Health Canada Says Body-Bag Shipment Was Part Of ‘Routine Restocking’

Body bags that were sent to flu-stricken Manitoba reserves were part of “routine restocking” of supplies, says Health Canada.

Jim Wolfe, regional director with the First Nations and Inuit health branch of the department, said Thursday that the bags were part of a shipment intended for reserves to use over the winter and were not “linked exclusively to H1N1.”

“We really regret the alarm this incident has caused and it was unintended,” Wolfe said. “We order these supplies as a matter of routine business and … this was part of a very normal restocking process.”

Reserves often have suicides, drownings and other deaths that require the bags, he said. In this case, Wolfe said the department “over-estimated” how many bags might be needed during a second wave of swine flu expected this fall.

When determining the number of bags to send, Wolfe said the department takes into consideration the difficulty reaching fly-in communities during winter.

“Supplies are constantly being restocked to prepare for unknown and unforeseen events.”

While many aboriginal leaders interpreted the shipment of body bags as a “grim prediction” of the number of deaths expected among remote communities, Wolfe said that’s not the case.

The federal health minister has formally ordered a probe into why the government sent the bags with other flu supplies.

“As minister of health and as an aboriginal, I am offended,” Leona Aglukkaq said in a statement. “To all who took offence at what occurred, I want to say that I share your concern and I pledge to get to the bottom of it.”

She said the results of the probe will be made public.

Critics and aboriginal leaders had said the body bags sent the message that Ottawa expects aboriginals to die and that the bags are part of the federal government’s plan to deal with a second wave of H1N1.

Aglukkaq rejected that suggestion.

“I was born and raised in remote communities and I understand the challenges better than anyone – that’s why I have met frequently with First Nations organizations,” her statement said. “Anyone suggesting that our government’s solution to H1N1 is body bags is sensationalizing this situation.”

Shawn Atleo, national chief of the Assembly of First Nations, said the decision to send the bags shows a tendency on Ottawa’s part to proceed without first talking to aboriginals.

“At the core and crux, and I’d look to legal experts to consider this notion, Canada has yet to recognize our peoples in a fundamental way,” said Atleo, in Halifax for a meeting of the Assembly of Nova Scotia Mi’kmaq Chiefs.

“We still have policy being done to us and for us in isolation of our First Nation government leaders. Whether we’re talking about issues of health or issues of the fishery and economic prosperity in our community, we need to break this pattern, whereby governments are doing things for us.”

Liberal Leader Michael Ignatieff said sending the bags suggests Ottawa has a grim prognosis for aboriginals.

“It sends a message, it simply says: ‘We expect aboriginal Canadians to die,”‘ he said, adding Aglukkaq cannot blame the mix-up on bureaucrats.

“We feel that the minister has been sending out her bureaucrats when what’s required is a simple, frank and human apology to Canadians. This just isn’t good enough.”

Aglukkaq was in Winnipeg for a one-day meeting with provincial and territorial health ministers, and a discussion about swine flu was at the top of the agenda.

A disproportionate number of aboriginals in northern Manitoba communities ended up on ventilators in intensive care when the flu first hit last spring. Many patients were airlifted from some northern First Nations reserves where there are fewer than 10,000 residents.

The shipment of body bags further strains relations between First Nations and Ottawa.

This spring some chiefs demanded an apology after Health Canada delayed a shipment of hand sanitizer to some hard-hit reserves because the cleanser contained alcohol.

Several grand chiefs have also criticized the federal government for not doing enough to prepare First Nations for an expected resurgence of swine flu this fall, leaving communities to raise funds for basic supplies.

Manitoba Grand Chief Ron Evans said a formal apology is in order.

The shipment has frightened aboriginal communities, since many residents have interpreted the number of body bags as the number of people Ottawa expects will die during the second wave of H1N1 in the fall, he said.

“I was hoping that it was a rumour but it turned out to be true,” Evans said. “I was very disturbed and actually frightened that they’re actually shipping that number of body bags to the communities. I thought they were preparing for what the experts were predicting. That’s the message the communities are receiving.”