Bearskin Lake First Nation besieged by COVID-19 'overwhelmed' by donations, supplies from area communities

In the week since the first cases of COVID-19 were detected in Bearskin Lake First Nation, the community in Ontario has been forced to rapidly shut down.

More than half of the about 400 people living in the remote northern community — including most essential workers and First Nation leadership — are now in quarantine, either as a confirmed case or because they live with someone who has tested positive for the virus.

But the First Nation isn't alone, with surrounding communities doing everything they can to help out.

As of Tuesday morning, 187 people in Bearskin Lake, more than 600 kilometres north of Thunder Bay, have tested positive for COVID-19, according to Chief Lefty Kamenawatamin, among those who've had to go in isolation after someone in his household tested positive.

The federal government has offered $483,000 to help with food security, isolation spaces, transportation and wages for community workers. 

That's not enough, the chief said. What's needed are boots on the ground to deliver essential supplies like food, medicine and chopped wood, he insisted, with about 90 per cent of homes relying on wood for heat.

Bearskin Lake First Nation has requested military assistance, although Kamenawatamin said he doesn't expect a response this week.

As the community waits and watches the already limited numbers of available essential workers dwindle every day, surrounding First Nations and communities have mobilized to help.

"I am overwhelmed," Kamenawatamin said. "There is so much support coming from our surrounding communities … calling us, encouraging us, praying for us."

That support has gone beyond just words — fundraising, food drives and efforts to mobilize critical supplies have been taking place to help the people of Bearskin Lake.

On New Year's Day, more than two dozen people from Kitchenuhmaykoosib Inninuwug gathered outside the school with their snowmobiles, loading the sleds with food, wood and other essential items like diapers.

With a wind chill making conditions feel colder than –40 C, what's being described as a "Ski-Doo train" started the long trek to Bearskin Lake to deliver the items.

"People had to layer with warm clothing to brave the freezing temperatures. People wore traditional moose hides and beaver hats, with sleigh pants and parkas," said John Cutfeet, who was part of the group.

Some even used plastic bags over their warm clothes to stop the wind.