More than 130 vulnerable people and their indoor pets are being evacuated Wednesday from a remote northern Ontario First Nation after flooding closed the local nursing station on the weekend.
Neskantaga First Nation, located hundreds of kilometres inland from the James Bay Coast, declared a state of emergency April 13.
“A flooding occurred causing water to seep from the walls and a strong smell of fuel,” the community said in the emergency order signed by Chief Gary Quisess.
“The crisis is severely impacting the health and well-being of all our people, including our nurses” and staff.
The closure leaves the First Nation with no access to health care.
After receiving support from Indigenous Services Canada, the evacuation is starting.
“Our vulnerable people require full and immediate access to health services that, unfortunately, is not available in Neskantaga First Nation at the moment,” Quisses said.
“We are not willing to put any high-risk people in a compromising position due (to) the nursing station being closed.”
While he said the federal government is responding to the seriousness of the crisis, they are hoping some logistical challenges with partners like the City of Thunder Bay will be resolved.
The chief did not elaborate on the logistical challenges they are experiencing.
Meanwhile, the First Nation is looking to establish a temporary nursing station, but said “locations within the community are very limited and are not without disruption to programs and services.”
Once a temporary site has been decided, the evacuees will return once it has been retrofitted and supplied with medical equipment.
As for the flooded nursing station, damages are being assessed before remediation begins.
“Community members and nursing station staff will only return after remediation is completed and fuel contamination/air quality testing confirms that the building no longer possesses any health risk to them,” Neskantaga said.
Kashechewan also evacuating
This week, Kashechewan First Nation on the James Bay Coast also declared a state of emergency.
Evacuations of 250 vulnerable people started Monday.
Kashechewan is plagued by reoccurring flooding in the spring which forces residents to relocate temporarily until it is safe to return.
Correction
The City of Timmins is not hosting evacuees from Kashechewan as previously reported above, the information has been removed.
