Evacuees from James Bay heading home as flooding risk fades, but remote communities face a cloudy future

With the risk of flooding on the Albany River fading away, hundreds of evacuees from the James Bay Coast will soon be heading home.

With predictions of a bad break-up this spring, Fort Albany First Nation declared a full-scale evacuation on April 29 and about 600 people were airlifted to the south, staying in a hotel in Niagara Falls,while about 100 people remained behind in the remote Cree community.

Chief Elizabeth Kataquapit says the fears of flooding never materialized, but she doesn't second guess her decision to evacuate.

"Every spring I worry about the flooding. So it was the right decision, because we're trying to protect our community members from harm," she said.

Kataquapit says on Thursday evacuees who had family members diein the past couple of weeks will be the first to fly back so they can attend funeral services, followed by more mass flights on Friday and over the weekend.

"It's been difficult. A lot of people are anxious to get home now," she said.

"That's the thing about our community, we're a very close-knit community. We know everybody and we're just like family for each other."

The neighbouring Kashechewan First Nation also partly evacuated this spring, as it has every year for the past decade.

There are several hundred people staying in hotels in Timmins, Kapuskasing and other northern communities, with no word yet on when they will return home.

For years, there have been plans to relocate Kashechewan and built a new community for 2,000 people on higher ground where they won't face the risk of flooding every spring.

In 2019, the federal and provincial government signed an agreement with the First Nation, pledging to move Kashechewan within a decade.

But Chief Gaius Wesley recently revealed that those talks have been stalled by Fort Albany First Nation, which the federal government now wants to sign off on any relocation plans.

Kashechewan and Fort Albany were once one community, separatingin 1950sand moving to opposite sites of the Albany River, however they continue to share the same reserve territory.

"All decisions regarding the land need to be taken collectively. Fort Albany First Nation has been treated unfairly during the whole process," said Chief Kataquapit.

"We are asking for fairness and equity in this current process of relocation."

She says those talks are just beginning and says any decision about relocating Fort Albany as well as Kashechewan would have to be made by her community members.

Kataquapit says that Kashechewan is Fort Albany's"sister community" and"we value the health and safety of its members," but her citizens need to be protected from flooding as well.