Help appears to be so close, yet so far for residents on the rundown reserve of Attawapiskat in northern Ontario.
A total of five new modular homes, worth $200,000 each, were expected to arrive in the community by Monday night, to help ease the community's severe housing crisis. So far, four foundations have been created for these structures. Seventeen more homes are said to be on the way.
However, more than 90 people need homes. Right now, the residents are living in old mining trailers.
When asked if more buildings were on the way, Glen Watson of EHL Homes said, "Quite possibly."
The wait and uncertainity are taking their toll on residents. April Sutherland says, "I know I'm on a list, but they just tell me there's so many people."
Sutherland says she doesn't feel officials really understand the full extent of their grim living conditions. "(They) can't, like, just say that everything is OK, when they don't really know what's going on. They don't."
Another shelter resident named Sharon says she isn't enjoying her temporary shelter. "We're sharing bathrooms, sharing toilets, sharing showers."
Sutherland, mother to a 4-year-old named Trey, is also worried about her family. "What are we going to do if the baby is here and it's so cold you know? It's hard to warm a baby up when it's cold in here. It's one of the reasons that's holding me back from having more children is 'cause I don't have a house."
"I just don't think it's fair. Am I not an emergency...you know? That's just how I feel."
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