First Nations in Manitoba say they will continue to keep mask mandates and other pandemic-related restrictions as they continue to monitor the ongoing COVID-19 situation.
First Nations communities in northern Manitoba already pay high prices for fuel and groceries, and many are worried about the impact rising costs will have on struggling families.
Sioux Valley Dakota Nation borders the heavily travelled Trans-Canada Highway in western Manitoba, yet the community held back waves of COVID-19 cases that swept the area last year.
In the opposite corner of the province, Shamattawa First Nation, a remote fly-in community in northeastern Manitoba, had an outbreak so severe that the Canadian military was flown in to help after one-third of the 1,500 residents were infected.
MIKE DEAL / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS
COVID-19 checkstops on the roads into Peguis FN only allowing residents and essential workers in.
How the two communities, situated 900 kilometres apart, have been impacted by the pandemic speaks to the complexity of COVID-19, and the dramatic variabilities among the 63 reserves in Manitoba.