I am very pleased that the Canadian Red Cross is moving into Attawapiskat, to try and alleviate the tragic housing crisis that the community is facing.
All Canadians should be concerned about what is happening to the indigenous people of Attawapiskat. What a breach of Human Rights and Constitutional responsibilities, the Government of Canada and the Provincial Government of Ontario are committing against our brothers and sisters there. For weeks, the community, which declared a state of emergency, has been pleading for help. The Registered Nurses Association of Ontario recently wrote a letter to the prime minister and premier of Ontario describing the slum-like situation facing residents in the community as “life threatening” and “inhumane.”
The numbers in this community paint a stark picture: some families are living in tents, 19 families live in shacks with no running water; 122 families live in condemned housing; 96 people live in one industrial-sized trailer and 268 new houses are needed immediately.
Many residents, including the elderly and children, are using the toilet in pails that are then dumped into ditches. Some of the elderly are in their eighties, with the onset of winter we might be lucky if no one there dies of exposure from the freezing conditions. I believe that the United Nations should monitor what is happening in Attawapiskat. Because the poor people there are living on fourth world conditions.

Dr John Joe Sark LLD (Hon).
Keptin of the Mi’kmnaq Grand Council for the District of Epekwitk