The MHA for Torngat Mountains says she can’t understand why basic access to affordable travel for the people of Labrador is still being discussed without meaningful solutions.
That’s as residents fundraise for everything from sports qualifying opportunities to getting the bodies of loved ones back home for burial.
Lela Evans was responding to a recent report by the Goose Bay Airport Authority that airfares have increased by 33 per cent in Happy Valley-Goose Bay and a whopping 47 per cent in Labrador West since 2019.
According to the report, the national average is 9.2 per cent.
Evans says the numbers prove that action is long overdue.
She cites two young volleyball players from Labrador who have made it through to the second round of tryouts to represent Team NL at the Canada Summer Games, but travel costs are getting in the way.
She says the athletes and their families can fundraise, but one mother told her that’s a challenge when others facing similar difficulties with the cost of travel are doing the same.
“She said ‘Lela, there’s only so much money to go around in our communities. There’s (only) so many cold plates you can sell, there’s only so many articles of clothing that can be made and auctioned-off.'” Evans says the greatest dilemma for that parent was competing with people who are fundraising to get the body of a loved-one home, or to get family members home for a funeral.