To the editor:
This is an open letter to the premier of Ontario on behalf of Sandy Lake Students
Hi Kathleen I'm a teacher in NorthWestern Ontario on a Fly in first nation community. I wrote and spoke to Anthony Leek before and during the race for the election, I raised concerns about the Ontario Works funding that was cut to our reservation. It directly affected the 600 school children who depend on the snack and lunch program as a source of food.
After the budget was cut, quite a few of teachers brought in food to help those kids who depend on the program. But seriously with the inflated costs in the Northern up here it was running $100 a week to feed a classroom. and the kids who lived too far to go home at lunch.
So this came out of the teachers pockets with no tax break. Our Ontario works director explained to us that our reservation of 3,400 was cut from $635,000 to $340,000. How is that supposed to work? I hope that it is part of the revamp of the welfare system but I was told it was part of the Aboriginal initiative.
We also had a four-year old boy die from the flu because he was denied access to the medical help that is available on the rez. The nurses at the nursing station told his parents not to bring him in they wouldn't see him, when he went into convulsions from his high fever the police rushed him to the nurses station. My principal, his grandmother, was there when they were trying unsuccessfully to revive him.
Can you imagine being that grandparentor a parent? It's 2014.
I am disheartened with the treatment of our people. They are not treated fairly. I am on the rez, a white teacher, because I believe in equality, the same equality that let you become our first woman premier. Please pass it on. Three-thousand people is equal to a good size small town. I've lived in smaller -- we need decent health care. I'm in Toronto for the next few weeks. I would love a chance to talk to you in person about this.
Michelle Corbett,
Sandy Lake First Nation
