APTN National News
OTTAWA–Assembly of First Nations National Chief Shawn Atleo is leading a delegation to visit Attawapiskat Tuesday.
Atleo will be joined by Akwesasne Grand Chief Mike Mitchell and AFN Ontario regional Chief Angus Toulouse. Former Olympian Waneek Horn-Miller will also be part of the delegation, the AFN said in a statement.
Atleo said in the statement he was responding to an invitation to visit the community which has been suffering from a severe housing crisis for years, but has recently been thrust to the centre of the national agenda.
Liberal interim leader Bob Rae and Liberal Aboriginal affairs critic Carolyn Bennett visited the community over the weekend.
NDP interim leader Nycole Turmel and Timmins James Bay NDP MP Charlie Angus, whose riding includes the community, visited Attawapiskat earlier this fall.
Opposition politicians have been calling on Prime Minister Stephen Harper and Aboriginal Affairs Minister John Duncan to also visit the northern Ontario First Nations, which sits on the shore of James Bay.
Attawapiskat is currently locked in a legal battle with Ottawa over Duncan’s decision to impose a third-party manager on the community to take over the band’s finances.
The federal government has also promised to send 22 new modular homes to the community by the end of January.
The Canadian Red Cross moved to intervene and offer aid to Attawapiskat after images surfaced of the dire living conditions in the community of 1,800 where several families live in tents and shacks with no running water or insulation.
It think that it’s right and proper that the spotlight was focused on this community and its direu00a0 circumstances. And although the Tory gov’t has made a concerted effort to turn this into a debate about aboriginal funding, many right-minded reporters are asking the right questions. But this can’t be the only community in crisis. Who is bringing out their stories?nn