Involve Métis in vaccine planning, MP tells province Community frozen out of task force, Manitoba cabinet minister Vandal says; MMF setting up private drive-in COVID testing site By: Dylan Robertson Posted: 7:00 PM CST Monday, Jan. 18, 2021

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This article was published 17/01/2021 (1341 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

OTTAWA — Federal cabinet minister Dan Vandal says it’s time for the province to fully include Métis in vaccine planning, just as the Manitoba Metis Federation launches its own COVID-19 testing program.

“I am writing today to respectfully recommend that the province of Manitoba involve the full, and meaningful, participation of the (MMF) in Manitoba’s COVID-19 vaccination task force,” Vandal wrote in a Jan. 15 letter obtained by the Free Press.

The letter, addressed to Premier Brian Pallister, came a month after Manitoba received its first doses of vaccines, which are prioritized for several groups, including Indigenous communities.

The province has included First Nations on its vaccine task force since Dec. 18, but has refused to invite any Métis leaders, arguing last week that doctors must craft the pandemic response, not politicians.

Provincial officials have instead reached out to collaborate on messaging around vaccine hesitancy, and how Métis people could access the planned “super sites”  — but have specifically ruled out setting up clinics in areas with large Métis populations.

“Only through full and active participation will the pressing health needs of Manitoba’s Métis be adequately met,” reads Vandal’s letter.

First Nations reserves generally fall under federal jurisdiction, while those living off-reserve, as well as Métis, are served by provincial health systems.

“I am writing today to respectfully recommend that the province of Manitoba involve the full, and meaningful, participation of the (MMF) in Manitoba’s COVID-19 vaccination task force.”
– Federal cabinet minister Dan Vandal in a Jan. 15 letter to Premier Brian Pallister

Yet Ottawa has said it must ensure all Indigenous communities that could be hard hit by COVID-19 need priority for vaccination.

The federal Liberals have thus urged provinces to work in lockstep with Indigenous leaders to plan vaccine rollouts, but have avoided calling out governments that aren’t doing so.

Vandal, who is Métis, has faced an onslaught of calls from MMF members, asking him to go over the heads of the Pallister government and set up a direct vaccine distribution plan between Ottawa and the federation.

Newly minted provincial Health Minister Heather Stefanson is meeting midday Tuesday with the MMF’s health minister to talk about the vaccine rollout.

“I am hopeful your government invites them to the planning and decision-making table at that meeting,” Vandal wrote.

Last fall, the MMF filed a human-rights complaint, claiming the province has refused to share any COVID-19 case data, though the government insists it had tried to ink the same agreement it has with First Nations and Inuit leaders.

The MMF is particularly alarmed that public-health nurses are told to ask people whether they identify as Métis, both because of the risk of people falsely claiming Indigenous heritage, and because MMF members with COVID-19 have reported nurses not asking anything about whether they’re Indigenous.

In any case, the MMF announced Monday it has launched its own testing clinic, through the private firm Intrinsic Analytics. MMF members are invited to book an appointment by phone, and have a PCR test taken inside their vehicle at a Winnipeg site.

MMF President David Chartrand said the private lab will deliver results in a day, compared to the days-long waits people are experiencing in the provincial system.

“We are not the ones that created a system that abandoned us and left us out. We have no choice but to find an alternative.”
– Manitoba Métis Federation President David Chartrand on the MMF launching its own COVID-19 testing site

He argued the MMF needs the data to understand just how many Métis people are getting infected, and how to target programs for people who need to isolate.

“We are not the ones that created a system that abandoned us and left us out. We have no choice but to find an alternative,” Chartrand said.

He said the MMF will share its data with Manitoba’s public-health teams, so that they get an accurate picture of cases and do contact tracing.

“Hopefully it will help the system, even though the system’s not helping us,” Chartrand said.

Manitoba chief provincial public health officer Dr. Brent Roussin said he was not familiar with the testing service, when asked about it shortly after the MMF made its intentions public.

dylan.robertson@freepress.mb.ca

— With files from Danielle Da Silva

Minister Vandal letter to Premier Pallister on Métis and vaccine task force