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Body of paramedic who drowned in boating accident recovered in northern Ontario

A tattered Kashechewan First Nation flag flies outside St. Paul's Anglician church on the Kashechewan native reserve in northern Ontario Sunday, Oct. 30, 2005. The federal government says residents from two Indigenous communities in northern Ontario have been evacuated from their homes due to the threat of flooding.nullIndigenous Services Canada says it started evacuating those who wished to leave Kashechewan and Fort Albany First Nations on Thursday. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Jonathan Hayward. JOH DPI

The chief of a First Nation in northern Ontario says a search and recovery effort has located the body of a paramedic presumed to have drowned in a boating accident.

Kashechewan First Nation Chief Gaius Wesley says the body of Arjanan Sivasathiyarajah, who had started working in the community just two weeks earlier, was recovered shortly after 5 p.m. Wednesday.

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Wesley first announced Monday the paramedic was presumed to have drowned when he fell into the river and was swept into a fast-running current after his boat hit shallow water.

The chief says he was on a supply run with another paramedic and an agency nurse to Fort Albany, a nearby community along James Bay.

Grand Chief Alison Linklater, who leads a council of eight local First Nations, called the paramedic a “fallen hero” who would be remembered for his “honourable service and pledge to the health of our people.”

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The local health authority said he had already made an “immense impact” on those who met him during his tenure.

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