First Nations Jurisdiction, COVID-19, and the Implications of Spatial Restrictions in a Settler Colonial Context

• Published in: Pandemics, Public Health, and the Regulation of Borders pp. 89 - 99
• Main Authors: Thériault, Sophie, Ottawa, Eva, Robert, Florence
• Format: Book Chapter
• Language: English
• Published: Routledge 2024
• Edition: 1
• ISBN: 9781032494784; 1032494786; 1032494743; 9781032494746
• DOI: 10.4324/9781003394006-11

This chapter reflects on the unique implications for First Nation people of the spatial restriction measures adopted by First Nations, provincial, and federal authorities in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. It also assesses how to protect vulnerable community members against the virus while mitigating the cultural, emotional, and economic impacts of barriers to mobility. While mobility restriction measures likely contributed to contain the spread of the virus within First Nations communities, their effectiveness was hampered by jurisdictional issues and by a lack of material and institutional resources. Moreover, in the context of the colonial legacies of systemic discrimination, spatial restrictions had unintended harmful consequences for community members in accessing healthcare, housing, and other essential services and goods. We argue that the recognition of Indigenous peoples' inherent jurisdiction to protect their communities, lands, and territories according to their own laws, along with the immediate implementation of the measures needed to address longstanding social inequalities in First Nations' access to services and infrastructures on reserves, are both necessary parts of the equation.