Mom of 5 blames mould in London Housing unit for children's breathing problems
CBC
For the last two months, Kayla Fraser Jacobs and her five children have been living in a hotel room while they wait for crews to remediate what Jacobs believes is a persistent mould problem in her London Housing townhouse.
"I was happy because I thought maybe things would get done," said Jacobs, 31, who is a member of the Moravian of the Thames First Nation.
About three years ago, Jacobs discovered a water leak had caused significant damage in her basement.
"I call and tell them, 'I think it's all mouldy down here,'" said Jacobs who pays less than $200 a month for the three-bedroom unit. "All they did was come and patch it up with mud."
That was two years ago, but Jacobs still believes there's mould there.
Jacobs's youngest children both have respiratory issues. Nuni, 2, has severe asthma and along with her 10-month-old sister, Sophia, is on daily medication and is being followed closely by respiratory specialists at London Health Sciences Centre (LHSC).
"In March, [Sophia] got admitted to the hospital because she couldn't breathe, like, literally you could see her ribcage," said Jacobs. "It was so bad. I was scared."
Jacobs blames the mould.
She managed to get funding for a three-month stay in a hotel room, through Jordan's Principle, a federal government policy that ensures First Nations children have equitable access to housing and social services.
That funding runs out on Sept. 8.
A City of London inspector visited the unit in June, along with a representative with Arnsby Property Management, which maintains the townhouse complex, and though they did find some problems with the unit, mould wasn't one of them.
A staircase handrail, a working bathroom ceiling fan and windows screens were all on the list and have been replaced. A new bathroom floor has not yet been installed.
According to Arnsby property manager Kyndall Fiest, Jacobs's case has now been closed, as the home has been properly remediated.
"I'm tired of the answers that I'm getting," said Jacobs. "I'm tired of my girls being neglected. The doctor says you need to breathe every day in order to live.
Aggressive patients and lack of security are making nurses feel unsafe in a rural Western Manitoba emergency union, says the Manitoba Nurses Union.
Saskatoon resident Delynne Bortis knew her commute to work Tuesday morning would be particularly difficult.
WARNING: This story contains details of abuse and intimate partner violence:
The amount of money it takes for people to earn a living wage has increased across the province, according to a new report from the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives (CCPA).
The new owner of Ontario steelmaker Stelco says his company "will not disappoint the people of Hamilton and Nanticoke," where the business's major facilities are based.
A Winnipegger is warning others about an intricate scam she says she almost fell for.
Fort William First Nation is opposing a planned redevelopment of the Ontario Power Generation's (OPG) 117 year old Kakabeka Falls Generating Station, which is located in their traditional territory.
A building that sits at the corner of Sussex Street and Brunswick Avenue has had many lives over the last century — being a church, a school and offices. Now it's set to become housing, at a time when the city sorely needs it.
A Waterloo, Ont., elementary school principal will be sentenced in the new year after pleading guilty to child sexual exploitation charges following a joint investigation that involved the London, Toronto and Waterloo police services.
Students at UPEI have let their student union know what they want from the province this fiscal year, and those priorities are reflected in a 2024-2025 advocacy document brought to the legislature on Wednesday.
Larger communities in the N.W.T. will soon see a boost in their territorial funding to maintain infrastructure and deliver services — like water and waste management — but the increase still falls short of what communities need.