Feds ignored flu offers: Oswald

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This article was published 05/06/2009 (5062 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

WINNIPEG — The province offered Ottawa help with pandemic planning on First Nations 13 times since May 4 but was turned down every time until Wednesday — the day it was revealed 12 residents of a northern Manitoba reserve have been hospitalized with flu symptoms.

Health Minister Theresa Oswald made the revelation Thursday as she expressed frustration at the federal government’s response to the H1N1 flu outbreak when it comes to First Nations like St. Theresa Point, saying the province has been prevented from doing more because it doesn’t have jurisdiction.

There are now 21 people from the community in hospital in Winnipeg and hundreds more in the community itself have registered with the nursing station as suffering from respiratory symptoms. So far just two cases are confirmed as H1N1 influenza.

Oswald said on Wednesday the province was asked to help find housing for family members coming to Winnipeg with sick loved ones because they were having difficulty finding hotel rooms.

On Thursday, Ottawa asked for additional help with supplies and the province sent masks and antiviral medication to St. Theresa Point.

Oswald said the province had offered to provide antiviral medications for reserves repeatedly in the last month.

"It’s the federal government’s job to ask us if they need some (antivirals), and that’s of course part of what we’ve been asking them 13 times," she said.

She said the province’s stockpile includes enough of the medication for First Nations.

The province, federal health officials and First Nations leaders have met weekly since the swine flu outbreak began a month ago to work on pandemic planning on First Nations.

Manitoba NDP MP Niki Ashton, who represents St. Theresa Point, said in several communities she visited when avian influenza was the big topic a few years ago, she was told that reserves weren’t ready. What’s happening in St. Theresa Point proves that, said Ashton.

She said this also proves how vulnerable First Nations are to an outbreak because the poverty and poor living conditions on reserves make people more susceptible to illness, and overcrowding makes it harder to contain outbreaks.

Manitoba Liberal MP Anita Neville said this situation calls for an assessment of the health-care situation, including public-health planning, on all First Nations.

"Clearly there has to be a better response to a pandemic or a crisis but there has to be preparation for health care in general," said Neville.

In 2005, the Public Health Agency of Canada’s report on pandemic planning outlined a number of outstanding issues related to preparing for an outbreak on reserves, including the lack of formal agreements between the federal government and the provinces on who will be responsible for doing what during a health emergency, and the lack of pandemic plans on First Nations. The report also said there needed to be a clear protocol for ensuring provinces’ antiviral stockpiles were accounting for First Nations, and how First Nations could access the drugs when they were needed.

Every First Nation is responsible for having its own pandemic plan in place.

Robert Flett, director of the Island Lake Tribal Council of which St. Theresa Point is a member, said the band was in the process of reworking its plan when the outbreak hit.

A spokeswoman for Health Canada said the department and Manitoba are close to an agreement on how to deal with pandemics on reserves. Health Minister Leona Aglukkaq did not respond to the concern Oswald raised about the fact the province’s offer of aid was ignored 13 times. However, a spokeswoman, Josée Bellemare, said: "As with any public-health concern, we work closely with the provinces and territories. The minister has a strong working relationship with the minister of health in Manitoba. Health Canada and the Manitoba government are working closely together."

A spokeswoman with Manitoba Health said an updated version of the report as it relates to pandemic planning for First Nations was recently approved by federal and provincial health ministers, but said Manitoba is still working with First Nations getting additional input on it.

A source close to First Nations in Manitoba said pandemic planning has been ongoing for the last year and a half and the co-ordinated response is getting a dry run right now in St. Theresa Point.

The source said the problem isn’t with the medical care but with communications, including provincial privacy laws which were preventing the province from letting aboriginal leadership know if there were confirmed or suspected cases on reserves in Manitoba.

The source said that issue has supposedly been fixed and that the latest cases were immediately reported to the Assembly of Manitoba Chiefs and other aboriginal leaders.

Oswald also expressed frustration that Ottawa is supposed to be the lead in getting information on pandemics to First Nations, but the federal government has refused the province’s request to participate in press conferences.

"One of the central pieces that I have heard from First Nations that is causing them tension is the free flow of information and I don’t mind saying that it’s been a real challenge getting the federal government to come to the table," she said. "So we’re going to continue to work with them and overcome that challenge because I agree with any of the chiefs or the community members that if they’re not getting information as quickly as they possibly can, it can inspire more fear and that’s the last thing that we want.

mia.rabson@freepress.mb.ca larry.kusch@freepress.mb.ca