BARRY’S BAY – A child protection worker who worked with youth across Renfrew County is now helping Nunavut’s most vulnerable.
Last week, Cassandra Yantha boarded a plane in Ottawa and headed north – way north – to Pangnirtung, Nunavut. The town is around 40 kilometres south of the Arctic Circle.
It is about the size of Barry’s Bay, the community where Yantha worked and played when she was young.
The new Nunavut resident has a strong connection to Barry’s Bay. Her father is Doc Yantha, one of the owners of the Dairy Bar on Dunn Street. She has many aunts, uncles and cousins in the area.
Some of her favourite memories are the summers she spent at the cottage on Kamaniskeg Lake.
“It is my favourite place on earth, where family and friends randomly gather to enjoy the sun, lake, food, drinks, bonfires and tons of laughter,” she said. “It’s where my Granny taught me to play Go Fish and where my neighbours, The Pauls’, taught me to water-ski.”
She worked at the Dairy Bar until she was in her early 20s.
While she spent her summers in Barry’s Bay, she grew up in Pembroke.
When she graduated from Fellowes High School, she wanted to travel the world, so she joined an international organization called Up With People.
Get your copy of The Valley Gazette, January 22, 2014 to read this full story.