After fleeing wildfires, Neskantaga forced to evacuate again—sewage floods only nursing station

By Anushka Yadav, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, The Pointer “It makes me feel really angry,” Neskantaga First Nation Chief Gary Quisess told The Pointer after his residents were forced to evacuate for a second time in less than a month due to “failures in essential social infrastructure”—first after wildfires disrupted the vital supply chain that provides critical resources, and then once again after sewage flooded the remote community’s only nursing station. On July 29, as Quisess watched two flights carrying Neskantaga community members take off from Toronto Pearson International Airport, he sighed, finally allowing himself a moment to absorb the gravity of what his community had endured. Ten days earlier, he had to make the difficult decision to evacuate the most vulnerable members after raging forest fires miles away disrupted…

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