Tripartite preparedness and response during the COVID-19 pandemic: a First Nations’ perspective
Abstract
First Nations and other Indigenous populations experience higher rates of infection and more
severe outcomes associated with disease and illness than is observed in the general Canadian
population (Lee et al., 2023; Pickering et al., 2023; World Health Organization, 2009). Health
inequities are rooted in and further complicated by factors such as the Indigenous social
determinants of health (ISDoH) (Reading & Wien, 2009), that reflect issues including but not
limited to inadequate or insufficient housing, lack of a potable water supply, poor access to
healthcare services, and difficulty with the transport of goods and services that are attributable to
geographic remoteness and lack of federal/provincial action. The compounded effects of the
ISDoH on First Nations peoples resulted in higher rates of morbidity and more severe outcomes
associated with the COVID-19 pandemic than was observed in the broader Canadian population
(Fleury & Chatwood, 2022; Clark et al., 2021). This qualitative research sought to understand
the ways in which 4 First Nations in Northwestern Ontario were both supported and underserved
by federal and provincial governments, and the ways that autonomous mitigation efforts were
organized and implemented by each community. [...]