AMC responds to First Nation vaccination strategy concerns

February 25, 2021

Treaty One Territory, Manitoba

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Treaty One Territory, Manitoba – The Assembly of Manitoba Chiefs (AMC) issues the following statement in response to the recent statement of the Manitoba Metis Federation (MMF) regarding vaccines for First Nation citizens.

AMC Grand Chief Arlen Dumas stated, “The Assembly stands by the definition of First Nation citizens as defined by the First Nations Pandemic Response Coordination Team (PRCT) and will continue to support the PRCT in all of their endeavours. The Assembly further supports the PRCT’s process for verification of those coming forward for their vaccines and will continue to support their data informed, unbiased and transparent work and their qualified expertise.

We invite the MMF to continue their negotiations with the Province at this time, so they too can produce a report on COVID-19 prevalence within the Metis population so that a similar process of evidence based vaccine prioritization can proceed instead of attacking the invaluable work of the PRCT at this time.

While I acknowledge that emotions run high, especially in a time of a global pandemic with ever changing circumstances, I encourage everyone to be patient and work positively towards protecting our most vulnerable people at this time. This is not the time for attacks or questionable statements. We hope to move forward in a respectful way to continue to fight this pandemic.”

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