Kashechewan residents worried about upcoming spring flood - INAC checking new sites
Troubled reserve may be on the move
JORGE BARRERA, NATIONAL BUREAU - Thu, March 29, 2007
The Kashechewan tragedy could be closer to a palatable ending after Indian Affairs Minister Jim Prentice indicated a willingness yesterday to consider a request from the Cree First Nation to relocate 30 km from their flood-beleaguered community.
The First Nation of about 1,700 is once again bracing for breakup on the Albany River and possible spring floods.
Kashechewan burst into the national psyche through grim images of scabbed skin and sickly brown water in 2005. The community, which sits on a flood plain, has been evacuated three times since 2004.
Prentice initially balked at the request which had a $500-million price tag that is now being questioned because Indian Affairs has yet to survey the site.
Now the minister says he is open to the request but is awaiting a departmental analysis before committing. Prentice is expected to present his position to Kashechewan Chief Jonathon Solomon tomorrow by phone.
"I indicated to them that I would get a briefing from the department and get back to them," said Prentice.
Solomon said he was on the site two days ago with an engineering firm hired by the department to prepare a cost analysis.
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Kashechewan leaders renew call for government action
Wednesday, March 28, 2007 - CBC News
With the prospect of spring flooding weeks away, leaders of the Kashechewan First Nation have renewed their call for government help for the troubled northern Ontario community.
"My people today are very edgy because of the spring flood that's just around the corner," Chief Johnathon Solomon said during a news conference Wednesday in Ottawa.
Earlier this month, Solomon said Indian Affairs Minister Jim Prentice had balked at a report saying the community preferred to be relocated 30 kilometres upstream within their traditional lands. The move could cost as much as $500 million.
The band report contradicts an earlier federal report recommending community members be moved to the city of Timmins, about 480 kilometres to the south.
Kashechewan lies on the flood plain of the Albany River, and many of its buildings are susceptible to flooding.
Solomon said Prentice has committed to officially respond to the community report.
"I'm just waiting for that commitment, and I have every confidence the minister will get back to me," he said.
Solomon said the phones in the band council office have been "ringing off the hook" with people asking if they are going to be moved out before the expected flooding.
He called on the Conservative government to honour a 2005 deal, reached with the previous Liberal government, to build a new community within their traditional hunting grounds in 10 years.
Last November, a report prepared for Indian Affairs by former Ontario cabinet minister Alan Pope recommended moving the reserve to the outskirts of Timmins, giving community members access to hospitals, schools and employment.
Prentice had repeatedly said the people could choose whether to relocate, but following the release of the survey, a spokesperson for Indian Affairs told CBC News the cost projections had forced the ministry to take a second look.
Ottawa first moved the community, against its will, to the low-lying land in 1957.
Flooding and tainted water have prompted three evacuations since 2004.
The evacuations came as the community grappled with squalid housing, domestic violence, addiction and a number of reported suicide attempts.
Prentice himself has called conditions on the reserve "deplorable."