Sandy Bay sitting on triple-pane windows: Organizers
Donations meant to improve housing conditions on First Nation awaiting installation
Donations to help keep Sandy Bay First Nation residents warm are pouring in, but some say they aren't being put to use fast enough and they don't know why.
Many community members are strapping in for a long winter in broken-down homes, some of which don't have proper heat. Housing conditions on the reserve have been in the headlines and circulating on social media since a former resident posted a video of one family's dilapidated trailer in early November.
Gerald McIvor is from Sandy Bay and helps co-ordinate donations that many groups have been making to the community.
He's concerned about a load of around 40 windows that were sent to Sandy Bay from Swan Lake First Nation.
Swan Lake Chief Francine Meeches said she sent dozens of spare windows and a handful of doors to Sandy Bay back in November. The materials had recently been taken out of Swan Lake homes and replaced with newer upgrades, but Meeches said they didn't need to go to waste.
McIvor said they're still in storage and haven't made it out to community members yet.
- 'I'm sick of the smell': Sandy Bay First Nation mother living with sewage underneath home
- Man posts video of rat-infested home on Sandy Bay First Nation to get PM Trudeau's attention
- Former Sandy Bay resident calls for donations to help homes battling cold
Gaylor Richard, a Swan Lake resident who drove the cube van full of windows to Sandy Bay, said he just wanted to help.
"It would [have] been nice if they [had] been installed right away … [It] sucks that I was rushing to get them out there so they can sit in storage the whole time," he said in a Facebook message.
On Saturday, McIvor sent an email to Sandy Bay Chief Lance Roulette asking for windows to be distributed.
In an email obtained by CBC, Roulette responded on Sunday to confirm the windows had been received and were going to be given to residents who needed them. Roulette also posted about it on Facebook.
Neither Roulette nor the other members of Sandy Bay council responded to CBC requests for comment by publication time.
But McIvor said community members shouldn't have had to wait this long.
"What about the dire need now?" he said.
- New budget money to address 'abysmal' First Nations housing, says CMHC
- Sandy Bay chief says community needs $76M to improve housing
- 'I'm just happy': Sandy Bay mom thanks Ontario company for new home
"You start something like this and you've prayed, and then all of a sudden you get Good Samaritans coming out of the blue to help us," McIvor said.
The community has received other donations from as far as Toronto and Calgary, said David Beaulieu, a Sandy Bay resident who's helping with on-reserve co-ordination.
Groups including B'nai Brith and the Green Acres Hutterite Colony have reached out to him and other co-ordinators to offer donations of clothing and material, he said.