Northern Ontario First Nation hoping for change following inquest into deadly outbreak

The father of the first of five people to die during the blastomycosis outbreak in Constance Lake First Nation is happy with the 79 recommendations from the coroner’s inquest.

Although Arhur Moore, whose son Luke was 43 when he died in November 2021 after being misdiagnosed with pneumonia, says the community will need to be "diligent" to make sure the 21-day inquest brings about change.

“Although the recommendations are non-binding, the people are awakened,” he said.

“It’s a very powerful statement.”

Five people died and dozens of others got sick from the fungal lung disease in the community of 800 during the fall of 2021 and winter of 2022.

Moore, a former chief of Constance Lake, said he was especially pleased with the recommendations calling for changes to the local health care system, including increased staffing at the community’s health centre and cultural awareness training for staff at the Notre Dame hospital in nearby Hearst.

“Understanding of First Nations culture, traditions, the way we speak,” he said.

“They have to understand that a bit more, so we can live together peacefully.”

Luke Moore’s cousin Michelle Daigle attended every day of the inquest.

“He was kind of that light within our family,” she remembered. 

“As soon as Luke would come into the room, everybody would just be excited he was there.”

Now a professor specializing in Indigenous issues in the geography department at the University of Toronto, Daigle said she finds the recommendations a “starting point” for repairing relations between Constance Lake and the health care system.

She remembers talk of “subtle racism” and fear of going to the Hearst hospital when she was growing up in the First Nation in the 1980s and 1990s.

“This is just one way we can work toward accountability moving forward,” Daigle said.