In partnership with Attawapiskat First Nation and Mushkegowuk Council, Mennonite Central Committee Ontario has received an invitation to continue work on housing in the community of Attawapiskat First Nation, on the shores of James Bay.
MCC Ontario is sending small teams of certified tradespeople for two week periods beginning in February. Teams will work under local leadership in setting up modular homes and learning about the first peoples who welcomed them there. This is an MCC project, with the support of Mennonite Disaster Service. MCC volunteers first began working in Attawapiskat in 1981.
MCC Ontario reports that more than 100 families are living in condemned housing that was built in the 1970s and has not been maintained. Several families are living in make-shift tents and shacks without electricity, running water, or plumbing. No fewer than 250 new homes are needed to alleviate over-crowding and sub-standard housing in this Mushkegowuk Cree community.
For more information: http://ontario.