Spring flooding and recurring evacuations of Kashechewan First Nation, northern Ontario, Canada

Abstract

Floods and evacuations due to flooding can increase vulnerability and affect community resilience. This article examines how the Kashechewan First Nation, located in the flood-prone Subarctic southwestern James Bay region of Canada, is affected by the frequent risk of spring flooding. Kashechewan, an isolated and remote Indigenous community, is located along the Albany River in northern Ontario. Kashechewan First Nation has been evacuated 14 times to at least 22 host communities across Ontario since 2004 (consecutively from 2004 to 2008 and 2012–2019) because of actual flooding events or flooding risk and the potential failure of the dike that surrounds the community. Through a collaboration with the First Nation, qualitative semi-structured interviews were completed with 41 participants. Results show that spring flood risk has significantly increased the community's physical and socio-cognitive vulnerability. Flooding frequently impacts community infrastructure, traditional spring hunting and harvesting, and the local economy. It also significantly increases the stress and anxiety of residents every year as spring approaches. Dealing with the regular flooding risk and recurring emergency experiences have improved the community's disaster preparedness and coping capacity, but residents' evacuation experiences negatively affect their well-being during and after the evacuations. The short-term responses to the physical vulnerability of people frequently experiencing the elevated hazards risks help increasing specific resilience-building and coping capacity in the short-run. However, such short-term responses can also produce greater vulnerability in the long-term. Similarly, if the long-term adaptation responses for resilience-building do not consider the short-term coping capacities and community-specific ground realities, they can significantly increase the physical vulnerability of residents.

Introduction

In Canada, 309 floods have impacted 6.58 million Canadians during 1900–2019 [1]. Floods are expected to be higher in frequency and intensity with the warming temperatures [2]. Spring flooding is one of the major natural hazards that affects northern Indigenous Peoples¹ in Canada [3]. Spring flooding is caused by rapid snowmelt runoff because of ice breakup and jams in the spring season. According to the Ministry of Indigenous Services Canada (ISC), there are numerous First Nations communities at-risk of spring flooding across Canada due to their proximity to rivers. First Nations identify themselves by the nation to which they belong, such as Cree² First Nation. There are over 630 First Nations communities in Canada, which represent more than 50 Nations and 50 Indigenous languages.³ In addition, an inadvertent bias in the disaster relief services and disaster risk reduction (DRR) programs offered by different levels of governments, such as the Flood Damage Reduction Program (FDRP), has contributed to the increased vulnerability of Indigenous Peoples to the flooding risks [4,5]. For example, the substandard community infrastructure, particularly inadequate underground sewerage system, the obsolete water treatment plant, and dike made of sand and gravel with serious deficiencies have increased the flooding risk and the community's exposure to floods resulting in numerous evacuations incurring substantial costs (see Table 1).

From 2006 to 2016, sixty-seven First Nations experienced about 100 floods in Canada, while 13 First Nations of Ontario experienced 20% recorded floods [10]. In particular, the northern Ontario climate is conducive to ice jams and spring flooding in the southwestern James Bay region [11]. The Cree First Nations, such as Attawapiskat, Fort Albany, and Kashechewan, located along the southwestern James Bay coast, are linear settlements and frequently affected by ice jam-related spring flooding risk [[12], [13], [14]].

The Kashechewan First Nation in northern Ontario is regularly affected by the increased risk of spring flooding and has been evacuated (14 times since 2004) every year from 2004 to 2008 and 2012–2019. While flooding risk and the resultant evacuations in the James Bay region of northern Ontario have been much publicized, little is known about the impacts of spring flooding and recurring evacuations [15]. According to Khalafzai and colleagues [15]; spring flooding has occurred seasonally in the region and has not increased significantly over time. But the timing and extent of flooding have changed in recent years with warming temperatures in the region due to climate change. In particular, impacts are exacerbated due to changes in the climate, landscape, and resource developments, including inadequate community infrastructure and a downriver winter ice road, which have increased the frequency and scale of breakup ice jams. Khalafzai et al. [15] conclude that these ecological changes have resulted in an increased risk of spring flooding for the First Nation. Khalafzai et al. [15] have discussed the elevated spring flooding risk because of climate change elsewhere.

Floods can affect people, property, and socio-economic activities. They can disrupt community infrastructure and essential lifeline services, such as healthcare, education, drinking water, power supply, sanitation, transportation, and waste disposal, including breaching dikes and blocking ill-planned water drainage system [[16], [17], [18]]. In the Subarctic region, flooding also affects cultural and traditional activities and the local economy, thereby negatively impacting people's well-being. In particular, health risks significantly increase because of the disruption to healthcare services and because flooding leads to a non-functional health infrastructure [[18], [19], [20], [21]]. One of the implications of floods is a short-term relocation or an evacuation.

Evacuations due to floods can seriously affect individual and community well-being [[22], [23], [24]]. Evacuation is a complex phenomenon [25]. Evacuation experiences are determined by family dynamics, childcare, mechanisms for coping with the emergency and emotional stress, and by cultural and ancestral belief [[26], [27], [28], [29], [30]]. There can be several other factors that determine the evacuation experience. Evacuees often experience emotional stress because they fear that the belongings that they leave in their homes will be stolen. They also have to leave jobs, which means a loss of income, and must find new services in evacuation centres, where they often face racism [[31], [32], [33], [34]]. In other words, evacuations can have far-reaching sociocultural, psychological, economic, and other impacts on evacuees [22,24,35]. For Indigenous Peoples, evacuations cause numerous negative impacts such as a disruption in their traditional way of life and cultural activities, a loss of the place attachments, and an erosion of community and social relationships [31,[36], [37], [38], [39]].

Using regional case studies, a small group of researchers has examined the vulnerability and resilience of communities while focusing on spring flooding that affects remote northern Canadian Indigenous communities. Ford and Smith [40] looked at the implications of flooding risk for Inuit communities and developed a conceptual model of vulnerability and presented an analytical approach for assessing adaptive capacities. Newton et al. [3] explored the linkages between natural hazards and climate change, while focusing on spring flooding and the role of Indigenous communities and their traditional knowledge. They studied ways in which the Canadian territorial governments responded to spring flooding involving Indigenous communities in northern Canada. Newton [39] examined flooding vulnerabilities and the resilience of the Indigenous communities of Aklavik and Liard, Northwest Territories, and Attawapiskat, Ontario. He looked at distinctions between perceptions, attitudes, and activities at three (individual, communal, government) operational levels and how they interrelate while responding to flooding. Thompson et al. [4] focused on the Lake St. Martin First Nation in Manitoba, which was artificially flooded and permanently displaced during 2011. Ballard and Thompson [41] studied the impacts of artificial flooding on sustainable livelihoods, homes, health, and the socio-cultural integrity of the Lake St. Martin First Nation. The relevant literature reviewed suggests that spring flooding and the resultant recurring evacuation experiences of northern Canadian Indigenous communities are not well documented. Nonetheless, there have been a few studies about the permanent (relocation) evacuation experiences that resulted from flooding in remote and isolated Indigenous communities. For example, Thompson et al. [4] studied the permanent evacuation experiences of the Lake St. Martin First Nation, whose participants told him, “We're life refugees” (p. 79). After four to five years of displacement, the Lake St. Martin First Nation was resettled at a site selected by the federal government.

There is a lack of research concerning spring flooding events and the resultant evacuations (temporary or permanent relocation) involving remote and isolated northern Canadian Indigenous communities, particularly the Southwestern James Bay Cree First Nations communities. The research on the impacts of frequent evacuations on Indigenous evacuees due to spring flooding is also lacking. This study completed is the first in the region involving Kashechewan First Nation that examines the impacts of frequent short-term recurring evacuations and a three-year long-term evacuation on residents. While the nature of other hazards risks e.g., wildfire is different from spring flooding, the evacuation experiences of remote and isolated Indigenous communities during their stay in urban host communities can be similar regardless of the cause that triggered an evacuation. Nonetheless, little is known about the impacts of regular hazard risk and recurring evacuations due to spring flooding on northern remote and isolated Canadian Indigenous communities. Notably, besides spring flooding, wildfire is another frequently occurring hazard that the northern Canadian Indigenous Peoples are at high risk because of their proximity and exposure to the hazard risk. The research work of Thistlethwaite et al. [42]; Khalafzai [43]; and Khalafzai and colleagues [15] shows that there is a lack of research on the impacts of actual spring flooding or the risk of flooding on Indigenous Peoples and their evacuation experiences in northern Canada. Because of the lack of research concerning the impacts of spring flooding and evacuations by Indigenous communities, we briefly discuss the recent research work on the impacts of evacuations due to wildfires on Indigenous Peoples.

Scharbach and Waldrem [38] explored the wildfire evacuation experiences of residents of the Hatchet Lake Denesuline First Nation in northern Saskatchewan. The main evacuation impacts on the Hatchet Lake Denesuline First Nation include the fragmentation of community social organization and stability, separation of extended family members, and negative effects on health, particularly for disabled residents. Asfaw et al. [31,36] examined wildfire evacuation preparedness and evacuation challenges while researching the Sandy Lake First Nation in north-western Ontario. The negative impacts of that evacuation included inadequate accommodation, financial difficulties, racism, and evacuees’ concerns about the condition of their homes, property, and pets. The positive experiences included material and emotional support provided by host communities, an opportunity to socialize with fellow evacuees, and the leadership provided by the Chief.

Asfaw et al. [37] studied the role of family, social supports, and place attachment among wildfire evacuees. They found that evacuees were negatively impacted by being dispersed to multiple host communities. The negative impacts included difficulty with communication and information-sharing, disruption of community cohesion and support services, and lack of a sense of place. Christianson, McGee, and the Whitefish Lake First Nation [44] explored the factors that complicated the evacuation process and caused additional stress for the evacuees of the 2011 wildfire event that occurred in the Whitefish Lake First Nation. Among the factors that affected that evacuation experience were transportation issues compounded by cultural land-use activities, fear of home loss, lack of information and media attention, health issues, and large multi-generational families.

This research focuses on the unexplored area of spring flooding impacts on a remote and isolated northern Canadian Indigenous community and their experiences of recurring short-term and long-term evacuations. Kashechewan First Nation is exposed to the increased risk of spring flooding, and the wildfire hazard is non-existent in the reserve territory. In recent years ample research has been conducted on wildfires and resultant evacuations and their impacts on Indigenous communities in Canada. This research fills the knowledge gap by elucidating the effects of increased and regular spring flooding risk and the recurring evacuations on northern Canadian Indigenous communities. Indeed, this study contributes to the literature concerning the impacts of recurring short-term and long-term evacuations on Canadian Indigenous communities.

The aim of this study was to examine how the First Nation is affected by and responds to the regular spring flooding risk. Two research questions guided this study:

• How has the increased spring flooding risk in Kashechewan affected the First Nation?

• How have regular flooding risk and recurring evacuation experiences of the Kashechewan First Nation affected the community's vulnerability and resilience?

This research examines the spring flooding risk to the socioecological system vis-a-vis the community's physical exposure and proximity to the hazard risk. This study assesses the First Nation's socio-cultural, economic, and environmental vulnerability and the community's ability to respond to and recover from flooding events—the ability to survive and deal with floods by reducing impacts and mitigating losses and damages as well as availing the opportunities emerged due to the change. Community resilience-building focuses both on vulnerabilities and resilience and resources and collective strategic action.