Siksika Nation, Blood Tribe declare states of emergency over COVID-19 fears
Posted Mar 16, 2020 11:07 pm.
Last Updated Mar 16, 2020 11:15 pm.
SOUTHERN ALBERTA (660 NEWS) – Two southern Alberta First Nations have declared states of emergency as a precaution given the rising cases of coronavirus in Alberta and community transmission.
Both the Siksika Nation southeast of Calgary and Blood Tribe near Lethbridge making the declarations on Monday night.
No COVID-19 cases have been detected on the First Nations yet but the moves were described as precautionary measures.
Chief Ouray Crowfoot of the Siksika Nation taking to Youtube to make the announcement saying: “We are a resilient people here at Siksika, we’ve had to overcome a lot over the years.”
Emergency management director Stacy Doore says: “The state of local emergency is just that next step so we can start focusing on how we can help and better prepare Siksika Nation.”
He adds, he will be working with Health Services on Siksika Nation on a plan with the incident management team to give the best care and best preventative measures going forward.
Meanwhile, in another video, Blood Tribe Chief Roy Fox Makiinima says his council will be providing half a million dollars to support members that need assistance:
“We want to provide packages of basic food requirements including those essential cleaning products such as soap, disinfectant, bleach and so on.”
