Ontario First Nation Evacuated for Second Time This Summer as Nursing Station Flooded
More than 250 evacuees were sent to Toronto as leaders seek a new health-care facility after the community’s only nursing station flooded with sewage.
- On August 4, 2026, Neskantaga First Nation declared a state of emergency after a contractor damaged the septic system under the community's only nursing station, causing sewage to flood the facility.
- Residents had returned home just five days earlier following an evacuation triggered by nearby wildfires in July, leaving the community vulnerable to this second crisis within weeks.
- More than 250 evacuees have been relocated to Toronto, while Chief Gary Quisess estimates the nursing station's entire foundation requires replacement as "raw sewage that has seeped into the ground needs to be manually removed."
- Indigenous Services Canada staff arrived on August 4 to assess the health facility and work with the contractor, while community leadership now seeks federal support for a new health-care building.
- The remote Ojibway community continues to face persistent infrastructure failures, including a 31-year boil water advisory, and Moonias said during Thursday's news conference, "Our young people cannot trust the water, the housing or the health-care system.
14 Articles
14 Articles
Amid 2nd evacuation this summer, Neskantaga First Nation calls on Ontario, feds to act
Leaders in Neskantaga First Nation are seeking provincial and federal support for a new health-care facility, as the northern Ontario community's most vulnerable navigate their second evacuation this summer. The remote Ojibway community declared a state of emergency on Aug. 4, after a sewage leak at the First Nation’s only nursing station. The incident happened five days after more than 140 community members returned home from Toronto, following…
After fleeing wildfires, Neskantaga forced to evacuate again—sewage floods only nursing station
By Anushka Yadav, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, The Pointer “It makes me feel really angry,” Neskantaga First Nation Chief Gary Quisess told The Pointer after his residents were forced to evacuate for a second time in less than a month due to “failures in essential social infrastructure”—first after wildfires disrupted the vital supply chain that provides critical resources, and then once again after sewage flooded the remote community’s…
Winnipeg Free Press
Ontario First Nation evacuated for second time this summer as nursing station flooded
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.
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