Paul Petrin, an Indigenous man of Cree/Iroquois and French descent, is used to spending weeks in the wilderness in Canada’s north. For more than two decades, he has cultivated a comfortable life in a cabin near the banks of the Mackenzie River approximately three hours west of Inuvik, Northwest Territories. It is a remote area accessible only by boat in the warmer months or snowmobile during the long, frigid arctic winters.
It is a way of living and being connected to and reliant upon the land that brings peace to Petrin, his family and close friends who often join him on trips to the cabin. Now, he is readying to leave his home in Inuvik to head back to the land – this time, he hopes, to get away from the threat of coronavirus.
“Everyone’s [in Inuvik] getting ready to go to their camps,” he told Al Jazeera via phone. “People are starting to panic. The shelves in the stores are getting empty.”
The town of Inuvik is home to a mostly Inuvialuit (Western Canadian Inuit) population. There are just over 3,000 people living there. Currently there are no reported cases of the coronavirus in Inuvik, but the town is taking precautions by enforcing social distancing rules at local stores. The Northwest Territories provincial government banned all non-essential travel into the territory due to the pandemic on March 20.
The town relies on food and other essentials being delivered by truck to the local supermarket, coming from the south on the only road in or out – the Mackenzie Highway. Food prices are high as a result, making stocking up for a quarantine expensive.
But there is a calm in Petrin’s voice as he explains that this is something he had been expecting to happen one day. It is good to know how to live off the land, he says. People are helping each other right now, helping is a part of their culture, and no one will be left behind, he adds.
According to Petrin, there are approximately 100 camps about 10km (six miles) from each other along the Raymond Channel of the Mackenzie River. He estimates that hundreds of people are either on the land already or preparing to leave for it.
The Inuvialuit Regional Corporation, the organisation that represents collective Inuvialuit interests, announced an On the Land Fund for Inuvialuit people on March 22. The fund allocates up to $2,000 per family with an established camp or cabin – along with ready transportation and short-term financial assistance, with priority given to beneficiaries who are willing to spend 14 or more days on the land.
There are more than 1.5 million Indigenous people in Canada, made up of First Nations, Metis and Inuits. Most experience higher levels of poverty and have a lower life expectancy than other Canadians.
The pandemic poses particular dangers to Indigenous people because many Indigenous communities live in dilapidated, overcrowded housing, and have inadequate access to healthcare.
Some First Nations leaders across the country are closing the borders to their reserves to curb the impact of COVID-19.
2020 Al Jazeera Media Network