Cat Lake First Nation walkers protest lack of cancer care

Superior Morning6:36Cat Lake First Nation Walkers

We meet a mother from Cat Lake who just embarked on a 3000 kilometre journey with her two sons, and her nephew. They're walking from Thunder Bay to Vancouver, calling for better cancer services for First Nations.Four members of Cat Lake First Nation are walking from Thunder Bay to Vancouver, to raise awareness of cancer care needs in the far north.

Joyce Wesley-Peters is making the journey along with her two teenage sons and nephew. She told CBC News she's seen too many family members suffer because of the lack of cancer care services at home.

"People should have that second chance in life," she said.

"We know the health care is there, but it's just not provided as much for First Nations people."

People in isolated communities currently have to wait too long for a diagnosis, and to access care in Thunder Bay or Winnipeg, Wesley-Peters said. She added things would be better if there was a cancer care clinic at the Sioux Lookout hospital, which could serve the far north.

"My uncle, when he went to the health care clinic he kept going there for three months, and by the time they [transported] him to Winnipeg his tumour was the size of a baseball."

Nine days later, the cancer proved fatal to her uncle.  Wesley-Peters said she thinks it should have been caught sooner, and would have been, if there were cancer care services closer to home.

A hub for cancer care?

Cat Lake Chief Russell Wesley, who was at Friday's launch to support the walkers, said the isolation of remote communities creates geographic and financial barriers to accessing cancer care.

To serve more remote areas he said he'd like like to see more cancer care centres in smaller cities.

"I don't think we have enough cancer services. The nearest one is in Thunder Bay," he said.

"We need to maybe place a better emphasis on providing cluster cancer care services. In our case, the Sioux Lookout Meno Ya Win hospital would be an ideal place, because it's a cluster centre."

Wesley would also like to see Sioux Lookout become a hub for cancer care, and he'd like more research to be done to better understand why cancer rates are so high in the north.

The walking group's journey is more than 3,000 kilometres, and they expect it to take upwards of three months to complete.