Global Inuit organization concerned about potential spread of COVID-19 in the North

If the novel coronavirus spreads to the North, Inuitcommunities in Canada and elsewhere in the Arctic are at a much higher risk of exposure because of a chronic lack of basicinfrastructure and resources, according to the Inuit Circumpolar Council.

The council, which represents about 180,000 Inuit living inCanada, Alaska, Greenland and Russia, said they must be consideredin government responses to the novelcoronavirus, also called COVID-19,because of the potentialcompounding threat to basic health and well-being in thosecommunities.

Many communities lack sewers and running water, putting people atgreater risk of getting sick from COVID-19, the respiratory diseaselinked to the virus, the council said this week, noting there isalready a high prevalence of tuberculosis and other respiratoryinfections in those communities.

"Despite being the original inhabitants of some of the mostaffluent countries in the world, gaps in basic infrastructure continue to contribute to severe health risks," the council said ina news release.

To date, we have seen little evidence to indicate that thefederal government learned from these mistakes.- NDPLeader Jagmeet Singh

The council has also called on governments to close thoseinfrastructure gaps to protect against future health threats.

Trudeau's meeting with Inuit-Crown committee

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau held a meeting with the Inuit-Crownpartnership committee Friday, where he acknowledged gaps in Canada'sInuit communities range "from housing to health care."

He did not specifically address COVID-19 in his public remarks,but said that he and his cabinet ministers were there to listen toInuit leaders' concerns.

Natan Obed, the president of Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami and co-chairof the committee, also did not mention the virus in his comments.

But he said eliminating the infrastructure deficit is on thesuggested work plan for the committee, and he was pleased to see itin the Liberal campaign platform too.

NDPLeader Jagmeet Singh wrote a letter to Trudeau Friday, urginghim to make sure Indigenous and Inuit communities are notdisproportionately affected if Canada ends up dealing with awidespread outbreak of the virus.

Singh cautioned the government not to repeat mistakes made duringthe H1N1 outbreak in 2009. A research review by the NationalCollaborating Centres for Public Health found a fairly strongassociation between severe manifestations of the H1N1 influenza andthe isolation of Indigenous communities after that outbreak.

"To date, we have seen little evidence to indicate that thefederal government learned from these mistakes," Singh wrote in theletter.

He called on the government to appoint Indigenous Services Minister Marc Miller as a permanent member of the new COVID-19cabinet committee, struck earlier this week to provide anwhole-of-government approach to combating the virus.

There are eight cabinet ministers on the committee, withMillerlisted as one of seven alternates.

Indigenous Services Canada is also working with the Public HealthAgency of Canada, other relevant departments, and its provincial andterritorial counterparts to protect the health and safety of FirstNations, Mtisand Inuit and support them in responding to publichealth threats, including COVID-19, according to a statement fromthe office of Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland.

The department is also represented on the other responsecommittees in place to respond to the coronavirus threat.