THUNDER BAY — The 182-room Victoria Inn will now be booked exclusively for the use of residents of Neskantaga First Nation.
More than 200 community members have been staying in the Arthur Street hotel for about a month as a result of problems with a new water treatment and distribution system.
After a request from Chief Chris Moonias was made public last week, federal Indigenous Services Ministers Marc Miller told CTV News that the government intended to rent all the hotel's remaining rooms to further protect the evacuees from the risk of exposure to COVID-19.
In an interview Monday, Moonias confirmed that Miller has responded quickly to his call to make the hotel exclusively available to his people.
"I'm glad this is happening. Now we can keep the nation in a bubble and at least have another layer of security," he told Tbnewswatch.
Moonias said arrangements are already underway to transfer some Neskantaga residents who were not staying in the hotel, including elders.
The chief expressed concern last week with the upsurge in COVID-19 cases in Thunder Bay, saying it was causing a great deal of anxiety among his people.
A spokesperson for Miller said Monday the arrangement for sole use of the hotel by Neskantaga will remain in place until all members of the First Nation are safely repatriated.
The latest target date for that is December 4, but Moonias has said the date has changed several times over the past few weeks.
