It was situation no one was prepared for but that didn’t stop Niagara Health from joining a regional effort last summer to help 5,300 people displaced by floods and wildfires in Northern Ontario during the largest evacuation in the province’s history.
With unwavering support from the Indigenous Health Services and Reconciliation (IHSR) team, hospital teams treated 3,000 of those evacuees with urgent healthcare needs.
And now, they are preparing to assist up to 1,200 more as residents of Kashechewan First Nation on the Albany River near the shores of Hudson Bay are being evacuated to Niagara Falls because of the failure of the community’s water treatment and sewage systems.
“Niagara Health is working diligently with co-ordinated teams from Ontario Health, Niagara Region EMS, Public Health, as well as the local Indigenous organizations to ensure that evacuees receive the support they need, including access to essential programs and services,” says Linda Boich, Niagara Health’s Executive Vice-President of Patient Experience and Integrated Care.
The first of the summer evacuees arrived May 1 after flooding forced two Northern Indigenous communities from their homes. One community returned home quickly. Plans to repatriate the second were halted when the first wildfire evacuation was announced.
After that, “it never stopped,” says Charity Beland, Manager of the IHSR team. “The volume and complexity of needs grew quickly.”
Some evacuees needed to be airlifted out of their communities by helicopter and arrived after multiple transfers by air and ground. Most people were given only three hours’ notice to evacuate and could bring just one bag. Companion animals were left behind. Families were separated across multiple cities and reunited only when hotel space in the same community became available.
“Nobody expected an evacuation of this magnitude. We will be better prepared going forward.”
The IHSR team was steadfast in its response to the crisis, working overtime to meet the needs of evacuees, who were housed in downtown Niagara Falls during the evacuation.
“Having been in it, living it, breathing it, I couldn’t be comfortable having my phone off, knowing people needed help and advocacy,” says Kate Bellon, Indigenous Relations Specialist.
Regional partnerships formed early and quickly to meet diverse and urgent medical, cultural and social needs.
“The community pulled together,” Beland says.
The power of partnerships
De dwa da dehs nye>s Aboriginal Health Centre and REACH Niagara set up primary care clinics inside hotels. A Hamilton pharmacy provided dedicated access to medication. The Fort Erie Native Friendship Centre and Indigenous Diabetes Health Circle provided cultural supports. Six Nations deployed its clinical team. Niagara EMS stationed specialized units at hotels, and mental health services were available around the clock.
“We are so proud of the dedicated paramedic crews who worked alongside all our partners, including Niagara Health and its Indigenous Health Services and Reconciliation team, to provide culturally safe and compassionate care to the evacuees that came to Niagara,” says Karen Lutz-Graul, Niagara Emergency Medical Services Chief. “They all demonstrated respect, humility, and unwavering commitment to this important work when it mattered most.”
Niagara Health absorbed the most acute and complex healthcare situations. The Niagara Falls Emergency Department — the first stop for patients transported from hotels by EMS — was overwhelmed, the IHSR team recalls.
“The impact there was extreme,” Bellon says.
At the Marotta Family Hospital in St. Catharines, births, acute mental healthcare and medical emergencies converged.
Learning from this past year, there is an opportunity to work with the community partners and the leaders of the evacuation efforts to ensure these individuals have a smooth transition to Niagara and are supported in their healthcare needs once they arrive.
The challenges of caring for 3,000 people
Many communities evacuated are dry, and the sudden availability of substances in Niagara Falls contributed to a surge in mental health and substance-related emergencies.
“They were in the worst mental health they could be in, and there were challenges building rapport because they trusted no one,” says Indigenous Patient Relations Specialist Jessica Baskin.
“The hospital was seeing the worst of it,” Beland adds. “Staff didn’t get to see the beautiful things — the community baseball games, the laughter. There is so much more to evacuees than what we see in a crisis.”
Language barriers, a lack of ID and unfamiliarity with Niagara’s urban hospitals made care more difficult, the team notes.
Residents of remote Northern communities live with limited access to healthcare and often fly south for care, even for routine appointments. Staff at Niagara Health interacting with evacuees had to learn on the fly about geographic and systemic realities that shaped evacuees’ health needs.
“That was a theme for the entire five months,” Bellon says. “Staff were unable to communicate with evacuees, so we helped them understand why people were in the state they were in and why they hadn’t been receiving care at home.”
Lessons learned and looking ahead
Most evacuees were repatriated by mid-September. Some, who hailed from Manitoba, were moved to Winnipeg until they could be sent home.
A small number remained in Niagara until it was safe to return to their communities, but they no longer had access to the support network in place during the summer. The IHSR team scrambled to fill the void until everyone could move home.
Looking back, Beland says the experience offers clear lessons to help with future evacuations as climate-driven disasters become more frequent. Planning for the 2026 flood and wildfire season is happening this winter, she notes.
“Nobody expected an evacuation of this magnitude,” she says. “We will be better prepared going forward.”
Looking ahead, Beland and Bellon hope the supports that partner organizations provide at the hotel can be extended into the hospital; for example, health navigators who could help evacuees register as patients, understand triage and wait times, and navigate the system.
Education for staff about life in Northern communities is also essential, they say, but cannot fall solely on the IHSR team.
“We need someone already working with these communities to be in the hospital with evacuees evenings and weekends,” Beland says.
Madelyn Law, Director of Quality, Patient Safety and Risk, echoes the need for preparation and advocating for necessary resources and information to support evacuees.
“Learning from this past year, there is an opportunity to work with the community partners and the leaders of the evacuation efforts to ensure these individuals have a smooth transition to Niagara and are supported in their healthcare needs once they arrive,” Law says. “Having health cards, basic patient health history and an understanding of how their care needs will be supported in the hotels will ensure we can provide the best care for this population.”
Despite the strain, Beland and Bellon say the experience underscored why having a dedicated IHSR team at Niagara Health matters.
“As much as it’s taken a toll, it was a privilege,” Bellon says. “I was honoured and humbled the evacuees let me into their lives.”
