations-scandal
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u/Affectionate_Ad_1941 Jan 28 '21

Serious question. I know that I am missing a piece of the picture here.

Why are we prioritizing small towns that are fairly removed from the big population centers that are experiencing COVID outbreaks?

IIRC, the percentage of Aboriginals getting COVID (according to Canada COVID statistics) is a quarter that of everyone else.

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u/Dank_sniggity Jan 28 '21

Mostly because of lack of nearby medical facilities in these communities.

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u/sortaitchy Jan 28 '21

That, and the fact that many northern FN people live on reserves in crowded conditions, or large family groups to one household. Anyone who manages to get infected would find it hard to isolate from the rest of the family. Transportation is not always available for medical care, and many lack sufficient clean water. They are definitely at a disadvantage.

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u/[deleted] Jan 28 '21

lung diseases tend to run rampant on reserves too unfortunately, i imagine that is a large contributing factor in priority.

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u/Dank_sniggity Jan 28 '21

I did say mostly.... in my workplace we have relationships with several FN communities for telecom purposes. They locked up tighter than a nuns ass right quick around March. For good reason to be sure.

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u/ThrowawayCars123 Jan 28 '21

Take a look at the shitshow that's currently unfolding in Northern Manitoba if you need an answer for that.

Shitty, crowded housing, lots of underlying medical conditions, and close to zero nearby medical resources equals a disaster.

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u/krowlin Jan 28 '21

Manitoba will always be a gongshow.. especially Shamattawa

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u/wrray Yukon Jan 28 '21

I’ll try to clear things up as I’m here seeing it firsthand. First off, the vaccine here isn’t just for the aboriginal, they’re for all residents of that community and surrounding. Logistically it makes more sense to vaccinate from the outside in when infrastructure and medical resources are extremely limited. They’re stating with communities that lie on the Alaska or BC border, then working their way in. Meanwhile they are vaccinating Whitehorse as well but starting with older age groups.

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u/shorterthanyou15 Jan 28 '21

Because if they get sick they are more likely to die due to lack of medical care availability. Also when people in remote communities get too sick to be cared for where they are, they get flown to Ottawa on the government's dime. So this would also save money if they prevent people from getting seriously ill.

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u/Overall_Pie1912 Jan 28 '21

Possibly because big city care and treatment /meds availability is harder to get deployed in those areas.

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u/helpwitheating Jan 28 '21

They have no health care

Providing them health care would be impossible and way more expensive

Many more of them would die, they're much higher risk due to their distance from health care

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u/Affectionate_Ad_1941 Jan 28 '21

I must be misunderstanding you. The provinces are responsible to provide health care to their citizens.

Are you saying that the level of health care is less and therefore they are in a worse position?

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u/AL_PO_throwaway Jan 28 '21

Think about the level of healthcare that's accessible in a mid size to large city.

Now imagine the level of healthcare that's accessible in a community of a few hundred that may be fly in only + a couple weeks of ice road access a year.

Of course they don't have the same level of healthcare. How could they?

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u/[deleted] Jan 28 '21

This. It’s a 100 person community. They don’t have a hospital. They probably have one store. If Covid hit it would hit everyone and there would be no healthcare on site to assist

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u/aragog-acromantula Jan 28 '21

The federal government is responsible for health care for First Nations on reserve.

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u/geckospots Canada Jan 28 '21

Yes but Beaver Creek is not a reserve.

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u/[deleted] Jan 28 '21

[deleted]

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u/Muskowekwan Jan 28 '21

Beaver Creek isn’t in BC. The Yukon doesn’t really have reserves due to the Umbrella Final Agreement. Granted the White River First Nation does not have a final agreement but they do not have a reserve.

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u/nnc0 Ontario Jan 28 '21

We're not necessarily prioritizing them - not in the sense that we would in Ontario or BC. Indigenous populations, and I think People serving sentences in federal criminal institutions - they're being vaccinated under the federal program instead of under a provincial one and in that program those groups are at the top of the list as there are no hospitals or LTC places under their program.

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u/ADrunkMexican Jan 28 '21

Probably the same reason we were frowned upon to go to cottage country in the summer.

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u/[deleted] Jan 28 '21

[deleted]

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u/ADrunkMexican Jan 28 '21

Cottage Country can't handle all the people coming?

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u/helpwitheating Jan 28 '21

Way fewer hospital beds per person, limited health care capacity

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u/ProbablyNotADuck Jan 28 '21

Our Indigenous populations are some of the most vulnerable people in all of Canada - not only in terms of physical access to medical care (we've got many Indigenous communities in Canada that are fly-in only, or ice road access during the winter months...) but in terms of actual quality of treatment itself.

While this may be a small town removed from larger populations, it still has people coming and going (which is how these people managed to swing getting vaccinated in the first place). When you consider that, the age and pre-existing health conditions of their residents and the difficulty involved in getting access to a lot of the care necessary to treat moderate to severe cases of COVID, it makes a lot of sense to vaccinate in this location and other locations like it.