First Nation Members Evacuated Over Flood Threats

This article was last updated on April 16, 2022

Canada: Oye! Times readers Get FREE $30 to spend on Amazon, Walmart…
USA: Oye! Times readers Get FREE $30 to spend on Amazon, Walmart…

A flood threat at the Albany River has prompted more than 600 Kashechewan First Nation members to be evacuated to Thunder Bay over the May 10-11 weekend. An evacuated mother of two children aged three and eight, Ruby Wesley, mentioned that “we got evacuated Saturday (May 10) at night to Thunder Bay and we got here about one o’clock in the morning.”

Wesley was interviewed before it was announced that media were not allowed to interview community members at their accommodations in Thunder Bay. At the time, she said that “our basement got flooded — the water was seeping into the ditches and the water was rising.” Wesley confirmed that about 200 evacuees were also shifted to Greenstone on May 11. She alleged that “everybody knows the drill what to do, but hopefully this doesn’t happen every year.” Earlier in 2013, an estimated 800 Kashechewan elders, vulnerable people, pregnant women, youth and their escorts were evacuated due to a high risk of flooding on the Albany River. Whereas, this year’s evacuees included elders, children and people with medical conditions.

Sources confirm that 261 community members were airlifted at around 1400 hours on May 12. Thunder Bay Fire Chief, John Hay, explained that “we started receiving evacuees on Saturday May 10 around 1900 hours.” He added that “we had three flights with a total of 140 evacuees. On May 11 we received the remainder of our scheduled 600 evacuees with 10 flights arriving. We registered at two hotels and the final number is 595, five people short of the 600 we said we could take.”