People in Kashechewan First Nation still waiting to be evacuated

More than 700 people have been evacuated from Kashechewan First Nation so far, according to the community’s executive director. But most of the community is still waiting to leave.

On Sunday, Jan. 4 Kashechewan Chief Hosea Wesley declared a local state of emergency because the community’s water treatment and wastewater plants were in a state of disrepair.

The fly-in community, located along the James Bay coast, has been working with both the federal and provincial governments to evacuate all 2,300 residents.

Tyson Wesley, Kashechewan First Nation’s executive director, said the slow progress for the full evacuation has been frustrating.

“Flights are kind of still at the same rate, even though we've asked to expedite the evacuation,” he said.

Wesley said the community was in the midst of a gastrointestinal outbreak on Monday, but did not have the equipment necessary to test stool samples and determine the cause.

He could not say with certainty if people were ill due to a viral infection, or because they had consumed tap water before the state of emergency was declared on January 4th. The community put in place a ‘do not consume water’ order the same day.

“We are worried about our community,” he said.

The community’s nursing clinic had to be evacuated on Jan. 7 due to a sewage backup. Staff, patients and equipment were moved to a nearby elementary school.

But staff don’t have access to diagnostic tools at the new location and can only run the facility at 40 per cent capacity.

Eric Head, a spokesperson for Indigenous Services Canada, said in an email to CBC News that water testing is underway, and repairs are being completed at the water treatment plant.

A company called Northern Waterworks was deployed to the community and was able to get replacement pumps installed at the plant.

The company is currently bringing in additional equipment to the community to complete the infrastructure repair work.

A provincial vendor called the Loomex Group helped with the first phase of the evacuation. Residents were initially flown to the northern Ontario cities of Timmins and Kapuskasing, and later to Kingston, Ont.