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Woman ends hunger strike

BY KEITH LACEY Sara Anderson says the heartfelt advice of a native elder was finally enough to make her call off her 16-day hunger strike protesting the province's welfare system. "My elder spoke to me and told me it's not time for me to die...
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Sara Anderson, 45, has decided to call off her hunger strike. She existed on nothing but water for the past 16 days.

BY KEITH LACEY

Sara Anderson says the heartfelt advice of a native elder was finally enough to make her call off her 16-day hunger strike protesting the province's welfare system.

"My elder spoke to me and told me it's not time for me to die...If I continued much longer, I think I probably would have died soon and my elder convinced me it's not my time. I'm not ready to go," said Anderson.


Anderson started her hunger strike more than two weeks ago demanding the province increase social assistance rates and allow more people with legitimate disabilities onto the Ontario Disability Support Program (ODSP).


She also wanted the government to reinstate the monthly dietary supplement benefit the provincial government had clawed back against tens of thousands of social assistance recipients.


Earlier this week, Anderson got word she had been accepted to receive ODSP. She and her daughter will receive a significant increase in benefits from what she was receiving on general welfare.


Anderson was denied ODSP last year, even though she has a bullet hole in her hip after being shot while working as a truant officer on a native reserve in northwestern Ontario 20 years ago. She also suffers from severe arthritis.


She made the decision to resume eating food just past noon on Wednesday after having a long discussion with the elder, said Anderson. She had stopped eating any food and quit taking medication for severe arthritis to her lower extremities April 3.


Because her body has been so badly ravaged as a result of her hunger strike, Anderson knows she won't be able to eat solid food for probably several days.


"My elder told me to eat strawberries and water the first few days until my body starts getting some strength back," said Anderson. "I probably won't be able to eat normal food again until the weekend or early next week."


The fact her daughter Sheryl turned 16 on Wednesday also played a role in her decision, said Anderson.


"She told me all she ever wanted for her birthday was for me to be OK," she said. "My daughter is a very strong young girl and she's been my rock through all of this and we're going to start healing together with our elder."


Being accepted for a disability pension had "nothing to do" with her decision to quit her hunger strike, said Anderson, who was preparing for an appeal hearing to receive ODSP next month.


When asked to comment on whether others might follow in her footsteps to denounce government policy, Anderson said her hunger strike was an act by a desperate woman who was sick and tired of living in abject poverty.


"This was something I had to do and something I had thought about doing for a long time," she said. "I didn't do this for anyone else."


Anderson said she doesn't know how much weight she lost during her hunger strike, but said the physical and emotional pain was staggering over the last few days.


She looks forward to being healthy enough some time next week to eat her favourite meal - a bannock burger, made up of traditional native bread and filled with a spicy hamburger patty.


When times got the most difficult over the last two weeks, Anderson said she always summoned the strength to pray.


"My native spirituality is very strong...my grandmother was a native medicine woman," she said. "That's why I never thought of giving up even when things got very tough."


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