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Kashechewan, Fort Albany begin evacuations ahead of annual flooding risk

Erik White | CBC News | Posted: April 18, 2023 12:18 PM | Last Updated: April 18, 2023

Some will fly to hotel rooms in the south, others will spend 'evacuation season' camping on the land

Image | Kashechewan sign

Caption: The annual evacuation of the James Bay Cree community of Kashechewan will begin on Tuesday, although the Albany River is still mostly frozen. (Erik White/CBC)

Hundreds of people on Ontario's James Bay Coast will begin boarding airplanes Tuesday with the annual fears of flooding on the Albany River.
Over the last 15 years, this has become a scheduled evacuation every spring for the Cree First Nation of Kashechewan, which lies directly on the floodplain.
But this year, the neighbouring Cree First Nation of Fort Albany is also flying out elders and children as a precaution.
Gaius Wesley, chief of Kashechewan, said the river is still mostly frozen, but elders who monitor the flooding conditions are concerned about large open sections and pools of water along the shore.

Image | Kashechewan airport

Caption: The airports in Kashechewan and Fort Albany will be busy this week with hundreds of evacuees flying south in Timmins and many others being airlifted to hunting camps out in the wilderness, a program that began during the COVID-19 pandemic. (Erik White/CBC)

"Apparently it's an indication that there's going to be a lot of water for this coming breakup," he said.
"We had a lot of snow this past winter compared to the other years."
Wesley said the conditions are said to be similar to the breakup in 2006, the last time the entire community Kashechewan was flooded.
While some 600 people from Kashechewan are registered to fly south to Timmins to be housed in hotel rooms, Wesley said, another 500 will be flying further north.

Image | First-Nations-Health 20230207

Caption: Chief Gaius Wesley of Kaschechewan notes that elders in the community say conditions this spring are similar to 2006 when the First Nation was hit by catastrophic flooding. (Spencer Colby/The Canadian Press)

They will be camping in tents as part of the "out on the land" evacuation program started during the COVID-19 pandemic, when there were concerns about evacuees contracting the coronavirus in cities and towns and then bringing it back to their isolated communities.
"We always said that the land is our healing," Wesley said.
"So as part of the COVID recovery, we continue to make this option available because people have suffered a lot of mental health, the stress, the frustration because of the COVID-19 restrictions that were in place."
Fort Albany is offering a similar program, providing camping supplies to people who prefer to spend the breakup season out on the land during the annual goose hunt.

Image | Frozen Albany River

Caption: The Albany River is still frozen, but Cree elders say the water pooling on ice and the deep snow in the bush is a sign that this could be a bad spring for flooding. (Fort Albany Floodwatch)

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