Frustration mounts in Bearskin Lake with arrival of 6 Canadian Rangers to help with COVID-19 relief

Days after the federal government announced that members of the Canadian Armed Forces had arrived in Bearskin Lake First Nation, where nearly half of the community has tested positive for COVID-19, the on-the-ground reality has led to skepticism.

The First Nation in northern Ontario has been overwhelmed by a COVID-19 outbreak. In the last two weeks, more than 200 people have tested positive for the virus in the community of roughly 400 people located 600 kilometres north of Thunder Bay. Even more have been forced to quarantine in their homes.

As of Monday evening, six members of the Canadian Rangers were on the ground, according to a government spokesperson.

"As First Nations people, we were the first ones here, and I think we [shouldn't] have to beg ... for just the basic needs that the normal Canadian wants in this country," Chief Lefty Kamenawatamin told CBC News on Sunday. The chief tested positive for COVID-19 himself over the weekend.

Three of the Rangers are from Bearskin Lake itself, with at least two of them already helping with the First Nation's response to the outbreak, according to Kamenawatamin.

Three more support personnel, including a trainer, were flown in Monday afternoon from the headquarters of the 3rd Canadian Ranger Patrol Group, said Lt.-Col. Shane McArthur, who commands the Canadian Rangers in northern Ontario.

However, a spokesperson for the Windigo First Nations Council, which represents Bearskin Lake, said Monday night that the Rangers were not fully in place, and until that happens, the chief could not assess their effectiveness.

Last week, Indigenous Services Canada flew in health-care staff and volunteers to help the community, but it's not the level of support that people in Bearskin Lake said they were expecting or needed.

At a news conference on Friday, First Nations leaders said they needed at least 40 people to be deployed to help the few remaining front-line staff. Those staff are overworked and exhausted, Kamenawatamin said, as they've been working more than 12-hour days over the last two weeks, supporting the hundreds of community members forced to quarantine.

Charles Fox, a former Ontario regional chief and community member who has been helping co-ordinate the response to the outbreak, said the federal government's announcement approving the request for assistance was "just all optics."

"It's very frustrating and it's very disappointing," Fox said. "We're being treated like second-class citizens, and when we're in crisis, our crisis is not deemed a priority.

"There's no truth and reconciliation."

The magnitude of the outbreak has led to a shortage of people to perform essential tasks, such as hauling water, distributing food and other essential items, performing security tasks and chopping wood for the roughly 90 per cent of houses that depend on wood stoves for heating.

Concern is also growing in other remote First Nations in northern Ontario, as COVID-19 cases continue to grow and lockdowns or states of emergency are declared.