Nechako Lakes MLA John Rustad has backtracked comments he made on his Facebook page last week regarding the COVID-19 Immunization Plan.
In the original post he questioned who makes the decision to vaccinate younger Indigenous residents in the Fort. St James community instead of the elderly population.
According to Rustad in the post, he received a number of calls and messages from people in the Fort St. James community.
Rustad later commented on that same post that he was in touch with Northern Health and vaccine allocation decisions are made by Dr. Bonnie Henry and Minister of Health Adrian Dix.
“I still have not been able to confirm if Nak’azdli is still vaccinating everyone 18+ while those FSJames have been put off until round two,” he said.
Rustad has since deleted the original post after comments were made regarding COVID-19 in First Nation communities.
“To the people who are trying to make this a race issue. I’m sorry you see it that way. I have no issue with the proposed vaccine treatment, the increased focus on communities (especially those that have been impacted), and the general plan for non-Indigenous communities,” he said.
After the comments by Rustad were made, the First Nations Leadership Council wrote a letter to Rustad as well as Interim Liberal Leader Shirley Bond.
“The First Nations Leadership Council is greatly disappointed and alarmed at the barrage of misinformation, division, and discrimination,” the letter said.
The letter also added his comments cast “unwarranted doubt on a vaccination rollout system”.
Rustad said in a second post that Northern Health provided him the details of the vaccine rollout.
“I fully supported their decisions. I explained to Northern Health that some people in those communities would be upset but that I would defend the decisions because they were based on science and medical priorities,” he said.
Rustad also added the First Nations Health Authority was given a certain amount of vaccines but it was not enough.
Vista Radio reached out to Rustad but did not hear back in time for publication.
– with files from Lindsay Newman, My Bulkley Lakes Now staff
Something going on in the Prince George area you think people should know about?
Send us a news tip by emailing pgnews@vistaradio.ca.
