Minister says Indigenous Services contacted law enforcement about vaccine deal
"Money isn't my worry. My worry is the health and safety of the people who would get that vaccine," Miller said.
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Indigenous Services Minister Marc Miller says his department has been in touch with law enforcement about a Saskatchewan First Nation’s proposed deal to buy COVID-19 vaccine from a private company, which he believes is not legitimate.
Miller said he wants to warn other First Nations about offers that may seem “too good to be true,” and implied that some private companies had impersonated Indigenous Services Canada officials.
“I would take this opportunity to make this clear (to) anyone that’s listening, that anyone purporting to be an agent of Indigenous Services Canada that is a private company and not someone that is a member of the public service should be looked on with great skepticism and indeed great reticence,” Miller said Wednesday at a news conference.
James Smith Cree Nation (JSCN) Chief Wally Burns said in an interview last week that he was attempting to procure millions of doses of vaccine by way of a partner in Ontario and a medical supply company in Texas. That led to the Federation of Sovereign Indigenous Nations (FSIN) asking Indigenous Services Canada on two occasions to fund the purchase of vaccine. ISC did not do so.
He now has “indications from the companies that these offers are indeed not legitimate,” Miller said.
“That sets off a lot of alarm bells.”
The Saskatoon StarPhoenix obtained a full corporate offering from a Texas-based company called Davati Medical Supply LLC to the FSIN. In the document, labelled as being for discussion, the company claimed it could help secure six million doses of AstraZeneca vaccine for $21 million USD, the same amount the FSIN reportedly sought from ISC.
In a prepared statement, AstraZeneca said such offers from third parties are “probably not legitimate.”
Provincial spokesman Matt Glover wrote in a statement that Davati Medical Supply LLC had also “approached” the Saskatchewan government after a phone call between Burns and Health Minister Paul Merriman to discuss “vaccine issues.” Glover wrote last week that the province “does not view this offer to procure vaccines as legitimate.”
Herman Cardenas, registered as an agent of the company on Texas tax records, did not immediately respond to messages on Wednesday.
Miller said he is worried about the possibility of other types of vaccine fraud and is “diligently working to identify and address all unsolicited and suspicious offers of COVID-19 vaccines for sale that have been made available to any First Nation, Inuit and Metis community.”
He said his greatest concern is the safety of any such purchased vaccine, and whether that might fuel vaccine hesitancy in Indigenous communities where it’s already a challenge.
“Money isn’t my worry. My worry is the health and safety of the people who would get that vaccine,” Miller said.
“I would venture to think that if they were legitimate, Government of Canada would be all over them and procuring them and offering them,” he said.
A Manitoba government spokesman said that province also received “notification from Canada of possible fraudulent suppliers of vaccine” on Tuesday.
Recent attempts by the StarPhoenix to speak with representatives from James Smith Cree Nation and the FSIN have been unsuccessful.
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