Moosonee mayor feels the region has often been ignored
Susanna Baxter says she has lived a life full of barriers. Limited access to health care, poor education, trouble accessing clean drinking water and overcrowded housing are just some of the issues she says she experienced growing up in Marten Falls First Nation, a remote community in Ontario’s Far North.
Amid those challenges, the 34-year-old says she also witnessed what she calls a lack of action from various governments. “The only time we get some kind of help is when we call a state of emergency,” she says. “We have to scream it from the freakin’ rooftops before we get any kind of help.”
As she looks to Ontario’s election on June 2, Baxter hopes the new government will wholeheartedly support the residents of the Far North, a vast region that covers more than a third of the province’s land mass.
“I would like to have us not be forgotten,” says the single mother of three. “I feel like that’s how I’ve felt my whole life and I don’t want my children forgotten.” Baxter and other residents of the region say they’d like to see the Far North prioritized, with attention paid to the cost of living, food insecurity, limited health services and housing.
For the rest of this article: https://www.timminstoday.com/local-news/i-would-like-us-to-not-be-forgotten-election-breeds-hope-skepticism-in-far-north-5403401