Both First Nations bordering Sudbury have shut down smoke shops and closed their communities to outside traffic.

Atikameksheng (Whitefish Lake) First Nation set up an electronic sign Tuesday near the bridge entering the reserve and had several people on hand to stop vehicles and turn them around if they were non-residents.

Wahnapitae First Nation followed suit on Wednesday, erecting a barricade on West Bay Road to block traffic altogether from that end of the community and placing signage at the more commonly used route via Portelance Road.

Chief Larry Roque said members of the fire department would also be present at this border point to screen traffic.

“We need someone physically out there,” he said. “It won’t be just a barricade because we still have to let our members in and out — unless it gets to a point where we shut it down and just stay here.”

Atikameksheng closed its smoke shops and convenience stores on Friday, which led to some panicked tobacco shopping at Wahnapitae First Nation the following day, Roque said.

“Everybody came here Saturday,” said the chief. “I drove by and they weren’t even practising social distancing while waiting outside — they were rubbing shoulders, all in a line — so we had to immediately shut down smoke shops and send everybody home.”

Roque said the shop owners were quick to comply and “they have remained closed, which is a good thing.”

The chief said the reserve was already planning to close stores but it was precipitated by the cigarette stampede on Saturday.

“It happened faster than what we were planning because there were just too many people here,” he said. “We had to send people up the road to stop cars from coming in. Ted Roque, our former chief who is a councillor now, went up to block cars until the fire crew showed up.”

Atikameksheng Chief Valerie Richer said the closure of shops on her reserve was a decision of band council, or the stores themselves in some cases, as opposed to something dictated by Queen’s Park or Ottawa.

“This is totally coming from the community,” she said. “We asked our retailers to close and some of them, like Bob’s Smoke Shack, had actually closed before we asked them to.”

Richer said the only business that remains open in the community is the gas station, but the pumps are only available to people who live or work in Atikameksheng and the store associated with the business is not open.

“They used to sell tobacco as well, but they stopped that at the same time as everyone else and are just selling gas,” she said. “There is a cash register at the door and they are doing social distancing.”

The band office was closed earlier to all but a few staff, she said, and the rest are working remotely.

A health centre on the reserve, meanwhile, is “open by appointment only,” she said, and people are accessing doctors through video conferencing.

The clinic typically hosts a visiting nurse practitioner and other professionals but their services won’t be available for some time, so virtual arrangements must be made in the interim, said the chief.

Non-residents who lease cottage properties on the reserve, meanwhile, are being asked to stay away until further notice, although Richer said most of these camps are not easily accessed at this time of year anyway.

There were rumours Wednesday that Atikameksheng had also imposed a curfew to keep young people indoors in the evenings but the chief said that isn’t the case, although she didn’t rule it out as an eventual option.

“I am concerned about youth still gathering — not just in this community, but other places — and I know some communities have put in a curfew,” she said, pointing to a populous First Nation on the East Coast as an example. “I’m hoping the measures we have taken so far go a long way, but we’re monitoring things really closely.”

So far the community has been very co-operative and patient regarding the coronavirus clampdown, Richer said.

“I haven’t heard any real resistance,” she said. “One of the main things we have going for us is we have a strong collective and strong relationships with each other, so I think there is a general consensus about making sure that we’re taking care of each other and supporting each other.”

Roque said band members in Wahnapitae have also adapted to the changes and seem to be unified in keeping the community safe.

The band office has been closed for nearly two weeks already, “so we were very proactive,” said the chief. “You’re never sure if you are going overboard, but looking back I think it was a good decision.”

The First Nation is fortunate to have a nurse practitioner clinic in place — it opened in the fall — and residents can still access care through this service, although you can’t simply walk through the doors.

“Our members do have her number to call on an emergency basis,” said Roque. “But we’re setting it up so it’s virtual, too, so if someone calls she’ll send them the link.”

People in Wahnapitae can still fuel up at an on-reserve gas station, he said, and while the restaurant at Rocky’s is closed, the business is still bringing in shipments of food and supplies so it can function as a type of grocery store and food bank.

Band members still need to travel off-reserve to fill prescriptions but Roque said arrangements can be made to have one person go to a pharmacy rather than several to limit movement and social interaction.

“I just want people to be safe,” said the chief. “Stay at home, social distance. We all need to do the same thing and stick together and beat this.”

For Richer, it’s far better to be overly cautious at this point than to under-react.

“It’s a scary thing,” she said. “We’re just at the cusp of this coming to our communities and I want to make sure we do whatever we can now, because we’re not going to get a second chance at this.”

sud.editorial@sunmedia.ca