TORONTO -- After two months of living in cramped hotel rooms in Thunder Bay, Ont., around 260 evacuees from Neskantaga First Nation have finally been able to go home.
They had been staying in Thunder Bay after contaminated water in their northern community forced an evacuation. But although they are returning home, it’s still unclear when their water will be fully safe to drink.
Nine-year-old Bedahbun “Bee” Moonias told CTV News that she was “excited,” to return home.
“I’m going to see my house,” she said, adding that the first thing she was going to do was to get some sleep.
Every community member was screened for COVID-19, asked about their symptoms, and made to walk through a dry mist sanitizer before getting on one of the eight planes to take them north.
Neskantaga has been under a boil water advisory for 25 years -- the longest such advisory in Canada.
In 2017, the federal government committed $16.4 million to build a new water treatment plant in the community, but the project has faced delays and work is still being done.
In October, Neskantaga’s running water became contaminated by high levels of hydrocarbons, forcing the community to evacuate.
“It’s deplorable,” Sheila North, an Indigenous advocate, told CTV News. “I think we could have done better as a country.”
These situations could be solved, she said, but politicians continually choose not to focus their attention on these communities.
“There’s political will that could have ended this crisis, but we’re seeing that’s not happening so easily when it comes to Indigenous people sometimes,” she said.
According to a government website that tracks the mission to eliminate water advisories, Neskantaga is in the “construction” phase of solving the boil water advisory, with “upgrade and extension of treatment plant” down as the government’s plan for the community.
Since November 2015, when the government’s project to eliminate water advisories began, 97 long-term drinking water advisories have been lifted, but 59 long-term advisories are still in effect in 41 communities, and COVID-19 has pushed back the timeline of project. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau had initially promised to end all water advisories by March 2021.
Of the remaining long-term advisories that are in effect, almost 60 per cent are “under construction,” according to the government.
After Neskantaga First Nation was evacuated, 24 community members stayed behind to look after peoples’ homes and pets, including Marcus Moonias, an operator at the water treatment plant.
He says the water is of a much better quality now, but the community still remains under a boil water advisory.
“I don’t want to make that decision: ‘OK, let’s drink the water,’” he said. “That’s not my call.”
At the airport, those who had stayed behind waited anxiously for the plane to touch down. While everyone is happy to be home for the holidays, the ongoing water crisis makes the relief bittersweet.
“If it was in the city of Toronto, it would be cleared up within a week,” said Joseph Missewace, a community member who had just returned home.
Chief Christopher Moonias is cautiously optimistic about the situation.
“The test and boil water advisory is still being recommended, but we are getting very close to getting that lifted,” he said. “Hopefully, that will happen next year.”
Ottawa says it’s training more operators to keep the water plant running, but there is still no clear deadline for when Neskantaga will officially have clean drinking water.
