{"id":396234,"date":"2026-01-08T14:11:09","date_gmt":"2026-01-08T14:11:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/396234\/"},"modified":"2026-01-08T14:11:09","modified_gmt":"2026-01-08T14:11:09","slug":"kashechewan-first-nation-in-northern-ont-wants-military-to-help-evacuate-residents-over-lack-of-clean-water","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/396234\/","title":{"rendered":"Kashechewan First Nation in northern Ont. wants military to help evacuate residents over lack of clean water"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Text<\/p>\n

Listen to this article<\/p>\n

Estimated 3 minutes<\/p>\n

The audio version of this article is generated by AI-based technology. Mispronunciations can occur. We are working with our partners to continually review and improve the results.<\/p>\n

Frustrations are mounting in a remote First Nation as plans are underway to evacuate residents<\/a> from the remote fly-in community in northern Ontario due to a lack of clean water.<\/p>\n

On Sunday, Kashechewan First Nation Chief Hosea Wesley declared a state of local emergency because the community\u2019s water treatment plant was in disrepair.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Now, the Cree community of around 2,300 people, located along northern Ontario\u2019s James Bay Coast, says it can\u2019t secure enough bottled water for residents.<\/p>\n

During a call with Indigenous Services Canada on Tuesday, leaders in the community called for military intervention to assist with a full-scale evacuation to northeastern Ontario cities such as Timmins and Kapuskasing.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"AHosea Wesley, the chief of Kashechewan, is asking for help from the military as the community prepares to evacuate. (Erik White\/CBC)<\/p>\n

Tyson Wesley, Kashechewan First Nation\u2019s executive director, told CBC News that by Tuesday afternoon, ISC had chartered one commercial flight \u2014 using a small aircraft \u2014 to evacuate the community\u2019s most vulnerable residents.<\/p>\n

Officials in Kashechewan managed to charter an additional two flights.<\/p>\n

‘We are in a dire situation’<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are in a dire situation and the response that we’re getting is not good enough,\u201d Wesley said.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd I don’t think they’re understanding that these are children, these are people. I think one of the comments that I’ve been hearing from our community members is, \u2018We are people. We are human beings and we deserve clean water.\u2019”<\/p>\n

Timmins Mayor Michelle Boileau confirmed that Timmins would accept around 35 evacuees from Kashechewan on Wednesday.<\/p>\n

Boileau said the city would be operating at a \u201cminimum capacity\u201d to accommodate evacuees who have medical needs due to the presence of the Timmins and District Hospital in the community.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cWe expect some more, but the majority will be going to other communities,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

WATCH | Sewage backup at Kashechewan’s only clinic:\"\"<\/p>\n

Water plant failure in remote northern Ontario First Nation causes sewage backup<\/p>\n

Officials in Kashechewan First Nation, a fly-in community along the James Bay coast, are forced to move equipment and medication from the local clinic to the community’s elementary school due to a sewage backup. Kashechewan executive director Tyson Wesley captured this footage of the raw sewage backup, which was caused by a failure at the water treatment plant. The community is currently asking for assistance from the military for a full-scale evacuation.<\/p>\n

By Wednesday, crews were evacuating the community\u2019s small clinic due to a sewage backup in the building, which happened as a result of issues with the water treatment plant.<\/p>\n

Wesley said patients, equipment and medication would need to be moved to an elementary school nearby.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are also in an influenza outbreak in the community,\u201d he said. \u201cSo there’s a whole list of issues that are happening all at the same time.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

Yearly evacuations\u00a0<\/p>\n

Mass evacuations in the spring are nearly a yearly occurrence at Kashechewan First Nation.<\/p>\n

The community was built on a flood plain, along the Albany River, and is at flooding risk during the spring thaw.<\/p>\n

Wesley said the community has been in talks with the federal government for years \u2014 dating back to Liberal Prime Minister Paul Martin \u2014 about moving the First Nation to a site 30 kilometres to the north in an area less prone to flooding.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Under Justin Trudeau as prime minister, the goal was to complete that move by 2029. But with anew Liberal government under Prime Minister Mark Carney, those plans are unclear.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe’ve been kind of left aside and forgotten, and our issues have kind of grown over the years,\u201d Wesley said.<\/p>\n

\u201cToday we’re seeing that impact happening now and it’s our people that are the ones that pay the price of our governments inaction.\u201d<\/p>\n

Wesley said it wouldn\u2019t make sense for the community to invest in a new water treatment plant until the move to a new site is complete.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Listen to this article Estimated 3 minutes The audio version of this article is generated by AI-based technology.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":396235,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[22],"tags":[49,48,295,66],"class_list":{"0":"post-396234","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-environment","8":"tag-ca","9":"tag-canada","10":"tag-environment","11":"tag-science"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/396234","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=396234"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/396234\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/396235"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=396234"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=396234"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=396234"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}