9/11 anniversary reveals impact of stories, 10 years later

This year, I had the opportunity to cover the 10th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks in New York.

Many moments left an impression on me, from witnessing the raw emotion of family members as they took turns recalling loved ones at the commemoration-ceremony podium to soaking up the view from atop the newly constructed One World Trade Center tower - a symbol of the city's resilience.

But perhaps most memorable was reconnecting with John Signorello.

I first met Signorello on the night of American Thanksgiving in 2001. He was a veteran city sanitation worker assigned to haul debris out of Ground Zero. I was a young reporter looking for a story.

Signorello let me ride with him in his dump truck as he transferred tons of mangled steel and pulverized concrete to waiting barges. During the ride he told me how the long hours and the sight of bodies being pulled from the rubble were taking their toll. The smell from the site was creeping into his dreams.

Ten years later I set out to track him down. I didn't think he would remember me.

But when I reached him on the phone, I learned that he not only remembered me, but just days earlier he had dug up my original story and read it to his grown daughter for the first time.

"I actually just fell apart," he recalled. "She went silent. I don't think she knew the way I felt until then."

Signorello said he then went to make extra copies of the story because the original had started to fade.

I was blown away.

Journalists often wonder, "Do our stories make a difference?"

It was nice to hear a bit of validation that they do.

Feds aware of Attawapiskat crisis for years

The federal department responsible for First Nations has known about the worsening living conditions at Attawapiskat for years, says former Indian Affairs Minister Chuck Strahl.

In an interview with CBC Radio's The House, Strahl tells host Evan Solomon the crisis at Attawapiskat "has been a slow moving train-wreck for a long time."

However, the current Minister of Aboriginal Affairs and Northern Development John Duncan said this week that officials in his department were unaware of Attawapiskat's housing problems until Oct. 28, despite having visited the community several times in the past year.

But Strahl, who retired from politics earlier this year, paints a different picture.

"It was not good when I was there, and I don't think it's appreciably, or any better now. That was well known, everybody knew it was a very difficult community for a bunch of reasons."

Attawapiskat "was always a problem," said Strahl.

The federal government put the community of Attawapiskat in Northern Ontario under third-party management, and ordered an audit to find out how federal funds have been spent in the commmunity of about 1,800.

The government says it has given Attawapiskat roughly $90 million since 2006. However, documents from the department of Aboriginal Affairs and Northern Development Canada show Attawapiskat only received $4.3 million in funding for housing since 2006.

"Sad to say that in some of these communities, because some of the other needs are equal or greater than housing, that's how difficult it is, and arguably every one of them is a crisis," said Strahl.

Greg Rickford, Secretary to the Minister of Aboriginal Affairs and Northern Development, told The House the government's decision earlier in the week to place the Attawapiskat First Nations under third-party management is the "most reasonable and responsible way to move forward."

"We have a legal basis for proceeding with third-party management given the pressing health and safety issues," he said. "Over the medium term, any funds from the department of Aboriginal Affairs and Northern Development will necessarily involve our role in any final decisions with respect to those resources."

Band Chief Theresa Spence has objected to what she says is the government's focus on money and blaming band members for living conditions.

"I guess as First Nations, when we do ask for assistance and make a lot of noise, we get penalized for it, so to put us in third-party [management] while we're in crisis, is a very shameful disgrace from the government," she told CBC's Tom Parry.

"They should be focusing on the crisis that we're going through, not blaming anybody. I'm very disappointed and discouraged and I'm sure the other First Nations are going to be discouraged. If they have problems in their communities and if they ask assistance and you have to go to the media, they're going to get penalized like we are right now," Spence said.

Rickford said neither side should be assigning blame.

"I think we both have a shared desire and a shared responsibility to work through this," he said.