Nicole Hancock
Indigenous community hosts full moon ceremony ...

Kristen Villebrun and Wendy Bush hoped they wouldn't have to pray for Chedoke Creek, but four years after they first raised alarm about the water's condition, they were part of an Indigenous full moon ceremony to do just that. About 50 people showed up near Princess Point on the dark and frigid Monday evening for the monthly ceremony, which was particularly special as it focused on Chedoke Creek. The body of water that runs into Cootes Paradise had about 24 billion litres of sewage and storm water runoff leak into it due to a gate being left open.

Indigenous community hosts full moon ceremony to heal Chedoke Creek

Neskantaga First Nation

Water issues need to be addressed across Canada

Water issues need to be addressed across Canada

Last Thursday, I took part in the House of Commons Environment Committee hearings into Canada’s freshwater resources. Appearing before us were representatives from Health Canada, Indigenous Services Canada, Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada and Global Affairs Canada. As you can imagine, the issue of freshwater resources is an immense and complicated—but extraordinarily important—subject, so the conversation was lively and illuminating. Indigenous Services officials were, of course, asked why there were still 28 First Nations communities with boil-water advisories eight years after the government promised to fix the huge problem of neglect they found when taking office. Most of these problems go back much further than eight years. For example, the Neskantaga First Nation in Ontario has been on a boil water advisory since 1995. While some of these situations face jurisdictional and engineering challenges, we can all agree they would have been fixed much more quickly in non-indigenous communities.

Inside the battle over Ontario's Ring of Fire

Inside the battle over Ontario's Ring of Fire

On a rock-covered beach in the heart of the Ring of Fire in northern Ontario, Alex Moonias gazes east, then north. All he sees is undisturbed land, water and air. Some 100 kilometres from where he stands, the province plans to build a road as part of its pledge to mine the area, which is said to be rich in metals needed for electric vehicle batteries.

Life on the line

Life on the line

The First Nation has long been among the most vocal critics of plans to build a proposed road that would connect the Ring of Fire mineral deposit to the highway networks and manufacturing might of Ontario’s south. Now, they’re working to start a sturgeon stewardship program in an effort to protect the fish from proposed development. Even with the most optimistic of estimates, shovels for the proposed Ring of Fire project are years away from going into the ground, but people in Neskantaga First Nation feel a growing sense of urgency.

Joint news release: Neskantaga First Nation welcomes Honourable Patty Hajdu, Minister of Indigenous Services, to community

Joint news release: Neskantaga First Nation welcomes Honourable Patty Hajdu, Minister of Indigenous Services, to community

Neskantaga First Nation and Indigenous Services Canada Earlier this summer on July 23, Neskantaga First Nation welcomed the Honourable Patty Hajdu, Minister of Indigenous Services and Minister responsible for the Federal Economic Development Agency for Northern Ontario (FedNor), to the community. The Minister's visit coincided with Neskantaga's Traditional Gathering that took place from July 18 to 21, 2022, which included various ceremonies, teachings and traditional activities at the Landsdowne House site—the former location of the community. The visit also coincided with the Neskantaga First Nation pow wow, which took place from July 22 to 24, 2022. Minister Hajdu joined community members and visitors for the Grand Entry ceremony as well as other community activities throughout the day.

‘Disrespected, violated, contaminated’: Researcher says safe drinking water shouldn’t fall solely on the backs of Indigenous peoples

‘Disrespected, violated, contaminated’: Researcher says safe drinking water shouldn’t fall solely on the backs of Indigenous peoples

Water is life. Don’t mess with it. That’s the message from one Indigenous cultural anthropologist and water researcher: nothing can live without water, yet we’re destroying it at a rapid pace. In 2015, the federal government campaigned to end all long-term drinking water advisories in First Nations communities by 2020. Two years after that promised date, water advisories are still present in 94 First Nations communities, with Neskantaga First Nation, an Ojibwe community more than 430 kilometres northeast of Thunder Bay, Ont., surpassing 10,000 days under a boil water advisory this week.

Neskantaga First Nation surpasses 10,000 days under a drinking water advisory

Neskantaga First Nation surpasses 10,000 days under a drinking water advisory

Neskantaga First Nation on Sunday marked its 10,000th day under a drinking water advisory, the longest period of time any First Nation in Canada has lived under such an advisory. The community of around 300 people approximately 450 kilometres north of Thunder Bay, Ont., has survived without safe, clean tap water for more than 27 years.

Neskantaga First Nation's chief says residents don't support federal drinking water settlement

Neskantaga First Nation's chief says residents don't support federal drinking water settlement

Residents of some First Nations affected by unsafe drinking water can now file claims under a settlement with the federal government, but the chief of one northwestern Ontario community says they don't support the arrangement. "I just want to say that I'm not in agreement with the settlement," said Roy Moonias, a member of Neskantaga First Nation, which has been under a drinking-water advisory for nearly three decades. "I heard the community say the same thing. They're not in agreement."

/R E P E A T -- OPSEU/SEFPO: Clean and safe drinking water is a human right/

/R E P E A T -- OPSEU/SEFPO: Clean and safe drinking water is a human right/

On the eve of World Water Day, OPSEU/SEFPO President Warren (Smokey) Thomas and the OPSEU/SEFPO Indigenous Circle are challenging Ontario's political leaders to pass MPP Sol Mamakwa's Bill 286, the Inherent Right to Safe Drinking Water Act. Many First Nations, Inuit and Métis peoples in Ontario have been without clean water for years. Neskantaga First Nation in Northwestern Ontario had a boil water advisory issued on February 1, 1995. It's still in place today.

First Nations drinking water settlement open for claims from communities, individuals

First Nations drinking water settlement open for claims from communities, individuals

After a years-long fight for clean drinking water, Indigenous communities and individuals in Canada are a step closer to receiving money from a class-action lawsuit that was settled with the federal government for $8 billion last year. The claims process under the settlement opened up to submissions on Monday. Indigenous communities now have until Dec. 22 to file their claims, while individuals have until March 7, 2023.

Neskantaga First Nation taking Ontario to court over 'inadequate' consultation on Ring of Fire

Neskantaga First Nation taking Ontario to court over 'inadequate' consultation on Ring of Fire

Neskantaga First Nation is taking Ontario to court looking for "ground rules" on how the province should consult and accommodate Indigenous communities that are in a state of crisis. The remote Oji-Cree First Nation, located about 430 kilometres north of Thunder Bay, has been under a boil-water advisory for 26 years and a state of emergency since 2013, when seven people died by suicide in less than a year. Those issues have been compounded by the pandemic, leaving Neskantaga ill-equipped to engage in what the province has presented as consultation on a project to build a road through its territory to the mineral-rich Ring of Fire, community leaders say.

Federal election: If all parties agree that we need to end drinking water advisories in Indigenous communities, why haven’t we?

Federal election: If all parties agree that we need to end drinking water advisories in Indigenous communities, why haven’t we?

While Canada’s overall water quality is among the best globally — in 2016 a small town in British Columbia won gold for best municipal tap water in the world — First Nations have long struggled for access to safe drinking water. From mercury poisoning in Grassy Narrows, Attawapiskat’s decades-long battle for safe water, to Shoal Lake 40 and Nesktanga’s battles for clean water, the commitment to solve drinking water for Indigenous communities has long been a statement made by many sitting prime ministers and hopefuls.

'Empty promises' slammed

'Empty promises' slammed

Jagmeet Singh is focusing on what he’s calling Justin Trudeau’s empty promises as the New Democratic Party leader travels in northern Ontario to start the last week of campaigning. Singh says, for a government, it’s not what you say that matters, it’s what you do. The NDP leader will later be campaigning in Neskantaga First Nation, which had a boil water advisory issued more than 25 years ago. Trudeau promised in 2015 to lift all drinking water advisories by this March, but his government has since acknowledged it would not meet that goal.

Singh says there’s no excuse for lack of safe drinking water in First Nations communities

Singh says there’s no excuse for lack of safe drinking water in First Nations communities

NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh says no excuse is acceptable for the Liberals’ failure to deliver on their 2015 promise to lift all drinking water advisories in First Nations communities. Speaking to reporters in Sioux Lookout, about 230 kilometres northwest of Thunder Bay, Ont., Singh said he is not dismissing that it’s hard to reach rural communities, but Canada’s wealth and technology are sufficient enough to lift all remaining drinking advisories.

Singh hopes to build momentum on tour of Indigenous communities

Singh hopes to build momentum on tour of Indigenous communities

When the evacuation of Neskantaga First Nation due to tainted water made international headlines last fall, then-chief Chris Moonias encouraged the prime minister and other federal politicians to visit the remote northwestern Ontario community to see for themselves how people live under Canada's longest on-reserve boil water advisory. On Monday, NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh became the first federal leader to take up Moonias's invitation during a tour of Indigenous communities.

Singh and Angus visit Neskantaga First Nation: “26 years without clean water is shameful”

Singh and Angus visit Neskantaga First Nation: “26 years without clean water is shameful”

On Monday, NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh and NDP MP Charlie Angus (Timmins—James Bay) visited Neskantaga First Nation to talk with the community about their longstanding water crisis. In 2015, Justin Trudeau promised an end to boiled water advisories on reserve and made Neskantaga the symbol of the Liberal promise to deliver on clean water. And yet the community is now 26 years without safe water with no end in sight. Singh was in the community to hear firsthand what solutions are needed.

Canada's Indigenous communities remain under boil-water advisories amid Covid-19

Canada's Indigenous communities remain under boil-water advisories amid Covid-19

Dozens of indigenous communities across Canada have still no access to drinking water more than a year into the coronavirus outbreak as the country’s liberal government has officially failed to deliver on its own five-year deadline to lift all drinking water advisories in First Nations reserves. Canada’s Auditor General Karen Hogan presented a report in February documenting the total failure of successive Canadian governments -- including Justin Trudeau’s -- to provide for Indigenous communities’ most basic needs, insisting that “Access to safe drinking water is a basic human necessity,” according to the US-based World Socialist Web Site (WSWS).

Mamakwa encouraged by clean water funding

Mamakwa encouraged by clean water funding

Residents across the Kenora and Kiiwetinoong ridings will have access to clean water for potentially the first time in their homes, after $33 million was pledged for water treatment plant upgrades and repairs across northwestern Ontario last week. Kiiwetinoong MPP Sol Mamakwa says the announcement between the federal and provincial governments, which includes funding from the communities themselves, has been a long-time coming.

How colonial systems have left some First Nations without drinking water

How colonial systems have left some First Nations without drinking water

Rebecca Zagozewski, executive director of the Saskatchewan First Nations Water Association, said she has seen contractors save on costs when building water treatment plants on reserves by using obsolete parts and failing to include maintenance manuals, ventilation or chemical rooms, and bathrooms. “Engineering companies will put in their bids obviously as low as they can go,” said Zagozewski.

Neskantaga First Nation Still Doesn’t Have Clean Water

Neskantaga First Nation Still Doesn’t Have Clean Water

This past November marked 25 years since Neskantaga First Nation, located in Northwestern Ontario, was placed on a boil water advisory. In October 2020, over 250 Neskantaga residents were evacuated and transferred to a hotel in Thunder Bay after “an oily sheen was found in the Neskantaga water reservoir;” “high levels of hydrocarbons” were discovered in the water after testing. Residents were able to return after two months, but the boil water advisory remains. Chief Chris Moonias has called upon Ontario Premier Doug Ford to support Neskantaga First Nation in securing clean drinking water and properly trained water operators – Ford has yet to respond. Ending all boil-water advisories in Canada can no longer be delayed; Ford must act in accordance with the concerns of the Neskantaga First Nation immediately.

Clean water for First Nations critical during the COVID-19 pandemic: Activists

Clean water for First Nations critical during the COVID-19 pandemic: Activists

Activists in northeastern Ontario fighting for safe, clean water in First Nations communities across Canada are getting tired of broken promises. After five years and millions in spending, the Liberal government announced in early December that it would not fulfill its commitment to end all long-term water advisories on reserves by March 2021. Although some progress has been made – 97 advisories have been lifted since November 2015 – there’s still a long way to go. There are 59 active long-term water advisories in 41 communities across the country, and activists maintain that clean water should be a priority for the federal government, especially during a global pandemic. “Water is a basic human right, and nobody should have to beg for it. This is wrong, and it’s come to the point where I think it comes down to racism,” said Autumn Peltier, a teenage water-rights activist from Wiikwemkoong Unceded Territory on Manitoulin Island.

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