And now:Ish <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> writes:
Date: Sun, 11 Apr 1999 15:20:51 -0700 (PDT)
From: John Shafer <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
X-Sender: wy430@vtn1
To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
ABORIGINAL PROTESTERS START HUNGER STRIKE
Canadian Press, April 10, 1999
SIOUX LOOKOUT, Ont. (CP) -- Aboriginal protesters began a hunger
strike on Friday to protest what they say is a health crisis in
Northern Ontario.
Seven members of the Pikangikum First Nation and Kitchenuhmaykoosib
Inninuwug, started fasting in response to a potential closure of the
Sioux Lookout Zone Hospital.
"This is our only alternative left," said Chief Paddy Peters of
Pikangikum First Nation, who is part of the hunger strike.
"It is our children and our elders who suffer the most. If we sit
back and do nothing, what will happen to them?" Peters said in a news
release.
The protesters said the hospital can no longer offer many services
forcing people to travel to Thunder Bay, Ont., or Winnipeg for care.
In another news release, Phil Fontaine, chief of the Assembly of
First Nations, called the situation '"critical" and demanded Ottawa
intervene to resolve the dispute.
Fontaine warned some of the hunger strikers are diabetic.
Among the demands of those fasting are community participation in the
development of physician services and the restoration of nursing
services to the community.
The Zone Hospital is a 39-bed facility that provides health care
services to more than 16,000 people north of Sioux Lookout.
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Jane Stewart, Minister of Indian and Northern Affairs (Canada)
Email: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
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Tsonkwadiyonrat (We are ONE Spirit)
Unenh onhwa' Awayaton
http://www.tdi.net/ishgooda/
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