welcome to aboriginal rights

let's start with the basics: "Kashechewan is a fly-in community located on the west coast of Hudson Bay, approximately three hours from Toronto by plane." that means there are no roads in - & over half of its population is under the age of 18.

kashechewan - which means "flowing waters" - is a member of the nishnawbe-aski nation. the people of "flowing waters" are an "L-dialect" (or "moose") cree-speaking group.

so why is kashechewan in the news? let's see what the globe & mail has to say:

Prime Minister Paul Martin... told reporters that Ottawa will begin to take action "today," when asked whether the Liberals were embarrassed by the situation, in which more than half of Kashechewan's residents have been made ill by drinking water laced with E. coli bacteria. [snip]

More than half of the reserve's 1900 residents, many with serious skin problems, are being moved by the Ontario government because of tainted drinking water. About 75 have already been taken to Sudbury and more were heading out on Thursday.

insert the ironic comment about "flowing waters" here.

Residents of the community, off of James Bay in Northern Ontario, have been boiling their water for two years. At the very least, native leaders want Ottawa to provide funds to fix and properly run its water treatment plant.

The community's water problem is attributed to the location of the treatment plant's intake pipe, which is 135 metres downstream from a sewage lagoon. [snip]

Meanwhile, the exodus was in full swing Thursday as planes departed the embattled northern Ontario reserve and friends and family waved goodbye from the ground. About a dozen protesters were at the reserve's tiny airport, venting their anger with Ottawa for the benefit of arriving members of the media.

Deputy Chief Rebecca Friday said she is fed up with the federal government and Mr Scott for refusing to help the reserve, which has been under a boil-water advisory for two years. Ms Friday said no one should be expected to remain at the reserve, where residents have been boiling their drinking water for two years.

Ms Friday was particularly angry that Scott refused to stay in the community and that he didn't respond to her request for an emergency evacuation. "He has not done anything," she said. "We've had to wait two weeks for this." Ms Friday said the entire community should leave to escape the misery and water contamination that has sickened many of the residents. "I'm very, very sad that it has to come to this point where everybody has to leave," she said. "It's an awful situation."

More than half of the reserve's residents are suffering from health problems, such as scabies and impetigo, as a result of drinking water tainted with potentially deadly E. coli.

Marie Reuben, who was part of the first wave to leave, was happy simply to be in a place where her children could bathe in clean water. "I'm just glad they got us out of there," Ms. Reuben said after getting off the plane. "I don't want to go back there."

Many critics and locals believe the reserve needs to be relocated in order to solve its chronic water and health problems.

this is an awful situation. kashechewan has been under "boil restrictions" - meaning all water needs to be boiled before use - for two solid years, and on and off for eight in general. this is ridiculous.