Autumn Peltier was just 8 years old when she saw a sign at a Canadian First Nation reservation near her own warning people not to drink the water because it was toxic. Her mother explained to her that it had become contaminated due to problems with the water system that range from waterline breaks and equipment failure to the presence of toxic heavy metals or parasites and bacteria. She learned that some Indigenous people have to boil their water to drink it, while for others, even boiling their water won't make it safe enough to consume.