Kasabonika still recovering from crisis

Although water levels have stabilized and residents who were evacuated have returned to the community, Kasabonika Lake is still trying to recover from the loss of a youth from suicide.
Kasabonika Chief Gordon Anderson said the mood in the community is “not too good.”
“A lot of people are still affected especially with the suicide that we had,” he said. “There’s still a lot going on with the youth.”
As water levels on Kasabonika Lake rose and threatened to flood the community, the First Nation declared a state of emergency on May 23 and evacuated more than 140 residents two days later.
Just as the situation began to improve on May 27, the community learned that one of its youth committed suicide that morning.
The evacuees returned to the community on May 29 in time for the funeral service along with family members from Thunder Bay and Sioux Lookout.
But even after crisis teams arrived from Kingfisher and Wapekeka, Anderson is concerned about the well-being of the community’s youth.
“The youth are in some ways retaliating towards the incident by doing things like drug use and drinking,” he said. “It’s sort of a critical situation where you don’t know what’s going to happen with the youth.”
To help keep the youth active, the First Nation has involved some in helping with their anti-flooding efforts, according to Mitchell Diabo, Kasabonika’s project manager.
“We sandbagged our causeway and our youth did an excellent job with that operation,” Diabo said in an e-mail. “Now we are building up the roadway with gravel.”
Although the water levels are beginning to recede, the First Nation is still concerned about the bridge and nearby hydro poles.
Anderson said erosion at the base of the bridge has caused it to slightly tilt, while some guy-wires on the hydro poles have slackened, which means the pole could fall and drop live wires into the lake.
The First Nation contacted the Ministry of Transportion (MTO) and Hydro One to inspect the bridge and hydro poles, respectively.
“MTO inspected the bridge and reported no concerns and will continue to monitor,” Diabo said. “Hydro (One) sent in their staff to conduct work for a week and they viewed the poles and reported no concerns but would monitor throughout their week visit.”
While Kasabonika continues to mourn the loss of a youth, Diabo applauded the community for managing the crises.
“It was an extremely busy and challenging time for Kasabonika and the people did superb as hosts to visitors while themselves grieving and managing crises,” he said.