Province announces tighter travel restrictions, support for Far North

After further consultation with Northern leaders by Government Relations Minister Lori Carr, the province is announcing tighter travel restrictions for the province’s north to help stop the spread of COVID-19. An updated public health order has been issued by Saskatchewan’s Chief Medical Health Officer Dr. Saqib Shahab to impose further restrictions, including:

• Restricting all non-critical travel (including those with primary residences) into and out of theNSAD, as well as restricting all non-critical travel between northern communities.

• Northern residents are ordered to remain in their local communities and to practice appropriate social distancing. Exceptions will be made only for critical items like collecting groceries and medical appointments.

• Travel related to the delivery of essential services will continue to be permitted. For a complete list of approved travel visit https://publications.saskatchewan.ca/#/products/104577.

The NSAD is a large geographic area covering almost half of the province but containing less than 4.0 per cent of the provincial population.

Given the uniqueness of the north, case-by-case exemptions to the Order were evaluated upon the request of a community.

To date, the municipalities of La Ronge and Stony Rapids have been granted exemptions.

This means that travel to and from La Ronge and Stony Rapids from outside the NSAD is allowed, but individuals are not permitted to stop in any other community.

$370,000 Targeted to Communities

The Government of Saskatchewan is providing immediate funding of $370,000 targeted to combating COVID-19 in province’s Far North region.

Of the investment, $350,000 will be provided through the Ministry of Government Relations directly to New North, the province’s northern communities association. Funding will help establish, staff and maintain community checkpoints as part of a recent public health order to address COVID-19 in the province’s far north.

The Northern Village of La Loche will receive $20,000 directly. These funds will be used to support local public safety, food security and educational initiatives organized by the community to encourage physical distancing and self-isolation of residents.

Local update on cases

In a daily public briefing on the local community radio station, La Loche COVID-19 cases were reported at 47: five cases from Clearwater River Dene Nation and six in Patuanak. Dr. Rim Zayed, medical health officer with the Saskatchewan Health Authority (SHA), said an accurate number of recoveries will be provided Friday.

So far, cases which are recovering or have recovered are at approximately 15 people between La Loche and Clearwater River.

“The plan is an important part and something we need to work together on,” she said. “As you know with the situation in La Loche, we have more cases and we are expecting more cases.”

Zayed outlined the community’s plan which includes separate self-isolation units for those living in crowded homes. Delaying transmission through self-isolation and strict travel restrictions is also part of that planning, as is aggressive testing and quick confirmation of results, typically in one day.

La Loche mayor Robert St. Pierre said checkpoints are up and running and restrictions will be enforced.

“It’s not just for La Loche, it’s for the whole north with the exception of some communities which is fine,” he said.

Only essential services will be allowed in the community which includes heath care and public health workers and include services like dentistry, optometry, chiropractic services and pediatric care. Law enforcement, public safety and first responders are deemed essential. A full list of provincial essential services can be found here.

“When you have a medical appointment you can’t put off, and you have doctors go with you, that would allow you through the check points,” St. Pierre said. “There’s not only La Loche that has a checkpoint, there are checkpoints all along Highway 155 in Buffalo Narrows, Beauval and Green Lake.”

Leonard Montgrand, a council member with the Metis Nation, added for outlaying communities such as Black Point, Bear Creek and Ducharme there would be opportunities on Mondays , Wednesdays and Fridays to go beyond checkpoints to gather essentials and these residents were not being forgotten about.

Chief Teddy Clark with the Clearwater River Dene Nation said the community is considering adding more checkpoints north of La Loche to monitor the flow of traffic from Ducharme and traditional land users

St.Pierre added isolation trailer units are coming into the community and meals are being prepared at the high school for those using that accommodation.

Continued mass gatherings

St. Pierre reminded the community about the curfew which is still in effect from 10 p.m. to 7 p.m. as people are still gathering in the evenings.

“I can hear there is still a lot of activity going on in the evenings. We are all responsible for what happens in our community, ” he explained.” If we don’t want to see further death in the community, we all have to be responsible and inform our children, young adults and even some adults themselves, that this is very serious and we need your help and support to contain this virus.”

Clark also said he is starting to see more vehicles out within the last few days. He said he also saw a gathering Wednesday of over 20 people near Clearwater River bridge area campground.

“People are not social distancing and are going out and breaking rules, you cannot be doing that especially at a time like this. You need to stay home and keep your social distance,” he said. “You don’t know whether you have someone in that crowd who could be infected or not. A lot of the time, people don’t know they’re infected and that can be transferred to others and that’s how it spreads in the community.

RCMP have been pulling people over. If you’re seen after 10p.m, you will get a warning first, and subsequent disregard for community restrictions will result in fines. RCMP have allegedly laid a number of charges.

Liquor Store Closure debate

St. Pierre said council had a meeting regarding the liquor store today with the acting president of Saskatchewan Liquor and Gaming and council made additional health inquiries. However, it was not advisable to close the liquor store due to some high-dependency people in the community and council did not want to overburden the current health system with patients in withdrawal.

“So far what they’ve done is limitations on alcohol sales and coming in once a day. And what they’re finding is before the local liquor store restrictions were put in place, they found the average alcohol sales were at an average of $60 per day. Since the restrictions were in place, our alcohol sales went down to $38 on average.”

Clark suggested operating liquor use in the community similar to methodone clinics to assist chronic alcohol users.

“There are ways this can be done but to be honest, the government is dragging their feet on this because it’s economically viable for them. A lot of people are saying the liquor store needs to be shut down, even for a couple of weeks.”

The Chief reminded the community of the 2016 La Loche School shooting where liquor stores were closed for approximately two weeks.

People in the community are in need of supplies and want to travel outside, however moving forward, there will be limited access to other communities.

“Buffalo Narrows has instituted their own checkpoint bylaw as La Loche has. When you go to Buffalo Narrows from now on, you will be stopped and escorted through town. You will not be able to stop, only drive through. You won’t be able to shop or buy gas,” Leonard Montgrand said.

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nicole.reis@jpbg.ca

Twitter: @nicolereis7722

by Nicole Reis

Province announces tighter travel restrictions, support for Far North

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