Kashechewan, Fort Albany begin evacuations ahead of annual flooding risk

Hundreds of people on Ontario'sJames Bay Coast will begin boarding airplanes Tuesdaywith the annual fears of flooding on the Albany River.

Over the last 15 years, thishas become a scheduled evacuation every spring for the Cree First Nation of Kashechewan, which lies directly on the floodplain.

But this year, the neighbouring Cree First Nation of Fort Albany is also flying out elders and children as a precaution.

Gaius Wesley, chief of Kashechewan, said the river is still mostly frozen, but elders who monitor the flooding conditionsare concerned about large open sections and pools of water along the shore.

"Apparently it's an indication that there's going to be a lot of water for this coming breakup," he said.

"We had a lot of snow this past winter compared to the other years."

Wesley saidthe conditions are said to besimilar to the breakup in 2006, the last time the entire community Kashechewan was flooded.

While some 600 peoplefrom Kashechewan are registered to fly south to Timminsto be housed in hotel rooms, Wesley said,another 500 will be flying further north.

They will be camping in tents as part of the "out on the land" evacuation program started during the COVID-19 pandemic, when there were concerns about evacuees contracting the coronavirus in cities and towns and then bringing it back to their isolated communities.

"We always said that the land is our healing," Wesleysaid.

"So as part of the COVID recovery, we continue to make this option available because people have suffered a lot of mental health, the stress, the frustration because of the COVID-19 restrictions that were in place."

Fort Albany is offering a similar program, providing camping supplies to people who prefer to spend the breakup season out on the land during the annual goose hunt.