Family of First Nation woman who died amid lack of medical travel asks for OPP probe

By Liam Casey The family of a northern Ontario First Nation woman who died after she couldn’t get to crucial medical appointments following open-heart surgery has asked provincial police to investigate her death. Eva Mamakwa said her 31-year-old daughter, Miranda Mamakwa, died in September after Indigenous Services Canada’s non-insured health benefits program did not arrange travel for her followup appointments after the April surgery. Miranda Mamakwa lived in Fort Severn First Nation, a remote fly-in community on the mouth of the Severn River on Hudson Bay, with her three children and her parents. The NIHB program for First Nations and Inuit people covers medical, dental and mental health care not available through private insurance or provincial health plans. The family now wants Ontario Provincial Police to launch a criminal investigation…

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