A Saddle Lake Indigenous-owned business known as Kanatan Health Solutions is taking a unique spin on hand sanitizers and personal protective equipment (PPE).
Since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, hand sanitizer has become a coveted necessity – but some use ethyl alcohol as a disinfectant, singeing the nostrils with a rotten-garbage or tequila-like smell. The new company has taken steps to remove that smell.
When the pandemic was at its peak, there was concern about protecting First Nation elders who are the most vulnerable to COVID-19, explained Tasha Power, one of the founders of Kanatan and a former Great West Newspapers employee. She said that many elders wouldn’t even consider using an alcohol-based solution on their hands because of the smell. So her sister, Leah Redcrow, came up with the idea first as a way to protect their family with a product they would actually enjoy using when sanitizer was scarce.
“It smells like the alcohol that you drink – tequila and vodka specifically. And it really turns people off, especially people who are sober or recovering alcoholics – they don't want to smell that again,” said Power.
"We want to protect our elders and make sure that they're also being safe and taken care of ... and we don't have many elders left. So that was the number-one reason why we went into this market."
The family uses extracts from traditional medicinal plants like cedar, sweetgrass, sage and sweet tobacco to infuse into their hand sanitizer sprays, which use medical-grade isopropyl alcohol as the base. Their hand sanitizers are made in Saddle Lake and were approved by Health Canada in late June.
A full line of products can be found at the company website, which emphasizes the significance of being made in Treaty Six Territory using Indigenous wisdom and style.