Conservative critic for Indigenous services Gary Vidal, who was recently re-elected MP for the northern Saskatchewan riding of Desnethé—Missinippi—Churchill River, had strong words for his Liberal counterpart, federal minister of Indigenous Services Marc Miller on Friday.

Indigenous Services Canada (ISC) said Friday that it was working on a plan to “customize the approach to reimmunization” for those impacted after expired doses of the Pfizer vaccine were administered to seventy-one members of the Chippewas of Saugeen First Nation in Ontario between Aug. 13 and Sept. 9.

The ISC said that expired vaccines don’t pose a health risk but those who got them should be “re-vaccinated.”

Members of the community were given expired doses of the vaccine for almost a month and were only told about the error on Wednesday. Vidal called the revelation “troubling” and questioned whether comments made by Miller on Twitter Thursday criticizing comments by Saskatchewan Premier Scott Moe in regard to vaccine uptake in northern communities was an attempt to deflect. 

Trudeau government’s ‘crass politics’

Miller took to Twitter Thursday to criticize Moe’s assertion earlier in the week that northern and Indigenous communities are “exclusive” federal jurisdiction as “inaccurate.” The Prince Albert Daily Herald reached out to Miller’s office on Friday requesting further comment but the minister has yet to respond.  

At issue were comments made by Moe blaming the federal government, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau in particular, for low vaccine uptake in northern and Indigenous communities. Moe also said on Tuesday that he “suspects” the federal government has mishandled its approach to the pandemic in northern and Indigenous communities across Canada. 

Miller said his ministry has taken a collaborative approach to managing the pandemic in northern Saskatchewan and called Moe’s comments “unproductive.” 

“Early on in this pandemic, the community of La Loche faced a devastating spread of COVID but we worked cooperatively, despite jurisdictional complexities, with Saskatchewan and local Indigenous leadership to crush the curve,” Miller said. 

“This early lesson has guided our approach since then.”

But Vidal saw Miller’s response to the premier as a way to deflect from failures by the federal government to get the pandemic under control. Vidal said Moe is not incorrect to say there is a problem when it comes to vaccine uptake in northern and Indigenous communities. 

“I’m frankly quite disappointed that that’s the road they would go down. Especially when you find out later in the day that minister Miller’s ministry was providing expired COVID-19 vaccinations to the members of the Saugeen First Nation in Ontario,” Vidal said. 

“They found out about this on September 15. They didn’t release that information until two days after the election. I’m sorry, that’s just crass politics.” 

Vidal said he will be reaching out to Miller to ensure that no First Nation in northern Saskatchewan was also given expired COVID-19 vaccines.

“ISC (Indigenous Services Canada) sitting on this for a week until after Election Day is concerning. The health and safety of Canadians ought to come before electoral success. Instead of attacking premiers to deflect, can (Marc Miller) assure First Nations across Canada that this was an isolated incident?”

Challenge to leaders ‘across the spectrum’

Vidal said Trudeau and Miller’s “divisive” approach has scared people off rather than encouraging vaccine uptake in a northern public who are already hesitant about getting the jab.

“I’ve talked with chiefs and elders about that concern that First Nations people have with regard to vaccinations,” Vidal said. 

“I would challenge minister Miller; I would challenge the Prime Minister and I would challenge anybody to find ways as leaders across the spectrums to encourage people in these communities to go get vaccinated.”

Miller said on Twitter that we all have a “role to play” in fighting the pandemic. Vaccination rates in Saskatchewan First Nation communities are low at around 60 per cent among persons 12 and older — but we should “absolutely not” blame those communities, Miller said.

“There are many reasons for this, including high youth populations, coupled with the fact that Saskatchewan did not prioritize Indigenous communities,” Miller said.  “We are also seeing hesitancy in certain communities.”

He said throughout the pandemic, the ISC has “worked tirelessly” with the Saskatchewan Health Authority and local health authorities to keep people safe and to ensure a “culturally appropriate approach” to vaccine distribution and respect for public health measures.

As of Sept. 22 Miller said a total of $237,870,074 in funding has been allocated to Saskatchewan to support Indigenous communities’ response to COVID. This is in addition to a total of $143,213,826 having been allocated to Saskatchewan in public health funding as of Sept. 16, he said. 

“Clearly hasty reopening has driven the spread of this new Delta variant wave, principally among the unvaccinated,” Miller said. 

“Indigenous communities face odds that are three to five times greater than non-Indigenous communities when faced with COVID-19. They have consistently beaten those odds.”

He said that success is “due to the amazing work that’s been done through Indigenous led responses, by Indigenous leadership and Indigenous pandemic teams.” 

“We must be there for them in partnership to beat this current wave,” Miller said.

But Vidal said that instead of building bridges Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and his minister have taken to “pitting one group against the other.” 

“That’s really unfortunate to be honest with you that he would do that. That’s not how we’re going to have true reconciliation. We don’t pit people against one another if we want to reconcile,” Vidal said.

“Through a costly five-week campaign we watched the Prime Minister of our country, the leader of Mr. Miller’s party, specifically pit vaccinated and unvaccinated people against each other.”