Niagara Falls, Ont., mayor apologizes for comments about Kashechewan evacuees

The mayor of Niagara Falls, Ont., has apologized for comments made about Kashechewan First Nation evacuees during a recent council meeting that discussed homelessness in the city.

Niagara Falls has been hosting in hotels hundreds of evacuees from the First Nation for almost six months after a water crisis in the northern Ontario community forced them to leave their homes.

The city’s former chief administrative officer Ken Todd said in a presentation to city council on June 23 that many residents think Indigenous people staying in the community are homeless when they see them congregating or walking on the street. 

“They’re not homeless,” Todd said. “But the first perception is, ‘Oh, there’s a homeless person.’ Well … they may just be walking down to get a meal at the soup kitchen or they might just be … congregating at a corner somewhere. But that’s the perception.”

Todd made those comments after saying the evacuee situation “is not being handled properly by the federal and provincial government,” and that members of the First Nation deserve better than staying in hotels.

Kashechewan First Nation Chief Hosea Wesley said the remarks left many evacuees feeling unwelcome in their host community. They have been living through “one of the most difficult chapters” in the community’s history, he said in a statement, as families are forced from their homes because of failures in essential water and wastewater infrastructure.

Niagara Falls Mayor Jim Diodati said he invited Wesley to a meeting last week and apologized.

“Our intentions to gain support for families and for the community were good, but comments can be misinterpreted. That’s why the importance of open dialogue and communication cannot be understated,” the mayor said in a statement.

The Niagara Falls Review reported that Diodati said in an interview after the council meeting: “You can’t expect our social services at the region, you can’t expect our communities, to absorb thousands of people that aren’t part of our community.”

Diodati said in his statement that he did not mean to be disrespectful.

“I am sorry that my comments caused hurt within the Kashechewan First Nation and broader Indigenous community. I apologize and I take responsibility for that, as I stand by the positive intentions of the report (to council).”

Officials at the fly-in community on the western shore of James Bay declared a state of emergency on Jan. 4 after infrastructure damage created a public health and safety issue, with sewage creeping into people’s homes and contaminating fresh water systems.

More than 1,500 people were evacuated at the time to places across Ontario, including Niagara Falls, Timmins, Kapuskasing and Kingston.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published July 7, 2026.