Access has been restricted to the Hay River Reserve because of concerns about Covid-19.
The band council of K’atlodeeche First Nation (KFN) announced the restrictions on May 5.
“Effective today, the K’atlodeeche First Nation will immediately be closing off the road access to the Hay River Dene Reserve for individuals who are not residents of the reserve, KFN members, or essential workers,” the announcement states.
“This step is being taken proactively to reduce the risk of transmission of Covid-19 given the uncertainty over the outbreaks in Yellowknife and northern Alberta, and the significant travel that occurs between these jurisdictions and the Hay River area,” the announcement continued.
It noted that the restrictions will be in place until further notice.
Chief April Martel said a checkpoint went up on the morning of May 6 on the only road to the reserve off Highway 5.
Martel reiterated the concern about the ongoing Covid-19 outbreak in Yellowknife.
“We had a whole bunch of people that actually came to the reserve yesterday (May 5) at Ehdah Cho Store and basically were shopping and whatnot, and they were from Yellowknife,” she said. “And everyone was panicking.”
Martel said the restriction on access to the reserve will be temporary, depending on how things go in Yellowknife.
“We’re just waiting to see how the numbers are in Yellowknife,” she said. “If the numbers start dropping in Covid and the tests come back all negative and all that, then we’ll sit down and council will say, ‘OK, let’s lift it.’ And we’ll allow people to come in.”
Residents of the reserve will be able to go to Hay River and return to the reserve while the restrictions are in place.
Martel said the restrictions are largely designed to protect youth on the reserve.
“We have a high number of Elders in our community and I know most of them got their vaccine, but it’s our young kids that didn’t get the vaccine,” she said. “So we’re kind of worried about them, too.”
The chief said there is also concern about people going to the reserve and visiting people in their homes.
“It’s just to keep the people away from the homes is what we’re trying to do,” she said. “Because we’re getting a lot of visitors coming to the reserve and going to people’s houses. During this time, people shouldn’t be going to other people’s houses to visit, and we get a lot of that on the reserve. It’s crazy.”
This is the third time that restrictions have been imposed on access to the Hay River Reserve because of Covid-19.
In March of 2020, KFN erected checkpoints at the entrances to the reserve – the main ice crossing and the access road off Highway 5. The final checkpoint was removed on May 15, mainly to lessen the negative economic impact on Ehdah Cho Store.
In July of last year, a checkpoint was temporarily re-established to keep out people driving vehicles with out-of-territory licence plates and those with high temperatures, which may indicate Covid-19.
