By Mike Stimpson, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, SNnewswatch.com NESKANTAGA — Evacuees will fly back to Neskantaga First Nation terrain Wednesday and Thursday, Chief Gary Quisess says. “Yeah, we’re going to start flying people home tomorrow,” Quisess said Tuesday in a phone interview. The First Nation, about 430 kilometres northeast of Thunder Bay, began evacuating medically vulnerable members on July 18 as smoke from wildfires worsened air quality. Another factor in the evacuation decision and Neskantaga council’s declaration of a local state of emergency, Quisess said, was the shutdown of Highway 599 to Pickle Lake due to wildfires. He explained that Pickle Lake is a supply hub for Neskantaga; goods are trucked to Pickle Lake and then flown to the reserve on the south shore of Attawapiskat Lake. The supply of…
Register
