{"id":399202,"date":"2026-01-10T12:17:28","date_gmt":"2026-01-10T12:17:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/399202\/"},"modified":"2026-01-10T12:17:28","modified_gmt":"2026-01-10T12:17:28","slug":"northern-ontario-first-nation-begins-evacuation-amid-critical-issues-with-water-treatment-plant","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/399202\/","title":{"rendered":"Northern Ontario First Nation begins evacuation amid critical issues with water treatment plant"},"content":{"rendered":"

Evacuation has begun for residents of a remote First Nation<\/a> in Northern Ontario<\/a> facing issues with its water treatment plant, with 500 vulnerable people leaving first and the rest of the 2,200-person reserve to follow.<\/p>\n

Tyson Wesley, executive director of Kashechewan First Nation, said it is dealing with multiple critical failures related to its water and wastewater treatment plant, which is more than 30 years old. The fly-in community, located near the James Bay coast, declared a state of emergency on Sunday.<\/p>\n

Indigenous Services Canada spokesperson Eric Head said co-ordinating partners of the provincial emergency operations centre, which include representatives from the federal government, the province and the community, met Wednesday to begin evacuation planning.<\/p>\n

Five hundred vulnerable people were identified as a first priority, and flight dates and times are still being confirmed, he said, while evacuation planning for the rest of the community \u201cis still being co-ordinated.\u201d <\/p>\n

In an interview, Mr. Wesley said that five flights \u2013 each with about 37 people \u2013 took off Thursday and landed in Kapuskasing and Timmins, Ont.<\/p>\n

Ottawa duty-bound to provide safe drinking water to First Nations, federal judge rules<\/a><\/p>\n

Further evacuations are dependent on weather and flight allocations, Mr. Wesley said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re hoping to get as much out as we can in the next coming days,\u201d he said, noting that Kingston and Niagara Falls have been identified as cities with space to accommodate people.<\/p>\n

The contamination of the community\u2019s raw water tank required the complete shutdown of its water treatment plant, Mr. Head said. This led to a \u201cdo not consume\u201d order and Indigenous Services approving the distribution of bottled water.<\/p>\n

Mr. Wesley said there were also pump failures at the sewage lift stations in December, and that the plant has suffered heating problems.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are having water leaks everywhere,\u201d Mr. Wesley said, adding that water pipes in homes are \u201cbusting because there is no water flowing in there.\u201d<\/p>\n

First Nations chiefs press Ottawa to revive drinking water bill<\/a><\/p>\n

Mr. Head said repairs are now under way, and that the company doing the work \u201cwas able to get the replacement pump installed in the lift station and is bringing in additional equipment\u201d to the community.<\/p>\n

Beyond the plant issues, the nursing station has also been flooded and now smells of sewage, Mr. Head said, leading to emergency health services being temporarily relocated to the community\u2019s school. The First Nation has also said that its fire hydrants are frozen, posing a safety risk.<\/p>\n

Mr. Wesley said that timelines around both evacuation and repairs are currently uncertain.<\/p>\n

\u201cInvesting in our infrastructure adequately would save taxpayer money when we\u2019re spending millions of dollars evacuating us from our communities during these emergencies,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

This is not the first time Kashechewan First Nation has faced water-related problems. In 2005, more than 800 residents were evacuated because of E. coli contamination. Up to 200 residents were also evacuated in 2024.<\/p>\n

First Nations voice concerns over lower drinking water funding in federal budget<\/a><\/p>\n

The community was built on a flood plain, and the spring thaw often makes evacuations necessary. In 2019, the First Nation signed an agreement with the federal and provincial governments to move it to an area nearby.<\/p>\n

Mr. Head said Indigenous Services approved $8.4-million last month to complete detailed planning studies for the community\u2019s relocation.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe First Nation has engaged a team of infrastructure and urban planning professionals to undertake multiple activities, including community engagement, site reconnaissance and geotechnical analysis,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Mr. Wesley said the plans to move the community factor into the current situation.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey don\u2019t want to spend the millions it\u2019s going to need to put a new water plant in here because they promised us and that some day, that you\u2019re going to move,\u201d he said, adding the government has been \u201cdragging its feet\u201d on the promise.<\/p>\n

\u201cToday, our people are paying the price from the government\u2019s inaction.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Evacuation has begun for residents of a remote First Nation in Northern Ontario facing issues with its water…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":399203,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[47],"tags":[192,13849,79],"class_list":{"0":"post-399202","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-environment","8":"tag-environment","9":"tag-pleasemod","10":"tag-science"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/399202","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=399202"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/399202\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/399203"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=399202"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=399202"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=399202"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}