The Little Salmon-Carmacks First Nation will remain on a boil-water advisory until it can get a piped water system in place, and may even consider relocating the community, the band's chief says.

In an interview this morning, Eddie Skookum said he issued the latest boil-water advisory to protect the health of band members and to avoid possible legal action.

'I'm the one who issued the boil water advisory, not the consultant ... we figured there were some people getting sick, so we're just protecting ourselves.'

'We're going to have a boil-water advisory until we get a piped water system in place,' Skookum said.

In light of the health concerns his band is facing, he added, he was actually considering relocating some or all of the community.

'We might literally be looking into relocating. How much is one life worth?' he asked.

He said in addition to people on private band land who are facing water-related illness, there were also fears that residents in Yukon government housing could become sick due to the location of the buildings.

Skookum said in the face of band objections, the government built housing over a graveyard.

He said even though a number of the bodies were removed from the area, there are fears that there are still some buried bodies decomposing near the housing which could be affecting the health of band residents.

'These were people that died of grave illnesses and the government still went ahead and built housing over it (the graveyard).'

'I have some information that a child that is in Yukon Housing is getting sick. That means it's under the jurisdiction of the Yukon government.'

Skookum said the band itself is not in a financial position to correct the water problem because the required infrastructure was not covered under its self-government agreement.

The rising costs of materials are also a reason the required infrastructure is financially out of reach, he added.

In a news release Monday, the band stated it had applied to both federal and territorial infrastructure programs to get funding for a piped water system but was turned down by both levels of government.

In an interview Wednesday, Doug Caldwell, the spokesman for the Department of Community Services, said the band had applied for funding under the Municipal Rural Infrastructure Fund (MRIF) but that its application did not meet the requirements under MRIF.

'It was deferred because what they are proposing is a low-flow water system that has not been proven in the North,' Caldwell said.

He also said the first nation's application did not show it was able to make the one-third contribution to the project as required under MRIF.

Federal authorities could not be reached for comment.

Dr. Bryce Larke, the Yukon's medical officer of health, said today he has never heard of dangerous organisms surviving underground near bodies. He believes it's unlikely that, if there were indeed bodies buried under territorial housing units, that those bodies would affect the water table.

'Based on where people have been concerned about death and coffins washing up (as has happened in Alberta), there has been no evidence of risk under these circumstances,' he said.

Larke said while he could not say with absolute certainty that dangerous organisms could not survive in the permafrost environment of the Yukon, he speculates that the scenario is unlikely.

This is the first time he has heard about concerns regarding a cemetery at Little Salmon-Carmacks, Larke added.

On Wednesday, Larke said he was aware of the boil-water advisory but that the wells facing contamination were believed to be on private band land and do not fall under the mandate of the YTG.

'It's my understanding that the wells in question are on private property ... (so) Yukon Health would not be the authority,' he said.

Larke added, that to his knowledge, the community wells that did fall under the authority of the YTG are working properly and are not subject to contamination.

He said he agreed with Skookum that a piped water system is the best way to correct the problem at Little Salmon-Carmacks.

Community Services Minister Glenn Hart was unavailable for comment.