Baby Jamien was six months and three weeks old when he died.
"When I came home from work he was alive and crying, and by 11 p.m., he was already blue," said his father Warren Atleo, 36, showing a well-worn photo of his son who died in April 2001.
Today the family, with six surviving children between the ages of two and 19, lives in a bright, transitional home on the Ahousaht reserve. The pre-fab houses were brought in when five of the mouldiest houses on the reserve were condemned after inspections by Health Canada.
Although they have escaped the mould, the family is living with the wrenching knowledge that their old house probably contributed to the sudden death of their son.
"I believe my son's death was preventable," said Warren's wife, Maureen.
"The coroner said he had a virus in his brain and (staff) said it would have had something to do with mould," Warren said.
That assessment was no surprise to the Atleos. When the family moved into the house, it was less than 10 years old, but mushrooms were growing on the bathroom floor.
"Our house was a sponge. Every time it rained, it leaked and there were wobbly floors," Maureen said.
All the children developed asthma and eczema and, when they moved out of the house, their health immediately improved, Warren said.
The old house is going to be demolished and rebuilt, but until then, visits to the empty house have to be quick and visitors are advised to wear masks.
The mould spores produce instant headaches, said Atleo, holding a hand over his face as he looks at toys and clothes piled on the floor, ready to be burned, because of contamination.
"This is where the water bubbled down and the ceiling just exploded," said Atleo, pushing his finger into beams so rotten they are soft to the touch.
In what was formerly the baby's bedroom, black mould is running up the walls and there's a pile of rodent droppings on the window ledge.
If things are to improve for the people of Ahousaht, everyone has to be accountable, from INAC and CMHC to the construction companies and residents, band councillor Curtis Dick said.
"Who messed up in the beginning? Everybody. That's what I think," he said.
As Rodney Atleo pilots the Ahousaht Pride water taxi from Tofino to Ahousaht, he agrees that no one is blameless.
Atleo has a unique perspective on it all. One brother is Ahousaht chief, another is Nuu-chah-nulth Tribal Council president and his nephew is the regional chief of the B.C. Assembly of First Nations. "Just remember they are all politicians," he said, smiling widely. "Everyone avoids the mould issue. No one wants to talk about it. It's beyond me why they won't deal with it."
Atleo's children -- now grown -- suffered from nose bleeds, skin rashes and asthma while living in a mouldy house. Their health improved once they moved away and, with the work he has done on the house, he now believes it is safe.
"I was one of the lucky people."
jlavoie@tc.canwest.com
