OTTAWA—A lack of clean running water. Overcrowded housing. Nursing stations with little equipment, few staff and a dearth of critical supplies.

The conditions in some Indigenous communities across Ontario’s north and beyond have health experts, local leaders and opposition politicians sounding the alarm as the coronavirus pandemic spreads across Canada.

If — or when — the virus hits, it will be all the more difficult to contain.

“Indigenous communities have already faced a pathogen for a very long time, and it’s called injustice and inequity and colonization,” said Dr. Mike Kirlew, a local physician in Moose Factory who has worked with First Nations across northern Ontario.

“When you add that and throw coronavirus into the mix, it has the potential to produce significant challenges,” he said. “There’s no question about that.”

It’s a situation that is weighing heavily on leaders like Alvin Fiddler, Grand Chief of the Nishnawbe Aski Nation, an organization that represents 49 Indigenous communities across northern Ontario.

In an interview with the Star this week, Fiddler said local officials are “scrambling” to prepare for the spread of the virus. He said there is “no personal protective equipment” at health stations in some communities, and is concerned that it will be impossible for some residents to self-isolate with symptoms of the illness when many people live in crammed housing conditions in remote communities with no local hospitals and limited space in nursing stations.

It’s also difficult to tell people to wash their hands frequently with 18 communities are under boil water advisories, Fiddler added.

“We are working very hard right now with both Ontario and Canada to increase the capacity at the local level…to effectively deal with this when this virus does eventually reach our communities,” he said.

Fiddler’s concerns aren’t just contained to northern Ontario. Natan Obed, the president of the Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami, said almost none of the 51 Inuit communities across Canada’s north that he represents have hospitals. They face the same challenges with overcrowded housing and medical supplies, as well as much higher rates of respiratory illness than the overall population, he said.

The Public Health Agency of Canada reported in 2017 that the rate of tuberculosis among the Inuit population was 40 times higher than the rate amongst the entire population.

Obed is also worried that if people contract the virus in the north, they will need to be transported to southern hospitals that may be loaded with sick patients already — especially if the federal health minister’s estimate that 30 to 70 per cent of the Canadian population could contract the virus.

“If there are significant outbreaks in southern Canada then we want to ensure that we do everything we can to ensure that there are not barriers to health care for Inuit patients who would be flying to the south,” he said.

The federal NDP has been raising these concerns daily in the House of Commons, calling on the federal government to step in to make sure Indigenous communities are prepared to handle the COVID-19 pandemic. Charlie Angus, the NDP MP for Timmins—James Bay, said First Nations in his riding are “looking at a nightmare scenario” if the virus hits.

“It would overwhelm the communities immediately,” he said, calling on the federal government to prepare a “military-style” response that would include emergency medical teams ready to deploy to remote communities hit by the pandemic.

Federal Indigenous Services Minister Marc Miller was not available for an interview with the Star this week, but his spokesperson Vanessa Adams said in a statement that the Liberal government’s COVID-19 committee is working to make sure Indigenous communities are “prepared for all eventualities.”

Adams said Miller’s department is working to ensure First Nations have updated pandemic plans and noted the government has already earmarked $79 million over five years for emergency management on reserves in last year’s budget.

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The government also included a portion of money in its $1-billion COVID-19 response package for Indigenous communities this week, but Miller’s office did not answer questions about exactly how it will be spent.

On Thursday during question period, Miller told the House of Commons the government is also looking at providing “temporary isolation facilities and additional health staff” for Indigenous communities that need them.

“These supports for Indigenous communities are absolutely not limited by financial capacity. We continue to work closely with communities to co-ordinate resources. They are and will be there,” he said.

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