With his people dispersed to urban communities in the south – including Timmins, Cochrane and Kapukasing – Kashechewan First Nation Chief Leo Friday today called for action from the senior levels of government to move the entire community out of the flood zone.
Friday made his the call at a news conference in Toronto.
“I’m asking the government of Ontario right now to encourage and to work with the federal government,” he said, “and also to encourage the federal government that we need a better community, a better location.“
Chief Friday says elders knew back in the 1950s – when Kash was created to replace Albany Post – that it was too close to water. The chief says what’s needed is a year-round home for his people.
“Because we’ve been displaced and dislocated every spring. And we lost a lot of our culture, traditions and teaching because of this.”
Friday says the young generation hasn’t been trained for the spring harvest of geese and ducks, and don’t even know how to call the birds.