No end in sight to Kashechewan First Nation evacuation

There’s no clear date for when evacuees from Kashechwan First Nation will be able to return home.

The remote Cree community of 2,300 people, located near northern Ontario’s James Bay Coast, has been in a state of emergency since Jan. 4 due to issues with the water treatment plant.

Tyson Wesley, Kashechewan’s executive director, said the First Nation is still waiting on a date for engineers and contractors to arrive in the community so they can complete repairs to the plant.

“Right now it's not clear because the planning and coordination are still happening,” he said.

Wesley said an ultraviolet light system and micron filter will need to be installed at the plant to filter out cryptosporidium, a parasite that can cause gastrointestinal issues.

To date, 85 people from theKashechewan have tested positive for the parasite.

Wesley said the vast majority of those people have since recovered from their symptoms, but there have still been some person-to-person infections since most people left the community.

Kashechewan sits on the Albany River and is at risk of flooding every spring.

Because of that, evacuations are a yearly occurrence and last anywhere from four to seven weeks on average, said Wesley.

Depending on when repairs are completed at the water treatment plant, the current evacuation could extend into the spring and be prolonged further.

When the evacuation of a First Nation community extends beyond 60 days, Indigenous Services Canada considers it a “long-term event.”

Evacuees would continue to get assistance from the Emergency Management Assistance Program, but would need to transition to long-term accommodations such as rental homes and apartments wherever possible.

Currently, evacuees are staying in hotel rooms spread across five Ontario cities and towns: Timmins, Kapuskasing, Cochrane, Kingston and Niagara Falls.

“Living in a hotel is so hard. Especially for families that have health issues. They can't even cook their own meals,” said Sinclair Williams, who was evacuated from Kashechewan to Timmins over a month ago.