'Alarming situation' but help slow in coming for struggling Kashechewan, chief says - CTV News

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Help for the struggling James Bay community of Kashechewan has been slow in coming, as COVID-19 infections surge through overcrowded homes and isolation facilities remain non-existent, Chief Leo Friday said on Wednesday.

The virus has attacked children particularly hard, with those aged 12 and under accounting for more than half the 232 active cases, the chief said.

The cases in the community account for more than one quarter of the 889 active infections roiling Canada's Indigenous reserves, federal data show.

Indigenous Services Minister Marc Miller insisted help has already arrived in a "very fragile" Kashechewan and more is on the way.

Miller said 15 Canadian Rangers as well as 15 nurses and three paramedics -- double the normal numbers -- along with 16 Red Cross members were now on site, and more money and help was expected to flow.

Friday said his community, which battles devastating flooding from the Albany River almost every spring, had an effective program early in the pandemic that involved screening and an isolation station

The community has asked for a tent city at one end of the town as well as a COVID-19 isolation station to look after people returning from health appointments

Friday said six people medevaced from Kashechewan to Sudbury, Timmins and Moosonee in northern Ontario, were in ICU

The virus, Friday said, likely originated with people flying into the remote area from health appointments elsewhere in the province

One house, for example, is home to 20 people and about 60 homes are in outbreak, Friday said

Of primary importance, Friday said, was getting federal help for new housing and relocating the community from its current flood-prone location

Miller has promised to cut red tape and speed up the aid, the chief said

Miller has also promised financial help for mental health supports

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