If spring flooding forces residents on the James Bay coast from their communities, Timmins is expected to be one of the centres evacuees are housed in.
“There is a good chance that towards the end of April we will see a large influx of evacuees from coastal communities, most likely Kashechewan will be the first community to leave. I don’t know if they’ll be coming here or to one of the other communities that has submitted a willingness to host, but we’re anticipating those will start towards the end of the month,” said Mayor Steve Black.
At a council meeting last month, Black told council that residents from the affected James Bay coast communities had expressed interest in coming to Timmins. At that time, he said the city was talking to its insurance provider and legal team to make sure the city is “adequately covered”.
In an update this week, he said there are still challenges with some of the wording for the liability set forth for the city.
“However, we have had community groups step up to take on the lead on this project with our support, so had to write a letter of support to endorse them doing it but the Senator Hotel and Northern College are partnering to lead and process the evacuation process,” he said.
