Island Lake First Nations declare regional public health emergency

Leaders representing four First Nations communities in the Island Lake region of eastern Manitoba declared a regional public health emergency on Thursday. The communities face rising HIV and hepatitis C infections, a toxic drug supply, and housing shortages that officials described as interconnected.

Regional declaration Grand Chief Alex McDougall said the four communities — Garden Hill Anisininew Nation, Red Sucker Lake Anisininew Nation, St. Theresa Point Anisininew Nation and Wasagamack Anisininew Nation — are experiencing a shared crisis. "This is not a crisis that affects just one Anisininew nation.

It is a regional crisis," McDougall said at a news conference in Winnipeg. McDougall said the issues sit at the intersection of a toxic drug supply, problematic substance use, HIV, hepatitis C, homelessness and the breakdown of community safety.

Health services and waitlists The Four Arrows Regional Health Authority provides health-care services to about 17,000 residents in the fly-in communities located roughly 450 kilometres northeast of Winnipeg. Kirsty Muller, addiction services program manager for the Manitoba Anisininew Mobile Addictions Network, said the program has a small staff and limited resources.

The network operates a clinic near the Winnipeg airport offering opioid agonist therapy, harm reduction supplies, and education. It sends a nurse to Garden Hill every other week and to Red Sucker Lake once a month. About 60 people in Garden Hill alone are on a waitlist for care, and the program lacks staff and funding to serve Wasagamack or St.

Theresa Point.

Case numbers and provincial response McDougall said 93 people in the Island Lake region have been diagnosed with HIV since 2017. Victor Walker, a St. Theresa Point band councillor, said his community recorded 63 HIV infections and 163 hepatitis C cases over the same period, plus one new AIDS diagnosis this year.