PQ demands action on virus in Northern Quebec

With a new wave of swine flu forecast to hit Quebec this autumn, northern Quebec needs more help to prevent the spread of the H1N1 virus, says Camil Bouchard, the Parti Québécois native affairs critic.

Bouchard wants Quebec’s health minister Yves Bolduc and its native affairs minister Pierre Corbeil to state exactly what their plans are for Inuit in Nunavik, citing data that predicts swine flu will hit native communities up to 50 times harder than other communities.

“Almost half of the native population in Quebec is under 18, compared to 23 per cent in the overall population. We already know that the virus spreads more easily among children and youth. And moreover many native families — and especially Inuit families — live in overcrowded housing,” Bouchard said in a recent news release.

A recent UNICEF Canada report underlines the precarious state of native children, who have a lower vaccination rate than other children and less access to health care, suffer from more chronic diseases and are more likely to live in poverty, he said.

“We can’t plead ignorance and we should mobilize to protect these children and their families,” Bouchard said.

For months, Corbeil has promised progress in Quebec’s negotiations with the federal government over 1,000 new social housing unites for Nunavik, he said.

“Nothing is happening,” Bouchard said. “Native children and their parents shouldn’t have to pay the price of the slowness in the negotiations between Ottawa and Quebec.”