LUCY VAN OLDENBARNEVELD (CBO-FM): Well, homesick residents of Kashechewan got a little taste of home last night in Ottawa. The Metis Nation of Ontario put on a traditional moose dinner with bannock and wild rice at the Tom Brown arena.

The 265 evacuees from the James Bay area are staying in Ottawa for a couple of weeks while federal and provincial officials make sure the water supply in their community is safe to drink.

Our own Denise Fung caught up with some of the people from Kash as they enjoyed some traditional cooking.

UNIDENTIFIED: And we'd like now to have Esther Healey (ph) to say a prayer as well (inaudible)…

ESTHER HEALEY (ph): (Speaks in a native language without interpretation.)

DENIS FUNG (Reporter): What was for dinner, by the way?

UNIDENTIFIED: Well, we had moose meat, beans, salad, (inaudible)… bannock. Metis style, yeah. Really good. Really good.

UNIDENTIFIED: I wouldn't say I'm homesick; I'm say I'm glad I'm not at Kash now because of the situation. I guess most people… most of Kash doesn't leave, the whole town. We're just basically in one reserve, more or less. And some of us goes out to out of town, like (inaudible)… and all of that for a couple of days. Now we know it might be two weeks, months, we're… we're not sure when we're going home. But I'll enjoy Ottawa while I'm here.

FUNG: What do you want to see when you go back?

UNIDENTIFIED: Well, just the water (inaudible)… basically, water is life. Everybody needs water in their lives. So if I want to go home, I want to turn the tap, like I turn the tap in here in Ottawa, see it's clear, it's drinkable, washable. Lot of things to do in… nature's things in water. FUNG: What… what do you think of how the government has been responding, then, to the water situation?

UNIDENTIFIED: Well, it's about time they respond, because they only respond because of the media. That's what I think (inaudible)… I don't know what the other people think.

UNIDENTIFIED: Oh, I don't mind the television channel. It's… you know, it doesn't bother me as long as they tell the truth. They have to fill our shoes if you really… really want to know what's going on. They could say all you want, but they don't understand what we went through because they're in a city with fresh water all over (inaudible)…

And I'm not here for shopping. Yes, we'll do a little shopping. That's a great advantage. We didn't plan it; it just happened. That's the way I see it. But you got to be in our shoes to know what we went through.

FUNG: I… I've never been to a reserve, so how would you describe Kash to me?

UNIDENTIFIED: Well, it's basically way different than a city or a… a town. Like, a reserve is like… it's not like that… it's not like it's prettier in beauties, but it's respectable for us. It's home. But when you come down you probably see the… the poverty, I guess. You see things that you don't want to see. But that's the life in the reserve because the lack of things to do, lack of education. The school is condemned. Those things you would see that you won't see in the city.

FUNG: What would you like to see when you go back to your home? UNIDENTIFIED: I don't know. I don't know. (Laughs)… I'm really not looking forward to going home. (Laughs)… (Inaudible)…

UNIDENTIFIED: Well, first of all, over there I don't have a home. Like, where I'm staying, like it's a hotel. We have our own space, eh? So like this is my first time actually having a home, I thought to myself.

VAN OLDENBARNEVELD: That was the CBC's Denis Fung speaking to some evacuees from Kashechewan last night at a moost feast… moose feast here in Ottawa.