TORONTO — Claire Eckert first noticed flames leaping out of the school roof in Pikangikum around 9 o’clock last Friday evening. It was windy that night, and the fire quickly engulfed the entire one-storey clapboard building, forcing her and many other residents of the remote Ojibwa community in Northwestern Ontario to flee their homes.
By the time residents had put out the fire - a feat that depleted the community’s entire water supply - there was nothing left but rubble, leaving children attending the reserve’s only school with nowhere to go. The community’s elders say the deplorable living conditions on the reserve make it a warehouse for social problems. Many of the young people sniff gasoline, a problem that school officials fear could worsen now that they have nowhere to go.
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