{"id":108015,"date":"2026-08-20T12:20:39","date_gmt":"2026-08-20T16:20:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/?p=108015"},"modified":"2026-08-20T12:20:39","modified_gmt":"2026-08-20T16:20:39","slug":"ontario-first-nation-evacuated-for-second-time-this-summer-as-nursing-station-flooded","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/index.php\/2026\/08\/20\/ontario-first-nation-evacuated-for-second-time-this-summer-as-nursing-station-flooded\/","title":{"rendered":"Ontario First Nation evacuated for second time this summer as nursing station flooded"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Neskantaga First Nation chief says his northern Ontario community had to be evacuated again after a contractor hired by the federal government caused a sewage flood at the community&#8217;s only nursing station. Gary Quisess says Neskantaga residents had to leave earlier this month for the second time this summer, just days after they returned home following a wildfire evacuation. He says families from his community are staying in crowded hotel rooms in Toronto and they want to go back to their homes as soon as possible. Quisess says the fly-in community declared a state of emergency after a contractor damaged the septic system under a nursing station, which is the community&#8217;s only health-care facility. Neskantaga officials say the damage caused raw sewage to back up and fill the basement of&#8230; <\/p>\n<div class=\"pmpro\">\n<div class=\"pmpro_card pmpro_content_message\">\n<div class=\"pmpro_card_content\">This content is for Yearly Subscription, Yearly Subscription &#8211; Corporate, Print Subscription Only, Canada Print and Online, and USA Print and Online members only.<br \/><a href=\"http:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/wp-login.php?action=register\">Register<\/a><\/div>\n<div class=\"pmpro_card_actions pmpro_font-medium\">Already a member? <a href=\"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/wp-login.php?redirect_to=https%3A%2F%2Ftheturtleislandnews.com%2Findex.php%2F2026%2F08%2F20%2Fontario-first-nation-evacuated-for-second-time-this-summer-as-nursing-station-flooded%2F\">Log in here<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Neskantaga First Nation chief says his northern Ontario community had to be evacuated again after a contractor hired by the federal government caused a sewage flood at the community&#8217;s only nursing station. Gary Quisess says Neskantaga residents had to leave earlier this month for the second time this summer, just days after they returned home following a wildfire evacuation. He says families from his community are staying in crowded hotel rooms in Toronto and they want to go back to their homes as soon as possible. Quisess says the fly-in community declared a state of emergency after a contractor damaged the septic system under a nursing station, which is the community&#8217;s only health-care facility. Neskantaga officials say the damage caused raw sewage to back up and fill the basement of... <\/p>\n<div class=\"pmpro\"><div class=\"pmpro_card pmpro_content_message\"><div class=\"pmpro_card_content\">This content is for Yearly Subscription, Yearly Subscription - Corporate, Print Subscription Only, Canada Print and Online, and USA Print and Online members only.<br \/><a href=\"http:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/wp-login.php?action=register\">Register<\/a><\/div><div class=\"pmpro_card_actions pmpro_font-medium\">Already a member? <a href=\"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/wp-login.php?redirect_to=https%3A%2F%2Ftheturtleislandnews.com%2Findex.php%2F2026%2F08%2F20%2Fontario-first-nation-evacuated-for-second-time-this-summer-as-nursing-station-flooded%2F\">Log in here<\/a><\/div><\/div><\/div>","protected":false},"author":101363,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"pmpro_default_level":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[8,13],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-108015","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-national-news","category-ticker","pmpro-level-required","pmpro-level-3","pmpro-level-2","pmpro-level-5","pmpro-level-4","pmpro-level-6","pmpro-level-7","pmpro-level-8","pmpro-no-access"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v28.3 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Ontario First Nation evacuated for second time this summer as nursing station flooded - The Turtle Island News<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/index.php\/2026\/08\/20\/ontario-first-nation-evacuated-for-second-time-this-summer-as-nursing-station-flooded\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Ontario First Nation evacuated for second time this summer as nursing station flooded - The Turtle Island News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Neskantaga First Nation chief says his northern Ontario community had to be evacuated again after a contractor hired by the federal government caused a sewage flood at the community&#8217;s only nursing station. Gary Quisess says Neskantaga residents had to leave earlier this month for the second time this summer, just days after they returned home following a wildfire evacuation. He says families from his community are staying in crowded hotel rooms in Toronto and they want to go back to their homes as soon as possible. Quisess says the fly-in community declared a state of emergency after a contractor damaged the septic system under a nursing station, which is the community&#8217;s only health-care facility. Neskantaga officials say the damage caused raw sewage to back up and fill the basement of\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/index.php\/2026\/08\/20\/ontario-first-nation-evacuated-for-second-time-this-summer-as-nursing-station-flooded\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"The Turtle Island News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/TurtleIslandNews\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-08-20T16:20:39+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/01\/facebooklogo.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"725\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"483\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Lynda Powless\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@newsattheturtle\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@newsattheturtle\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Lynda Powless\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"1 minute\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theturtleislandnews.com\\\/index.php\\\/2026\\\/08\\\/20\\\/ontario-first-nation-evacuated-for-second-time-this-summer-as-nursing-station-flooded\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theturtleislandnews.com\\\/index.php\\\/2026\\\/08\\\/20\\\/ontario-first-nation-evacuated-for-second-time-this-summer-as-nursing-station-flooded\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Lynda Powless\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theturtleislandnews.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/7b188fd7503577895ef8b306988cd458\"},\"headline\":\"Ontario First Nation evacuated for second time this summer as nursing station flooded\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-08-20T16:20:39+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theturtleislandnews.com\\\/index.php\\\/2026\\\/08\\\/20\\\/ontario-first-nation-evacuated-for-second-time-this-summer-as-nursing-station-flooded\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":171,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theturtleislandnews.com\\\/#organization\"},\"articleSection\":[\"National News\",\"ticker\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-CA\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theturtleislandnews.com\\\/index.php\\\/2026\\\/08\\\/20\\\/ontario-first-nation-evacuated-for-second-time-this-summer-as-nursing-station-flooded\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theturtleislandnews.com\\\/index.php\\\/2026\\\/08\\\/20\\\/ontario-first-nation-evacuated-for-second-time-this-summer-as-nursing-station-flooded\\\/\",\"name\":\"Ontario First Nation evacuated for second time this summer as nursing station flooded - 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