After an all-Indigenous national hockey competition, a COVID-19 outbreak prompts concern

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Kirti Pathak
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After eight members of a Cree hockey team in Quebec and their families tested positive for COVID-19 on their way home from an all-Indigenous hockey tournament in Saskatchewan, they are being isolated near Ottawa.

The Fred Sasakamoose "Chief Thunderstick" National Hockey Championship included 32 teams from throughout Canada's First Nations communities. Over the course of three days, 7,000 people attended the event.

"It might have spread all around and people would have had to fly back to their towns," said Neil Sasakamoose, the event's organizer. The event took place in Saskatoon from August 13 to 15. "It put me in a genuine, truly depressed mood for a while," she says.

Sasakamoose expressed concern that the outbreak might have catastrophic consequences for Indigenous communities from coast to coast.

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"We attempted to make the event as safe as possible. To be honest, I was embarrassed " Sasakamoose, whose father died of COVID-19 in November, echoed this sentiment.

Cleaning teams sprayed disinfectant throughout the facility and dressing rooms between games and washed down doorknobs and other surfaces, according to organizers. Rapid testing and a vaccination clinic were also available on-site at the event. There were also free masks to be had.

It wasn't enough, though.

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