The government of Ontario, which flew the first 450 people out of the Kashechewan First Nation for medical care on Wednesday, is criticizing the federal government for letting the remote community's tainted-water crisis fester.

The government says that eventually, more than 1,000 people will be evacuated from the reserve.

Premier Dalton McGuinty said Wednesday that Ottawa has been "missing in action" for the past two years, as Kashechewan's water treatment plant – which was built by the federal Department of Indian Affairs – poured high amounts of chlorine into the water to deal with a persistent E. coli bacteria problem.

Ontario Premier Dalton McGuinty, Wednesday.

Chlorine in the water system, which the reserve's 1,900 residents use for washing and bathing, has aggravated skin conditions such as eczema, scabies and impetigo.

"If they're not prepared to assume responsibility, then they should talk to not just this premier, but premiers throughout the country and come to a new arrangement," McGuinty said.

The Cree reserve on the shore of James Bay has been under a boil-water advisory for two years, but intermittent water problems have been reported for five years. Things came to a head two weeks ago, when native leaders and a doctor in the community said that E. coli had been discovered in water samples.

Grand Chief Stan Louttit of the Mushkegowuk.

The intake pipe for Kashechewan's water treatment plant is located a short distance downstream from its sewage lagoon.

McGuinty called the situation at Kashechewan "unacceptable."

After he and other provincial cabinet ministers met with native leaders and medical officials on Tuesday, the provincial government acted quickly.

Within hours, Aboriginal Affairs Minister David Ramsay said more than half the people of Kashechewan would be taken out immediately for medical treatment in towns such as Timmins and Cochrane, 450 kilometres to the south.

Many of the Cree community's other residents are involved in fall hunting activities and will follow their relatives later.

"It is a medical emergency, so these people really need to be removed," said Ramsay.

"We've had to act, because there has been no action there," the aboriginal affairs minister told CBC News Wednesday, speaking of the federal government's role in dealing with Kashechewan's problems. "I guess out of frustration they finally came to the province."

Federal government says it did everything it could

The federal government fought back, with Prime Minister Paul Martin telling the House of Commons that Ottawa has a decades-old agreement with Ontario that makes the province responsible for evacuations when necessary.

Indian Affairs Minister Andy Scott pointed out that Ottawa would be footing the costs of the Kashechewan evacuation.

"The reality is that the decision to do an evacuation ... rested with the Ontario government," Scott told reporters on Parliament Hill. "They acted as they saw fit, and we're paying for this."

Scott's office also pointed out that he had visited the Kashechewan last week. Health Canada says said samples conducted Oct. 17 and Oct. 19 showed no traces of E. coli in the water.

Scott said his department has been talking with First Nations leaders across the country to create federal water standards on reserves.

An Indian Affairs study in 2001 found risks in the drinking water of three-quarters of the 633 communities studied.

Meanwhile, critics accused the Ontario government of ignoring the recommendations of the Walkerton tainted-water inquiry, which urged the province to take over responsibility for drinking water in native communities.

Ontario NDP aboriginal affairs critic Gilles Bisson said there are 50 other native communities in the province that also have to boil their drinking water.

Relocate Kashechewan, band leaders urge

After the affected people are treated, discussions will have to begin on whether the entire community should be relocated, as was done with the Labrador community of Davis Inlet three years ago, native leaders say.

Kashechewan Deputy Chief Rebecca Friday told CBC News that she feels the entire community needs to be permanently moved.

She said she was concerned that the evacuation of Kashechewan to a number of different communities would split up the First Nation, scattering them to a number of communities.

"I don't think this will be good for the people because they want to stay together."

• FROM CBC ARCHIVES: Davis Inlet: Innu community in crisis

"There's a number of people who have skin diseases that need to be treated on a daily basis," Kashechewan Chief Leo Friday told CBC News.

Grand Chief Stan Louttit of the Mushkegowuk said negotiations to move the community entirely would "take some time, probably over some years.

"We are meeting with the federal government representatives tomorrow in Ottawa," he added. "We are putting this issue on the table."

Ramsay agrees that something needs to be done.

"This community is on a flood plain," he said. "Most of the infrastructure seems to be unrepairable."