How Bearskin Lake's chief led his community through COVID-19 crisis

Bearskin Lake First Nation Chief Lefty Kamenawatamin sits in front of his computer for one last interview about the outbreak that, for nearly three weeks, has overwhelmed his community in Ontario's Far North.

There's a bit of glare on the camera, right on his face, so he gets up with some newspaper, and moves off-screen to adjust the light.

"Let me make a little studio," he laughed.

Kamenawatamin knows what reporters need for the shot. He's been taking their calls nearly every day for the past few weeks as he recovers from COVID-19 in his home. He's one of more than 220 people who've tested positive since the outbreak began in the fly-in community of roughly 400 people, located 600 kilometres north of Thunder Bay, Ont.

That problem fixed, Kamenawatamin sits back down. A landline rings into the answering machine. A cell phone buzzes nearby.

He leans into the camera, and thinks back to the first few days of the outbreak: those who answered their call for help, and who kept them waiting.

Right from the beginning, on Dec. 27, key staff tested positive for the virus — members of band council, the pandemic team and other front-line workers including people who deliver fuel and wood to keep buildings heated, provide security, and run COVID-19 tests.

"And the numbers kept adding and adding and adding positive cases," the chief said. 

Babies, elders and frontline workers were all testing positive, leaving just a handful of workers to care for and provide essential items for the hundreds who were forced to isolate in their homes.

The remote community went into a complete lockdown, then a state of emergency was declared on Dec. 29. 

Kamenawatamin heard that a few houses with young children were without power, and didn't have enough firewood to last the night with temperatures plunging below –30 C. He went on the community radio station, a vital source of communication for many communities in the Far North, and asked any front-line staff that had tested negative to rush over and help out.

The call for help was heard by some in Muskrat Dam, a neighbouring community about 100 kilometres away from Bearskin Lake. A few people drove over on the winter road that very night and started chopping wood, the chief said.

"That's the kind of help that I wanted when I declared an emergency." 

The First Nation has been overwhelmed with support from surrounding communities, said Kamenawatamin.