Ontario First Nation evacuated for second time this summer as nursing station flooded

Chief Gary Quisess of Neskantaga First Nation organizes help for his community while at the Toronto hotel that serves as a temporary home for many people evacuated from Neskantaga while wildfires ravage parts of northern Ontario on Thursday, July 23, 2026. (The Canadian Press/Chris Young)

Neskantaga First Nation chief says his northern Ontario community had to be evacuated again after a contractor hired by the federal government caused a sewage flood at the community’s only nursing station.

Gary Quisess says Neskantaga residents had to leave earlier this month for the second time this summer, just days after they returned home following a wildfire evacuation.

He says families from his community are staying in crowded hotel rooms in Toronto and they want to go back to their homes as soon as possible.

Quisess says the fly-in community declared a state of emergency after a contractor damaged the septic system under a nursing station, which is the community’s only health-care facility.

Neskantaga officials say the damage caused raw sewage to back up and fill the basement of the nursing station.

The community was also evacuated in July as wildfires ravaged parts of northern Ontario.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Aug. 20, 2026.