Annual flooding is forcing hundreds of people from the Kashechewan First Nation in northern Ontario to be evacuated from the James Bay community.
A statement from Indigenous Services Canada says that since evacuations began on April 17, community members have been asked to choose whether they would like to be moved to nearby on-land areas, or to other Ontario communities some 400 kilometres south.
It says that 467 people have chosen to be evacuated to on-land areas near the community on the north shore of James Bay’s Albany River, while others have been moved to Timmins, Cochrane or Kapuskasing.
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Kashechewan First Nation regularly faces serious annual flooding.
A state of emergency was declared for the community on April 3.
In 2019, Indigenous Services Canada, the Province of Ontario and the Kashechewan First Nation reached a framework agreement on permanently relocating the community to higher ground, but those plans are still being finalized.
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