Heading home

More than a hundred evacuees from Sandy Lake First Nation have started their journey back home.


Evacuees were packed and ready to go as buses shipped them from the Landmark Hotel to the Thunder Bay International Airport on Sunday. About 150 evacuees were confirmed to have either landed or were in transit to the community.

Joshane Fiddler, his girlfriend, Faith and their three children all had their bags packed. He said the whole experience was tiring and hoped the whole ordeal was over.

“I was worried about other family members and where everybody was going because no one really knew,” Fiddler said. “It’s relieving I guess to go home. We`ll be just glad to see our entire family safe at home.”

Steffany Meekis, 19, also wanted to go home and said she wanted to check up on her dog and get back to work.

“I feel sad, I want to go home because I miss my dog,” Meekis said. “The most important thing about going back is being in my own home. It’s not very homey here.”

The Sandy Lake First Nation Band Council was responsible for organizing the commute home.

The province announced that they expected to bring another 548 residents back home over the weekend. About 152 from Keewaywin will return home, as well as 176 from Kingfisher, four from Kasabonika and 216 from Sandy Lake.

That brings the total number of residents returned home to 2, 155. Thunder Bay continues to host 350 evacuees.

Thunder Bay Fire and Rescue Deputy Fire Chief Greg Hankkio said on Friday that the original date for the Sandy Lake evacuees staying in Thunder Bay was Sunday, but is now scheduled for either Monday or Tuesday.

Hankkio said Sandy Lake First Nation residents in Thunder Bay are stage one evacuees, and will be the last of their community to return home.