To the editor:
For approximately a year now, my sister has been living in a newly renovated apartment building in North Bay on Trout Lake Road.
I visited her last Christmas and was impressed by the improvements made. From the grounds to the front of the building facelift, and the smart plaque apartment numbers on each apartment door, it is an apartment building one would be proud to live in.
For a year now, my sister is a victim of secondhand cannabis smoke coming from the apartment next door, a neighbour who she has had no negative interaction with, a neighbour, who is simply exercising their right to enjoy smoking in their apartment.
After numerous calls, she finally thought she got management's attention about her situation, which she describes, as being so horrible, it's like nothing she's ever been through before. Each time she was told most sincerely that they will give her situation attention.
Thrilled, about six months later, with her newly painted walls, which took care of the clingy smell, and an air purifier as well, turned out to be a short-lived feeling of hope. It was just a temporary fix.
Now, a year and a half later, my sister (a senior, by the way) still battles sleep interruptions from coughing, loses her balance, experienced brain fog, and tastes marijuana at the back of her throat and on her palate, thus ruining her enjoyment of her meals, and is afraid the second-hand cannabis smoke is making her sick from inhaling it, and she knows that all this is affecting her health and causing her to feel trapped and depressed.
Unless she is given another apartment in the building, she does not see a way out for herself. She is well aware of the rental situation in North Bay.
So far, after all this time, her documented pleas to the building supervisor, her nurse practitioner (she does not have a doctor), North Bay Health Unit, City Hall, and the Landlord and Tenants office have left her wondering if her only recourse is now to seek Legal Aid.
My sister and I hope that if anybody in North Bay is in the same situation, if you are suffering, get wise counsel and reach out for help. There are plenty of people who would empathize with you.
You don't have to suffer in silence.
In closing, some research on the subject:
Government of Canada - Canadian Cannabis Survey 2021
CDC - Centers for Disease Control and Prevention-Marijuana and Public Health
She is not upset with her neighbor, she is not judging, and she is not questioning the exercising of her neighbour's right to smoke cannabis.
She just wants to exercise HER right to take a deep breath of clean air to fill her lungs, so she can enjoy her beautiful apartment as well.
Respectfully, howbeit sadly,
Ronda Potts
Temagami, Ontario
