IF LOCATION were all that mattered, the Rapid Lake First Nation reserve in Quebec would be a paradise. It sits in a wildlife area popular with hikers. The highway leading to it weaves through forests and lakes. But idyllic is not the word that comes to mind driving into the Algonquin community of about 350 people on a rainy day. The dirt roads are turning to mud. Some homes appear derelict. The only electricity comes from a diesel generator. At an office in a trailer Tony Wawatie, a community official, doesn’t mince words: “Some of our people live in third-world conditions.”
Rapid Lake is far from the worst First Nation reserve in Canada. Water does not have to be boiled before drinking, as in more than 130 other First Nation communities. It has not been devastated by youth suicide, like Wapekeka in northern Ontario where three 12-year-old girls have killed themselves this year. Health care beyond what the on-reserve clinic can provide is a drive, not a flight, away. Still, this...Continue reading
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