Eric Melillo Discusses COVID Response And Bearskin Lake

I’d like to start out this column by congratulating local educators Cheri Grandbois and Michelle Parrish, who have been honoured with the Prime Minister’s Award for their contributions to education. I was happy to join last week’s Keewatin-Patricia District School Board to celebrate their achievement and thank them for their tireless work preparing future generations for success.

I was also heartened to learn that Balmertown Olympian Eric Radford has earned a spot on Canada’s Figure Skating Team. I know we’ll all be cheering him on as he goes for another gold!

Tragic House Fire in Sandy Lake

On Friday, three children were killed in a house fire in Sandy Lake First Nation. My heart goes out to their families and the entire community as they mourn this unspeakable tragedy.

Standing up for Bearskin Lake

I’m deeply disappointed by the government’s underwhelming response to the COVID-19 crisis in Bearskin Lake First Nation. The Liberal government waited over a week to respond to the Chief’s call for military support, and then only deployed a handful of Rangers – not nearly enough people to relieve community members who have been struggling to deliver food, firewood, and other supplies to hundreds of quarantined residents.

We’ve known since the beginning of this pandemic that a COVID-19 outbreak in a remote community would quickly overwhelm their already-scarce resources. The government should have been prepared for a situation like this – but they weren’t, and they let down the residents of Bearskin Lake. This cannot be allowed to happen again.

Defending Canadian Mining Interests

Last week, the Conservative Party called for a formal national security review of the acquisition of a Canadian lithium development company by a Chinese state-owned mining firm.

This takeover could weaken Canada’s mining interests in the critical minerals sector – which we are already falling behind in developing – while strengthening Communist China’s dominance in the market. Despite this, the Liberals opted to not require a formal review that would evaluate whether this deal is a threat to Canadian national security.

The Conservatives are demanding the government reverse this decision, conduct a national security review of this foreign takeover, and explain why they failed to do so in the first place.

Defending our mining interests, and preventing totalitarian states from controlling the markets for critical minerals, is essential for our economic and national security.

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