Métis seek voice on vaccine task force

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This article was published 15/01/2021 (2073 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

The Manitoba government has left the Métis out of its COVID-19 vaccine task force and plans no vaccination clinics targeted to them.

That’s despite Premier Brian Pallister having said he’s committed to including Métis people in the vaccine rollout, guided by reconciliation.

Emails obtained by the Free Press show provincial officials have asked the Manitoba Metis Federation to help combat vaccine hesitancy, and to possibly help Métis people travel to vaccination super sites in cities.

Yet there is still no invitation to any group that decides the order of precedence for vaccines, despite First Nations being appointed to that task force on Dec. 18 and receiving doses a week ago.

“We’re not invited; we’re not part of the distribution of vaccines,” federation president David Chartrand said Thursday as he accused the province of “using us as tokens.”

First Nations generally fall under federal jurisdiction, and Ottawa gave Manitoba an expedited quota of vaccine doses for reserves.

Meanwhile, Métis people generally live in municipalities administered by the province.

Late last year, the province invited the federation to join a committee planning how to convince particular groups to get the COVID-19 vaccine.

The committee met on Jan. 8, during which the federation expressed dismay that it had been asked to help convince Métis to get doses, without helping to ensure they are prioritized.

The next day, Manitoba’s top bureaucrat for Indigenous issues invited the federation to a similar “communications working group… to support communities to access the vaccination sites.”

The official clarified “my email below was not an invite to set up vaccination clinics,” but instead finding ways to help Métis reach vaccination super sites in Winnipeg, Brandon and Thompson.

Pallister told reporters in Brandon on Thursday that he feels those invitations mean the Métis are at the table.

“The voices of Métis people are being heard through the process,” the premier said.

That rings hollow to Chartrand, who says towns that have large Métis populations have medical needs similar to reserves, and should be part of the initial rollout.

He feels the Pallister government is punishing the federation over a protracted dispute over a Hydro payout and “playing political games at a time when lives are at risk.”

The premier’s office shot back Thursday that Chartrand’s comments are “inaccurate and inflammatory.”

“It is important to note that decisions regarding vaccine prioritization are not political decisions and are not made by the premier or any minister — they are made by public health leaders,” wrote Blake Robert, a spokesman for Pallister.

Chartrand said he understands that the Trudeau government is willing to step in if Manitoba doesn’t give the Métis a sufficient voice in the vaccine planning.

MP Dan Vandal, who represents Manitoba in the federal cabinet and is Métis, would not speak to the prospect of intervening.

“An efficient and effective rollout requires co-planning and is dependent on full collaboration,” Vandal instead wrote, adding that he is in touch with the province and the federation “to include Métis representation in the primary vaccine planning and distribution process.”

Since the pandemic stared, Chartrand has been in conflict with the province over a data-sharing pact similar to ones with First Nations and Inuit officials.

First Nations and Métis people have shorter life expectancy than the average Manitoban, and a higher rate of illnesses that tend to make COVID-19 deadly.

dylan.robertson@freepress.mb.ca