hollowed bone, flightless bird

Pressure is growing on the federal and Ontario governments to intervene in the northern Ontario reserve of Attawapiskat, sparked by what one MP is calling a “digital storm” from concerned Canadians.

But even as corporate and other organizations rallied to the cause, Ottawa quickly denied a report Thursday that it had committed $2.5-million for housing on the troubled reserve, frustrating NDP MP Charlie Angus, who has led the charge to raise awareness about the James Bay community.

Earlier this week, Angus wrote a blog post on the Huffington Post Canada that documented his visit to the reserve, which had declared a state of emergency last month.

“I spoke with one family of six who had been living in a tiny tent for two years. I visited elderly people living in sheds without water or electricity. I met children whose idea of a toilet was a plastic bucket that was dumped into the ditch in front of their shack,” the MP representing the reserve wrote in the blog post, which has been shared on Facebook more than 60,000 times.

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