Still in crisis, Cat Lake First Nation awaits temporary replacement for nursing station razed by fire

Efforts are underway to get a temporary nursing station built in Cat Lake First Nation in northwestern Ontario, but as spring quickly approaches, it's a race against time to get supplies to the remote community using the winter road. 

The Margaret Gray Nursing Station "appears to be a total loss" from the Saturday night fire, according to the Nishnawbe Aski Police Service. No injuries were reported and the cause of the fire hasn't been determined.

About 650 people live in the Ojibway community about 440 kilometres northwest of Thunder Bay along the Albany River.

With Cat Lake already under a boil-water advisory since Feb. 26, efforts to save the health-care building caused the water reservoir to dry out. On Sunday, Chief Russell Wesley declared a state of emergency that remains in place.

Wesley said a task force has been created to ensure Cat Lake's immediate needs are met during the crisis. 

"There's a lot of effort to resolve this situation very quickly," said Wesley, speaking at a news conference, on mining, that was unrelated to the fire.

This is the third significant fire affecting First Nations in northwestern Ontario. The others were:

The provincial and federal governments have committed to helping Cat Lake.

"The Ministry of Indigenous Affairs is working with the community of Cat Lake First Nation, provincial and federal government partners to better understand the immediate needs as a result of the nursing station fire," said spokesperson Curtis Lindsay in an email to CBC News on Monday.

A fire investigation led by the Nishnawbe Aski police's crime unit and Ontario's Office of the Fire Marshal is ongoing.

Federal Indigenous Services Minister Patty Hajdu said Ottawa will help in three phases:

The modular buildings are being transported along the winter road before the ice disappears, though that could come suddenly with shifting temperatures. In January, Nishnawbe Aski Nation Chiefs declared a state of emergency over winter road conditions due to the unusually warm weather.

At Tuesday's news conference, Wesley commented on the increasingly hazardous conditions of the winter roads amid climate change, but said his community has had to delay planned repairs to its bridges for another year.

"We just couldn't meet the timelines and the requirements of the provincial government in terms of the permitting," he said. "Hopefully over the course of this summer, we will be able to get over the permitting issue and get those bridges repaired."