Neskantaga’s water pump might be fixed, but the problems that put the community at risk are not

But now that a new election campaign is in full swing, voters might want to ask hard questions as to why the basics of life are not present in reserve communities.

Gary Quisess, the head Neskantaga band councillor, who also doubles as the airport foreman in his community of about 350 people, is tired of living like this. On Tuesday morning, Quisess’s daughter Shirley, who at 24 has lived her entire life without clean running water, gave birth to a son in Thunder Bay. Now, Quisess fears his grandson will be the next generation to do without.

“Generation after generation has had no clean water,” he tells me from the small airport where the building is empty of people but the parking lot is full of trucks and cars, left by community members who were evacuated to Thunder Bay.

It was July 2017 when Crown Relations Minister Carolyn Bennett promised Ottawa would invest $9 million to modernize the Neskantaga water plant. It was all to happen by spring 2018. But the project has been beset with troubles.

The community’s new water system is getting close to completion, with 74 houses hooked up to the facility. But on Friday the pump went down, the pressure dropped, and the chlorination system was no longer functioning properly, community members say.

A slight power outage on Friday was probably all it took to cause the breakdown, a water project meeting in Neskantaga was told on Tuesday.

Nishnawbe Aski Nation Grand Chief Alvin Fiddler, in Neskantaga to attend the meeting, finds the delays in bringing clean water to the community simply unacceptable, one year after the original completion deadline of May 2018.

“It is important we come together as a team. It is our belief everyone has a basic human right to safe drinking water and that has not been the case for Neskantaga for a very long time. We need a plan to get us there,” he told the meeting. “This is frustrating for the community — dates are set for completion and they come and go.”

Fiddler wants to see clear, achievable dates for a working system and he wants proper technical support so this doesn’t happen again. For instance, why were there no spare parts on hand — like an extra pump?

Neskantaga Chief Chris Moonias evacuated his community last weekend. He did this after getting a verbal assurance from Indigenous Services Minister Seamus O’Regan that the ministry would support him in any way.

Moonias asked for that promise in writing but he said he never got it. So he didn’t wait for federal evacuation help. Moonias made his own plans to charter his people out. He is proud of what he did to keep his people safe. He did not want anyone getting sick or dying — like in Walkerton.

But it could cost the community dearly. There are no protocols in place for major infrastructure failures in reserve communities in northern Ontario. There are protocols for evacuation during social emergencies and natural disasters, like forest fires, but nothing for major infrastructure failures — such as lack of access to water.

(Imagine if the water system broke down in the Parliament buildings. Everyone would be evacuated.)

Moonias now fears, after spending thousands of dollars to move everyone, that Neskantaga could be put under third party management, which is when Indigenous Services appoints someone else to take control of the communities finances.

He figures he won’t be able to bring people back until Saturday. A 600-pound pump was delivered on Monday and has been installed, but all the pipes have to be flushed out and water going to the houses tested.

Moonias is sitting in his nearly empty band council office. The streets around it are abandoned. Hardly anyone is left, just lots of dogs and community pets that those still on hand are struggling to feed.

He is emotional. He raises his voice. “I am trying to be as calm as I can. But I get loud. Maybe that way Canada will hear us.”

The ball is in your court, voters. Ask the questions.