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Neskantaga residents wait in limbo more than one month after water crisis evacuation

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The chief of the Neskantaga First Nation hopes residents evacuated from his community over a water crisis will be home in time for Christmas. 

But as planned dates to fly back to the remote northern Ontario First Nation keep getting postponed, Chief Chris Moonias says it's hard to stay positive. 

"I'm naturally an optimist, but I'm kind of skeptical right now," Moonias said by phone Friday. 

"I just hope that my nation, our nation, can go home eventually. Before the holidays."

In late October, about 250 residents of the First Nation were evacuated to a hotel in Thunder Bay, Ont., after an oily sheen was discovered in the community's water reservoir. 

The first nation has had a boil-water advisory in place for 25 years. 

Moonias said a plan is currently in place to have residents return home on Dec. 17, if tests of the repaired water treatment system go smoothly.  

But any disruption to a 14-day testing process means the cycle needs to start over again, and that could lead to further delays, Moonias said.  

The chief has also laid out conditions for what needs to happen before people go home -- including an investigation into business practices of companies that work on water treatment facilities in Indigenous communities.

In the meantime, evacuated residents have had to spend weeks away from home while also dealing with concerns about the worsening COVID-19 pandemic. 

The First Nation has exclusive use of the Victoria Inn hotel in Thunder Bay, which Moonias said has allowed the community to create a "bubble" for safety, with COVID-19 screening measures in place upon entry. 

There's also a list of people who have access to the hotel and a pandemic team co-ordinating the guidelines.

Moonias said the system has worked well so far, but there has been one COVID-19 scare in Neskantaga itself since the evacuation, when a contractor tested positive last month. 

The virus did not spread in the First Nation, which currently has only a few essential members on the ground, but Moonias said the pandemic has made being away from home more stressful for residents.

"They made that choice: either go without water for a number of days or, and, and, or face a pandemic. Imagine having to make that decision like that," Moonias said. 

Residents are trying to keep busy to pass the days at the Thunder Bay hotel, but Moonias stresses that people are "stuck." 

"This is not a holiday for us. We don't want to be here, we shouldn't be here," he said. "We should not be fighting for clean water here in Canada in the year 2020."

Moonias added that it was disappointing this week to watch the Indigenous Services Minister Marc Miller announce Canada would not meet its promise of lifting all long-term boil advisories by 2021.

The government said at least 22 long-term water advisories in 10 First Nations communities will remain in place beyond that deadline, which was set following an ambitious 2015 Liberal election promise to lift them all within five years.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Dec. 4, 2020. 

Holly McKenzie-Sutter, The Canadian Press


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