CTV News in Kashechewan: Residents voice frustrations, Indigenous Services Minister visits community

Alex Karpa has the latest on the progress at Kashechewan First Nation after a state of emergency was declared due to contaminated water.

KASHECHEWAN FIRST NATION - Reggie Wesley has no running water in his home on Kashechewan First Nation in northern Ontario.

Instead, he’s forced to collect water bottles.

He stores hundreds of these bottles throughout his home just to get through daily tasks, like cooking, cleaning, and drinking.

“I had to go to the water plant to get water,” he told CTV News at his home on Monday. “I had to go to my nephew’s place for showers.”

It’s an issue that has plagued Kashechewan for quite some time now.

The community has been without safe drinking water since the beginning of January, after a pump failure caused sewage to back up into the drinking water supply.

Residents were given orders not to use the tap water, and leadership declared a state of emergency on Jan. 4.

Lab results confirmed the presence of the parasite Cryptosporidium in Kashechewan’s tap water, caused by ongoing problems with the community’s water treatment plant. Dozens of people were impacted, and the parasite is known to cause gastrointestinal problems.

Wesley has been scrambling to get the water running in his home for over a week now but worries it may be much longer until it’s working again.

“I’m looking at another two weeks, maybe, or until springtime is thawed out,” he said.

Hundreds still displaced

Nearly two months after the failure at the water treatment plant, the crisis is still disrupting daily life.

Kashechewan leadership confirmed to CTV News that 1,800 people are displaced at this time, many of whom are residing in Timmins, Kingston and Niagara Falls.

Only around 280 residents remain in the community.

James Wesley’s family has been in Niagara Falls since the beginning of January. Besides talking to them over the phone, he hasn’t seen his family in more than two months.

“I feel the emptiness, the displacement of my kids, my grandkids that I don’t see them until they come back,” he said. “The hardest thing is you get homesick, even if you’re home.”

Possible return in two months: chief

Repairs on the water treatment plant are ongoing. Chief Hosea Wesley said it will be a minimum of eight weeks before contractors are able to finish the repairs.

Wesley says leadership is working to find long-term locations for those who remain displaced.

“My people are resilient people, strong people, and I truly believe that they support each other during this crisis,” he said. “We are supporting each other.”

But evacuating Kashechewan is something residents are all too familiar with.

The community sits on a flood plain in the northeastern part of the province.

Community leaders, including Wesley, have long called on the federal government to relocate Kashechewan, as residents run the risk of evacuations every spring.

“People are very tired with all of these issues going on in the community,” he said.

Back at the beginning of March, Kashechewan leadership called for the resignation of Indigenous Services Minister Mandy Gull-Masty for failing to visit the community since the state of emergency was announced.

Chief Wesley said he has rescinded that call, and is optimistic about a good, working relationship with Gull-Masty.

Minister visits Kashechewan

Over the weekend, Gull-Masty held a town hall in Niagara Falls, meeting with evacuees and listening to residents as they shared their concerns and frustrations regarding the crisis affecting their community.

On Monday, the minister visited the First Nation, engaging with those who remain in Kashechewan, where once again residents took turns voicing and presenting their frustrations and anger regarding the ongoing situation.

“Well, they are in a state of crisis, I would be equally as frustrated,” she said. “It is frustrating for me too as a minister.”

She also went on a tour of the community, visiting the water treatment plant.

“This is one of the more complex evacuations that we’re managing in Canada,” she said. “We want to ensure the safety of community members.”

The minister confirmed that work is being done to install filtration systems in every home in Kashechewan to prevent further contaminants of the water system.

“It’s a pretty expensive infrastructure process, a lot of project management, a lot of challenges with the weather, it’s extremely cold here,” she said. “Really working to support the community in what they are doing to support their members.”

Recently, a four-day power outage in Manitoba’s Pimicikamak Cree Nation caused much of the community’s water system to freeze, leading to pipes bursting and sewage backing up in several homes.

Many residents in that community are still out of their homes, and leadership previously said there is no timeline for a possible return date.

Gull-Masty said the federal government is working to help First Nations communities across the country.

“Our objective at Indigenous Services Canada is to make sure that we work with [the] community to make those decisions, lift them up, and give them the tools and resources that they need to build capacity, and make their community what they want it to be,” she said.

‘Seems like I’m living in the 1980s’

Reggie Wesley is frustrated to be living in the current situation he is in. Along with the lack of water in his home, he also doesn’t have heat and is forced to keep his family warm in the winter by leaving the oven on.

“It’s not going too well right now. It’s not good,” he said.

Wesley wants to see change in his community to prevent reoccurring issues from plaguing Kashechewan First Nation and its residents any further.