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.
The member of parliament for Desnethé-Missinippi-Churchill River is speaking on drinking water problems on First Nations in Canada. Gary Vidal, who also serves as the Conservative Party’s shadow minister and critic for Indigenous Services Canada told MBC Radio News the federal government likes to talk about the number of drinking water advisories which have been lifted, however he explained there are often details which are left out when this is reported.
With more than two dozen First Nation communities in Canada still under drinking water advisories, two Indigenous business leaders are doing their part to change that. "We wanted to create awareness of what was going on in our communities and what's still going on," Tyson Wesley, co-owner of FN Clean Water in Ottawa, told CTV National News. Driven by his own experiences with drinking water advisories, Wesley and fellow company co-owner Natasha Commanda run FN Clean Water, with the goal of bringing clean drinking water to First Nations.
A number of drinking water advisories have been put in place throughout parts of Saskatchewan. At least six separate warnings have been issued as of Sunday afternoon, impacting the communities of Elbow, Srongfield, Loreburn, Danielson Provincial Park, Douglas Provincial Park and Pleasantdale. The province has told residents to boil water for at least one minute prior to any usage, including drinking, baking purposes, washing of fruits and vegetables and brushing teeth.
It’s Tuesday, January 5, and Canada is spending billions on clean drinking water for First Nations communities. Tens of thousands of Indigenous people in Canada have spent decades without reliable access to clean drinking water. Now, the Canadian government has plans to put it right. A court-approved settlement released late last month commits Canada to spending more than $4 billion on improvements to drinking water infrastructure at hundreds of Indigenous reserves throughout the country. Another $1.18 billion will be provided in damages to some 140,000 First Nations people who have lived under drinking water advisories for longer than a year, often under orders to boil water to avoid potential contamination from bacteria like E. coli.
Canada's new minister of Indigenous services says she's considering what the new timeline should be to lift remaining long-term drinking-water advisories on First Nations. Patty Hajdu enters the role with 43 advisories still in place in 31 different communities mostly in Ontario, but also in Manitoba and Saskatchewan. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau promised to end all drinking-water advisories by 2021 when the Liberals were swept to power in 2015.
In 2015, Liberal Leader Justin Trudeau promised to lift all long-term drinking-water advisories by March 2021. He admitted in December the deadline would be missed, but lifted more than 100 long-term drinking water advisories over five years. In March, Liberals committed to ending all advisories but did not set a new deadline. Roughly 50 long-term drinking-water advisories in 31 First Nations are still in place. In their platform, Conservatives say they will end long-term drinking water advisories by targeting high-risk water systems and work with Indigenous communities to find new approaches to provide clean drinking water in the long term. The NDP promises to fully fund the services and infrastructure for clean water in order to end water advisories. The party pledges to support Indigenous-led water management training programs and water system operations, and will fund on-reserve emergency management and prevention.
A proposed settlement agreement worth nearly $8 billion has been reached in two national class action lawsuits launched against the federal government by First Nations living under drinking water advisories. The settlement, which is awaiting court approval, would offer $1.5 billion in compensation to individuals deprived of clean drinking water and modernize Canada's First Nations drinking water legislation.
Marten Falls First Nation of northern Ontario has announced it is joining class-action litigation against the Attorney General of Canada seeking action on drinking water advisories in First Nation communities. Legal representatives handing the suit are Olthuis, Kleer, Townshend (OKT) LLP and McCarthy Tetrault LLP, stated a June 29 release. The statement said, “Marten Falls has decided to participate in this class-action lawsuit because it has been under a boil water advisory for over 20 years. The lack of potable water in the community has resulted in illness, an unnecessary loss of opportunities amongst community members, and a burdensome distribution process.”
Indigenous Services Canada has announced it won’t end long-term advisories until 2023 at the earliest. In 2015, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau committed to ending all long-term drinking water advisories by March 2021. When that deadline passed, the government recommitted to ending long-term advisories without a target date. This announcement comes as no surprise to many First Nations outraged by the lack of progress on ending drinking water advisories in their communities, and the growing divide and gap that exists between Indigenous and non-Indigenous communities.
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).
Shoal Lake 40 First Nation has been under a drinking-water advisory since 1997. The community’s new water treatment plant, due to come online in the summer, will finally provide safe water. The Trudeau government promised to eliminate all long-term advisories on reserves by March, but dozens still lack access to safe drinking water.
The Federal Auditor General is speaking out, expressing her disappointment over the unresolved issues of access to clean drinking water on First Nations reserves. “I am very concerned and honestly disheartened that this long standing issue is still not resolved,” said Auditor General Karen Hogan. “Drinking water advisory’s have remained a constant in many communities with almost half outstanding for more than 10 years.”
SHOAL LAKE, ONT. — A joint venture (JV) involving Shoal Lake 40 Contractors LP and Sigfusson Northern Ltd. has been named the winning bidder in a competition to earn the right to construct a new water and wastewater system for Shoal Lake First Nation in northwestern Ontario. Indigenous Services Canada is contributing $33 million for the project, which includes construction of a water treatment plant, reservoir, raw water intake structure and lift station as well as the installation of watermain connections and fire hydrants, stated a Sept. 6 release.
Water is something most Canadians take for granted. We have so much of it, it's no wonder. Per capita, our country has the world's third-largest freshwater reserves, but yet in many Indigenous communities, water can be difficult to access, at-risk because of unreliable treatment systems, or contaminated. That's the case in Delaware First Nation, an Indigenous community of about 500 people an hour southwest of London, Ont., a place where fishing was everything 60 years ago.
A pioneer in safe drinking water is being remembered for changing thousands of lives. Dr. Hans Peterson died of a heart attack last week at the age of 68. Peterson helped found the Safe Drinking Water Foundation (SDWF) and pioneered the development of the Integrated Biological and Reverse Osmosis Membrane (IBROM) water treatment process.
