‘When is help coming?’: Cat Lake First Nation considers evacuation 1 month after declaring crisis

About one month after Cat Lake First Nation declared a housing and health emergency, officials say residents are growing frustrated and considering evacuating the remote community.

Officials from the northwestern Ontario Indigenous community spoke at Queen’s Park Friday, decrying a lack of action from the federal and provincial government.

READ MORE: ‘We’re not bluffing’ — Ontario First Nation urges Trudeau, O’Regan to witness housing crisis

“When is help coming?” Joyce Cook, a councillor from Cat Lake, said at the press conference. “I don’t know why it’s taking so long for our federal government to move.”

“These homes are not suitable. We’re just going to evacuate, we’re going to leave the community,” she said.

Tweet This Click to share quote on Twitter: "These homes are not suitable. We're just going to evacuate, we're going to leave the community," she said.

Cook noted some have considered going back to their traditional territories, while others mulled moving to cities.

Almost 100 homes in the fly-in Ojibway community are in such bad shape due to mould, bare wiring and cracked foundations that they need to be demolished. The problem is that there are no other housing options.

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The roughly 450 residents of the community said they have been asking for help since 2006 to no avail.

Images from Cat Lake show young children covered in red rashes, which community leaders say were caused by black mould in homes. Several residents are also dealing with invasive bacterial diseases, including lung infections.

Poor health has become endemic, with an average of one person every three days having to be medevaced out for health care.

The community has only one nursing station. Treatment for these issues within Cat Lake comprises essentially of ointment and inhalers that can’t fix the underlying problems.

WATCH: ‘These homes are not suitable’ — Cat Lake officials consider evacuation

1:42 ‘These homes are not suitable’: Cat Lake evacuates over mould

Cook was accompanied Friday by Abigail Wesley, the deputy chief of Cat Lake First Nation, and NDP politicians Charlie Angus and Sol Mamakwa.

Wesley explained that residents have grown frustrated with the federal government and are looking for the provincial government to step up.

“We now call on Premier Doug Ford to come to the table to Cat Lake and its advisories to offer temporary emergency housing,” Wesley said.

READ MORE: Cat Lake First Nation crisis spotlights health-care struggles of remote communities

Community officials, including head councillor Derek Spence and Chief Matthew Keewaykapow, recently also called on Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Indigenous Services Minister Seamus O’Regan to visit the community and see the situation firsthand.

While O’Regan has said he will consider a visit to the community soon, he has not offered a date or any other details.

In a press release Friday, O’Regan said the federal government has taken action on the crisis and the well-being of residents remains their “top priority.”

WATCH: Cat Lake officials say issue is about mould, not the winter road

1:08 Cat Lake officials say issue is about mould, not the winter road

“A pediatric respirology medical doctor arrived in the community to begin an independent health assessment and treatment of individuals identified by the community,” the release read. “We will address the results of the assessment as soon as they are available, on an urgent basis.‎”

Last week, the minister said the federal government will speed up delivery of materials for housing repairs, a seven-unit housing complex, and for new construction.

Ongoing repairs to the local nursing station will also be expedited and completed by March 31.

On the provincial side, Indigenous Affairs Minister Greg Rickford has argued it’s the federal government’s responsibility to help.

WATCH: PM accused of disconnect after refusing to call Cat Lake a ‘national disgrace’

2:21 PM accused of disconnect after refusing to call Cat Lake a ‘national disgrace’

In an email statement provided to Global News, Rickford’s office said: “The federal government should be ashamed that this situation has escalated to this point and should immediately act and provide support to this community in their desperate time of need.”

Rickford said he’s had discussions with the band leadership and was looking at the possibility of providing at least some immediate housing relief.

Mamakwa, who is the provincial NDP critic for Indigenous relations, has argued that the Ford government is obligated to help Cat Lake under Treaty 9.

“As in the health crises declared in other Treaty 9 communities like Kashechewan and Attawapiskat, Ontario must ensure that children, families and Elders are safe,” Mamakwa said in a statement Friday.

Mamakwa also said he supports Cat Lake’s declaration of Jordan’s Principle, which is meant to ensure all First Nation’s children living both on and off reserves have access to adequate government services without barriers or discrimination.

— With files from The Canadian Press