Shamattawa First Nation declares state of emergency over hepatitis A

Shamattawa First Nation declares state of emergency over hepatitis A

Leadership seeks health-care staff to support education, vaccination drives

Shamattawa First Nation has declared a state of emergency as a hepatitis A outbreak continues in Manitoba.

Everyone living in the northern community recently became eligible for the vaccine against hepatitis A as it's hit by an ongoing outbreak of the virus, which causes acute liver infection.

Shamattawa and the Assembly of Manitoba Chiefs are calling for immediate strengthening of the public health response in the First Nation about 750 kilometres northwest of Winnipeg. Nearly 1,500 people live in the community, which is only accessible by air or winter road.

Kyra Wilson, the assembly's grand chief, said the community needs help educating people about the disease and making sure people are vaccinated, and more health-care professionals to support those efforts.

"We know that vaccinations are absolutely a necessity in this situation," said Wilson, speaking on the phone from Ottawa, where she was attending the annual general assembly of the national Assembly of First Nations.

"Any eligible First Nations person within the community that can receive the vaccination should be receiving the vaccination."

Dr. Davinder Singh, who's a medical officer of health with the provincial immunization program, said hepatitis A vaccines have been sent to the community.

"It's an extremely safe and effective vaccine," said Singh, who has gotten the vaccination before travelling.

Everyone older than six months is eligible for the vaccine in Shamattawa, and in a number of other First Nations that have been hit by the outbreak.

At least half the people in a community need to get the vaccine for community-level protection, Singh said.

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As of July 5, 867 cases of hepatitis A had been reported and seven people have died of the virus in the province since September 2024, Manitoba Public Health says.

The continuing outbreak, which was officially declared in April 2025, prompted a travel warning for Manitoba from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control last month.

There's an urgent need for enhanced health-care capacity, co-ordinated public health measures and sustained investments to address conditions that contribute to the spread of preventable infectious diseases in First Nations, a news release from the Assembly of Manitoba Chiefs said.

Those conditions include inequitable access to health care and public health resources, housing, clean water, sanitation infrastructure and culturally safe care, the news release said.

Hepatitis A is found in the feces and blood of infected people, and a lack of adequate safe drinking water can contribute to its spread. Shamattawa is one of the First Nations behind a class-action lawsuit against the federal government over drinking water rights.

"I think that for some of these communities … they do have significant issues with their water and sewage infrastructure, which, you know, does … affect transmission of the virus," Singh said.

Person-to-person close contact also can lead to transmission, so travel between First Nations might also be a reason the virus continues to spread, he said.

It can take up to 50 days for symptoms of hepatitis A to show up, and people can start shedding the virus up to two weeks before developing symptoms, Singh said. Some young children never develop symptoms at all.

"Hepatitis A outbreaks can be extremely difficult to contain."

Symptoms can include a fever, loss of appetite, tiredness, nausea and vomiting, stomach cramps, diarrhea, dark urine and/or clay-coloured stool and yellowing of the skin and eyes, health officials say.

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The Assembly of Manitoba Chiefs wants the provincial and federal governments to work with Shamattawa to provide immediate emergency funding to help fight the outbreak and additional health resources, including personnel, medical supplies and vaccination efforts.

Long-term investments in health-care infrastructure, housing, clean water and sanitation and preventative public health measures are also needed, the news release said.

Hepatitis A does not discriminate, and everyone needs to understand what they should do to protect themselves, Wilson said.

"How do we all come together to make sure that everyone is safe, everyone is protected and everyone has the information?" she asked.

"That's really what, you know, we are looking to see, is more public education on this very issue, and how can everyone get involved to make sure that everyone is protected and safe."

In a statement to CBC News emailed late Thursday afternoon, a spokesperson for Indigenous Services Canada said the federal department is "working closely with Manitoba Health, local leadership, and nursing stations to respond quickly to the hepatitis A outbreak affecting the Island Lake region and other smaller outbreaks in a small number of other First Nations," including Shamattawa.

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That work includes supporting First Nations in hosting vaccination clinics, spokesperson Jacinthe Goulet said in the statement.

Indigenous Services Canada continues to work with Shamattawa "toward a long-term and sustainable solution to support access to clean drinking water," Goulet's statement reads in part.

"A project to expand and upgrade Shamattawa First Nation’s water treatment plant and water main distribution is nearing completion," she wrote, adding the department has provided $26.5 million for the water treatment plant project since 2019.

Lara Schroeder is an online copy editor for CBC Manitoba who also writes and dabbles in radio. She started her career as a newspaper reporter, but writing habits nurtured by her English teacher dad and grammatically meticulous mom steered her toward editing. Her many jobs have included editing at the Toronto Star, the National Post, the Toronto Sun and the Winnipeg Free Press.