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. [...]