Listen to these recent documentaries by CCIR Reporter Susanna Kelley on CBC's the Current.

Former North Spirit Lake Chief, Sally Bunting, now councils community members with addictions (credit: Susanna Kelley)

“. . .While everything looked peaceful from the outside, the Ontario Provincial Police (OPP) had brought in heavily armed units to where Shawn Brant and other Mohawk Warriors had blockaded Highway 401, the CN Rail line and Highway 2. A group from the community -- including a woman named Mandy Smart -- had gone off to meet with OPP Commissioner Julian Fantino to try to hold off any possible raid because they believed there were children behind the barricades. . .” (from the segment intro, March 26, 2008)
The Long, Hot Summer

Substandard housing like this is common on the reserve, one of the poorest in Ontario. (credit: Susanna Kelley)

“Now that the Truth and Reconciliation Commission into Canada's Native residential school system has begun, a terrible chapter in Canadian history is getting its first, full accounting. But while the commission does its work, many native communities are still struggling with a litany of economic and social problems. Those problems are on full display in North Spirit Lake, a tiny, remote First Nations community in Northern Ontario, right near the border with Manitoba. Unemployment there is rampant. So is drug use. Nearly half the community's children go hungry on a regular basis. And the community hasn't had reliable police service for five years."

40% of Native Children Going Hungry on North Spirit
Lake First Nation