Leaders in Neskantaga First Nation are seeking provincial and federal support for a new health-care facility, as the community’s most vulnerable navigate their second evacuation this summer.
The remote Ojibway community, about 440 kilometres northeast of Thunder Bay, Ont., declared a state of emergency on Aug. 4 after a sewage leak at the First Nation’s only nursing station. Fewer than 400 people live in the First Nation.
The incident happened five days after more than 140 community members returned home from Toronto, following an evacuation triggered by nearby wildfires.
Last year, the community was evacuated for three months over a flood and smell of fuel at its nursing station. Chief Gary Quisses said the First Nation requested support for a new health-care facility at that time but has not received a concrete answer.
Neskantaga has also been under a boil water advisory for 31 years, the longest in effect in Canada.
“Right now, it’s just the stress and overwhelming [feeling] just building up,” Quisses told CBC News in an interview on Thursday.
More than 250 evacuees have been sent to Toronto. Quisses estimates the nursing station’s entire foundation will need to be replaced, “as raw sewage that has seeped into the ground needs to be manually removed,” according to a statement from Aug. 6.
Quisses and other Neskantaga leaders, alongside Kiiwetinoong NDP MPP Sol Mamakwa, spoke about the issue during a news conference at Queen’s Park on Thursday morning.
“We know that the standards of health care are already so low in most First Nations in Kiwetinoong and also in the far north,” Mamakwa said. “The few services that do exist such as [the nursing station in] Neskantaga are especially vital, and it’s vulnerable.
“While Ontario and Canada are stepping on First Nations’ treaty and inherent rights in an effort to access the resources in traditional territories such as the Ring of Fire, they continue to neglect the needs of the people who actually live on these lands,” he continued.
Neskantaga First Nation’s nursing station was built in 1994. While a temporary nursing station was set up after the Aug. 4 leak, it can only provide basic medical services, Quisses explained.
“Our health care is not adequate right now,” he said.
CBC News reached out to Indigenous Services Canada and received an emailed response on Tuesday.
“ISC staff arrived in community on Aug. 4, 2026, to work with the First Nation’s contractor to assess the situation at the health facility and discuss next steps,” spokesperson Eric Head wrote.
“The contractor’s assessment will be shared with First Nations leadership, and decisions on restoring the facility will be led by the First Nation in discussion with ISC and partners.”
There is no timeline for the nursing station’s restoration, Head said, “as testing at the facility is ongoing and discussions with Neskantaga leadership continue.”
According to ISC, “Ornge services are also available should any medivacs be required.”
As well, Head says Neskantaga can apply for funding through the Emergency Management Assistance Program “in responding to and recovering from this emergency.”
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Leaders with Nishnawbe Aski Nation (NAN), a political-territorial organization that represents 49 First Nations across treaties 9 and 5, visited Neskantaga on Aug. 10 to assess the situation.
“It has been a very difficult summer, and chief and council are under tremendous pressure to provide answers to their members about when they can go home,” NAN quoted Grand Chief Fiddler saying on Facebook. “It is difficult to understand how their members are coping, especially the children.”
Officials with Ontario
