By Kellah Lavoie

Layton puts emphasis on First Nations while in La Ronge

Apr 10, 2011 | 3:50 PM

On Jack Layton’s trip across Saskatchewan, he made a stop in La Ronge.

Pulling into the town at about 3:30 p.m. Saturday, he made a loop around the room shaking hands and after a quick photo opportunity, he was ready to address to group who gathered in the Royal Canadian Legion building.

He was introduced as man who was working to bring families together and “fix” Ottawa, by NDP candidate for Desnethé-Missinippi-Churchill River, Lawrence Joseph.

He told the group that Layton is fighting for the rights of Northern Saskatchewan.

“In Ottawa we deserve better,” he said, before introducing Layton.

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Layton said that is exactly what he wants to do.

He brought up topics of First Nations education and its lack of funding – the First Nations people only have one third of the funding that the south gets.

“It’s time that all young people have the same opportunity for a good education no matter who they are, no matter where they live,” he said.

Layton told the group he spoke with the mayor of La Ronge and the chief of the Lac La Ronge Indian Band. One of the topics that came out of those conversations was infrastructure.

“If you are in a remote community, or relatively remote, or a long way away, there are infrastructure costs just to even have access to provide clean water or to provide water treatment,” he said.

“I believe this election has to have all parties making a commitment to deliver on health and education and on infrastructure and support for clean water and housing in communities here.”

Layton mentioned the wellness centre that Chief Tammy Cook-Searson has been working towards, and said it is something that warrants federal support.

He said he wants the North to come out and vote, and wants to help break down the barriers that are hindering it.

Cook-Searson, said Layton coming to her community helps show Northern Saskatchewan that they are important.

“He’s got a strong voice in Ottawa. I think it is important to have people of his calibre.

“It’s not just people from La Ronge I see people from the far north that came here and other parts of the northern Saskatchewan to come here (for this speech),” she said, adding it adds prominence to federal election in Northern Saskatchewan.

What they need to work on now, is making voting more accessible. There is currently no polling station at the Lac La Ronge Indian Band and identification has been a big issue in the past, said Cook-Searson.

“Everybody knows everybody, so it’s not such a big issue,” she explained, comparing it to a larger city where ID is more necessary.

She said she hopes there will be a good turnout at the election, especially since the band leadership election had the highest turnout ever, with about 3,200 people voting.

The biggest thing she hopes to see come out of this election was brought up by Layton – funding for education.

“Here there is just an imaginary line between La Ronge and our reserve, and we get less money to educate out students than La Ronge for example.

“It’s the lack of funding we received as First Nations people,” she said explaining they need to work to keep their language and culture alive.

klavoie@panow.com