Sault Ste. Marie–Algoma riding NDP candidate calls for better healthcare accessibility in Northern Ontario

By Rick Garrick

MISSISSAUGA #8 FIRST NATION — Anishinaabekwe lawyer Laura Mayer is calling for better healthcare accessibility in Northern Ontario during her election campaign as the NDP candidate in the newly formed Sault Ste. Marie–Algoma riding.

“Too many people in Sault Ste. Marie–Algoma struggle to access timely medical care, maternity care, and mental health services close to home,” says Mayer, a mother of three, Mississauga #8 councillor, and executive director at the National Council of Indigenous Midwives. “I will fight to expand healthcare services in the north and ensure no one is left behind.”

Mayer says the number one concern she has heard from constituents during the election campaign is about the trade war with the United States.

“I had quite a few conversations about it last week — I spent the week in Wawa, visited Hornepayne, Dubreuilville, White River, and because it is very industrial-focused there, they have a lot of industries that rely on having a reliable trading partner in the United States, they are very concerned about the way the trade war is going to impact their jobs, their cost of living,” Mayer says. “And that’s become part of the main conversation about what party they want to vote for.”

Mayer says although Algoma Steel in Sault Ste. Marie has already been impacted by the trade war and there were threats of Canada being annexed as the 51st state, not one of the constituents she has spoken with has said Canada should just become the 51st state.

“That is something that is abhorrent to all of the voters that I’ve spoken to and it’s something that we have to pay really close attention to,” Mayer says. “For me as a candidate, my focus has been really on local issues, so what are the national decisions that are being made and how do they affect local issues, local industry, local jobs and how are they going to affect our cost of living?”

Mayer says every single demographic will be affected by the tariffs, so they need to make sure that the decisions made on the national level are going to be right across all demographics to help people in the way they need.

“For younger people who might need … retraining if their trade is changing, if they’re being laid off, we’re going to need to very quickly find a good place for them to be retrained, to be compensated while they’re being retrained and find another industry for them to transition into because they want to support their way of life and their family,” Mayer says. “And for people who have a nest egg and who are exiting, we’re also going to need to make sure that what their investments look like today is something that they are going to be able to count on in the future because we’ve been relying on the stability of the system and people rely on the system to support themselves — we really need to focus on what is Canada’s social safety net. How does it make sure it equally applies and is able to fundamentally support the living conditions of a very wide variety of people?”

Mayer says she has also heard concerns from constituents about the redistribution of the ridings in Northern Ontario.

“In Northern Ontario, we are going from 10 MPs to nine MPs, so the former riding of Algoma-Manitoulin-Kapuskasing is splitting up into three and I’m part of the old Algoma-Manitoulin-Kapuskasing riding that is going to now be part of Sault Ste. Marie-Algoma,” Mayer explains, noting that Carol Hughes was the MP for Algoma-Manitoulin-Kapuskasing for about 14 years. “She’s someone who is known from one edge of the riding to the other, so when I have been going canvassing, people are very surprised that our districts are changing but also a little bit sad that Carol is retiring — they really like her, she was always in the community.”

Mayer says she is a big advocate for minority language rights, noting that her partner is an Anishinaabemowin high school teacher and she has been focused on learning Anishinaabemowin.

“I’ve spent probably the last solid five years really trying to get a grasp on Anishinaabemowin grammar, conversationality and instilling that within my children,” Mayer says. “I’ve been really trying to push Anishinaabemowin forward as a big priority because learning a different language from the one you went to school in really expands your worldview. No matter what other language you are learning, you are building new connections in your brain, you are expanding your understanding of place and people and community, and it is so very important to have other languages in your life.”

Mayer says she previously worked for her community for six years and was the senior political advisor with the Anishinabek Nation’s Political Office during former Grand Council Chief Reg Niganobe’s term.

“I did a lot of advocacy in pretty much all areas that had to do with First Nations,” Mayer says.

Mayer says she has been involved with the NDP since about 2015, including doing canvassing and campaign assistance while she was living in North Bay.

“Ever since I moved back to the former Algoma-Manitoulin-Kapuskasing riding, I’ve worked with (former MP) Carol Hughes as part of her electoral district association,” Mayer says. “So I’ve been a party member since then, I attended conventions, worked with the (NDP’s national) Indigenous Peoples’ Commission and been part of doing some of the work in terms of making sure Indigenous voices are centred when we’re talking about policy. The NDP is where my heart is.”