NESKANTAGA — Evacuees will fly back to Neskantaga First Nation terrain Wednesday and Thursday, Chief Gary Quisess says.
“Yeah, we’re going to start flying people home tomorrow,” Quisess said Tuesday in a phone interview.
The First Nation, about 430 kilometres northeast of Thunder Bay, began evacuating medically vulnerable members on July 18 as smoke from wildfires worsened air quality.
Another factor in the evacuation decision and Neskantaga council’s declaration of a local state of emergency, Quisess said, was the shutdown of Highway 599 to Pickle Lake due to wildfires.
He explained that Pickle Lake is a supply hub for Neskantaga; goods are trucked to Pickle Lake and then flown to the reserve on the south shore of Attawapiskat Lake.
The supply of groceries, fuel and other important cargo was greatly hampered by the transportation glitch, he said.
“By the time the food got there in our community, it was outdated, it was spoiled.”
In all, 143 Neskantaga members were flown during the evacuation to Toronto, where they stayed in a hotel.
The chief said they will come back home in five flights, the first one departing at about noon on Wednesday.
The First Nation issued a public statement on July 24 saying the community is “grateful and want to express our appreciation to the host city of Toronto’s work to help us during our community’s time of need.”
However, the statement also criticized the province for “serious gaps in information and support.”
Neskantaga First Nation “supports the calls of chiefs and councils and First Nation leadership for a public inquiry on this emergency situation,” the statement added.
A July 24 letter from Neskantaga to Emergency Preparedness and Response Minister Jill Dunlop said the First Nation “felt disrespected” in a July 23 call with Provincial Emergency Operations Centre personnel.
“The reason why I sent that letter is, I was very disappointed during the call,” Quisess said Tuesday.
“I got cut off. We were doing an update, and then all of a sudden we got cut off by one of their staff.”
