{"id":204800,"date":"2021-03-17T23:49:34","date_gmt":"2021-03-17T20:49:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/en.buradabiliyorum.com\/chief-david-monias-standing-on-guard-over-pimicikamak-cree-nation\/"},"modified":"2021-03-17T23:49:34","modified_gmt":"2021-03-17T20:49:34","slug":"chief-david-monias-standing-on-guard-over-pimicikamak-cree-nation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/chief-david-monias-standing-on-guard-over-pimicikamak-cree-nation\/","title":{"rendered":"#Chief David Monias: Standing on guard over Pimicikamak Cree Nation"},"content":{"rendered":"

“#Chief David Monias: Standing on guard over Pimicikamak Cree Nation<\/strong>”<\/p>\n

\n When COVID-19 arrived, Chief David Monias and his community in northern Manitoba faced an unprecedented challenge. The end of the pandemic can’t come soon enough.\n <\/div>\n
\n Every time a chartered plane takes off from Cross Lake Airport and passes over Pimicikamak Cree Nation, Chief David Monias pauses. \u201cIt breaks my heart,\u201d he says of the flights, which take COVID-19 positive community members to Winnipeg for medical treatment and alternate isolation accommodations. \u201cI feel for these people. I don\u2019t want them to have to leave their homes or the community, but we\u2019re left with no choice because we don\u2019t have the medical resources or the infrastructure to take care of them here.\u201d<\/p>\n

Monias knew he\u2019d face some tough hurdles when he was elected in 2019, but never imagined he\u2019d tackle a pandemic. The First Nation\u2014home to nearly 10,000 people\u2014has been in some form of lockdown since last March and a complete lockdown since last October. Checkpoints monitor traffic, collect contact information and take the temperature of anyone entering Pimicikamak, also known as Cross Lake First Nation; only essential workers and those heading south for medical app<\/a>ointments can travel<\/a> to and from the community.<\/p>\n

But\u2014despite a slew of proactive measures, including a curfew and food deliveries\u2014the virus found its way in, pushing health-care workers to the brink as they test, treat, contact-trace and register patients for evacuation. At one time there were more than 200 actives cases. Canadian Armed Forces members arrived in late February to provide respite and medical assistance, while the Assembly of Manitoba Chiefs has committed to sending 30 ambassadors to help take pressure off Pimicikamak\u2019s essential service providers.<\/p>\n

A critical lack of housing\u2014Monias estimates 1,000 new homes are needed to alleviate overcrowding\u2014makes physical distancing difficult if not impossible in many cases. Classrooms, gyms and even the local hotel have been commandeered to create quarantine facilities.<\/p>\n

Monias knows people in his community are feeling cooped up and frustrated, but asks them to stay strong, providing information and encouragement via radio broadcasts and Facebook<\/a> livestreams. He also relies on the personal touch: most people in the community have his cell number. In January, he received a call like no other. \u201cI couldn\u2019t understand what they were saying, all I heard was \u2018baby,\u2019 \u2018washroom,\u2019 \u2018floor\u2019 and \u2018no ambulance,\u2019 so I ran out the door with one sock, putting on my boots,\u201d says Monias. \u201cThe things we do as chiefs, you would never see that with a mayor.\u201d<\/p>\n

He arrived at the same time as paramedics, and the child was delivered by its grandmother. As for his own grandson, COVID-19 restrictions mean Monias hasn\u2019t seen him since his birth last September. Monias isn\u2019t seeing much of his wife\u2014a nurse with the community\u2019s rapid response team\u2014either.<\/p>\n

But it\u2019s concerns for the children and the Elders that keep him up at night. \u201cI\u2019m scared for mental health issues; what kind of impact will this have? Because there is a lot of anxiety, depression and suicidal ideation, so we\u2019re dealing with all that kind of stuff,\u201d Monias says. He knows the sacrifices people have made and thanks them for it, but says the only way to truly manage the virus is with the vaccine. More doses\u2014about 200 people had been vaccinated by late February\u2014can\u2019t come soon enough, he says.<\/p>\n\n

This profile appeared in the April 2021 issue of\u00a0<\/em>Maclean\u2019s, where we\u00a0gave our magazine over to a 22,000-word special report, \u201cYear One: The untold story of the pandemic in Canada.\u201d Sign up to read that whole story, and\u00a0learn why we did it.<\/em><\/p>\n

\"\"
\n<\/span><\/p><\/div>\n

If you liked the article, do not forget to share it with your friends. Follow us on\u00a0Google News<\/a><\/span>\u00a0too, click on the star and choose us from your favorites.<\/span><\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\n

For forums sites go to Forum.BuradaBiliyorum.Com<\/a><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

\n

If you want to read more News<\/a> articles, you can visit our General category.<\/a><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Source<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

“#Chief David Monias: Standing on guard over Pimicikamak Cree Nation” When COVID-19 arrived, Chief David Monias and his community in northern Manitoba faced an unprecedented challenge. The end of the pandemic can’t come soon enough. Every time a chartered plane takes off from Cross Lake Airport and passes over Pimicikamak Cree Nation, Chief David Monias…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":204801,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/www.macleans.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/COVID-CANADA-PROFILE-MONIAS-766x431.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[1545,1356,67806,98227],"class_list":["post-204800","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-general","tag-coronavirus","tag-covid-19","tag-editors-picks","tag-pimicikamak-cree-nation"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/204800","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=204800"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/204800\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/204801"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=204800"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=204800"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=204800"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}