HOW INDIGENOUS PEOPLE ARE COPING WITH COVID-19

摘要

The camping area is near a stand of tall birch along the shores of the McKenzie River in the Northwest Territories. Dene land-based arts educator Melaw Nakehk'o has set up her canvas tent right next to her mom and dad's wooden framed tent. In front is a common area where they cook over an open fire. By the cooking area, Nakehk'o has cleared a workspace where she will skin her hides: five caribou and three moose. Her mom and children will help. Like many Indigenous peoples across the country, Nakehk'o has drawn on cultural strengths to weather the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic. Communities are finding ways to take care of each other, despite limited infrastructure for pandemic response in some places. Some Indigenous Canadians are staying connected using technology. Others have returned to the land as their ancestors did during plague outbreaks in the 1800s.