By Sonal Gupta, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, Canada’s National Observer Indigenous Services Canada is assisting with evacuation plans and repairs for a remote Ontario First Nation that declared a state of emergency after its aging water treatment plant and sewage system failed. Kashechewan First Nation, a fly-in Cree community on James Bay in northern Ontario with about 2,300 people, is under a “do not consume” short-term water advisory. Members of the community have been hauling river water or melting snow to flush toilets and wash dishes and relying on donated bottled water for drinking and cooking. The crisis has left families struggling to care for children amid an influenza outbreak, with sewage backing up into the community’s only health clinic. Kashechewan Chief Hosea Wesley said the community’s broken water system…
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