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.
A reserve in central Manitoba has access to clean drinking water after what the community says was almost two decades of trucking it in. On Oct. 29 this year, Nibi Envirotech finished installing a water filtration system, giving residents of Tootinaowaziibeeng Treaty Reserve — also known as Valley River First Nation — access to potable water.
Water is regarded as the second most important source of life, behind air, which most organic life requires constantly. The oldest water in the world is found in Canada, specifically the Kidd Creek mine in northern Ontario. In 2016, researchers discovered what is thought to be the oldest water, estimated to be at least 2 billion years old, but more likely 2.7 billion. The circumstances at the mine's bottom have been ideal for preserving the water. This ancient water was discovered at a depth of 2.5 kilometers (1.5 miles) because the Kidd Creek mine is the world's deepest basal metal mine, holding numerous metal minerals such as copper, zinc, and silver.
LaForme, senior counsel at Olthuis Kleer Townsend, a law firm solely specializing in Indigenous issues, was also instrumental in the First Nations Drinking Water class-action settlement approved last year. Appointees to the Order of Canada will receive their insignia at an investiture ceremony with details yet to be announced.
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.
Batchewana First Nation celebrated the official grand opening of its long-awaited Chi We Kwe Don water treatment plant in Goulais Bay 15A Thursday. The facility went online this past March, pumping clean, drinkable water into 49 homes in the small reserve situated 45 minutes north of Sault Ste. Marie for the first time in several years. The federal government allotted $14.6 million for feasibility, design and construction of the new water treatment plant in addition to 10 point-of-entry water systems for Obadjiwan 15E — another community belonging to Batchewana First Nation situated in the Batchawana Bay area.
The Conservation through Reconciliation Partnership has officially launched a new initiative titled the Knowledge Basket. It will provide resources to communities and officials involved with Indigenous Protected and Conserved Areas (IPCAs). These are lands and waters where Indigenous governments have the primary role in protecting and conserving ecosystems. “Indigenous governments are at the forefront of protecting the largest, healthiest and most biodiverse areas across Canada,” said Steven Nitah, a core member of the Indigenous Circle of experts who helped develop the Knowledge Basket database.
In some areas of the K'atl'odeeche First Nation reserve, pavement is caving in and buildings are leaning against power poles — but volunteers are getting as much cleaned up on Tuesday morning as they can. Tuesday afternoon, the First Nation in N.W.T. says members can return to their homes. Most of K'atl'odeeche's residents have been displaced since last Wednesday night, when floodwaters from the Hay River surged into the reserve and the town of Hay River and forced the evacuation of both areas.
Water issues continued to plague southern Alberta farmers into Tuesday as few details were available as to why or what was happening, but officials later said a resolution had been reached. Those who rely on the Lethbridge Northern Irrigation District (LNID) to water their crops and animals were worried this blockage, and standoff between the government and the Piikani Nation, could cause detrimental results.
Skilled water and wastewater operators are essential to ensuring long-term access to safe drinking water in First Nations communities. The Government of Canada is committed to supporting First Nations as they implement sustainable solutions that address the need for skilled operators in ways that best suit their communities. Today, the Honourable Patty Hajdu, Minister of Indigenous Services, launched a call for proposals for projects that address the retention, recruitment, and availability of water and wastewater operators working on reserve.
For many of us, drinking water from the tap, taking a shower or flushing a toilet are things that are taken for granted. However, residents of the Cheekye, or Cheakamus 11, reserve say they are sometimes left wondering when and if those necessities are available to them. Those who live on that reserve say that their water infrastructure cuts out, leaving them dry and without any means to perform basic functions. When it does work, they say, it supplies them with water they don't trust.
First Nations communities, with support from the Government of Canada, continue to make significant progress in ending all long-term drinking water advisories on reserve and building sustainable solutions to support access to safe, clean drinking water now and into the future. Today, Indigenous Services Canada (ISC) provided an update on the progress toward clean drinking water in all First Nations communities. As of August 3, 2021, 32 First Nations communities across Canada are working to resolve 51 long-term drinking water advisories. In total, First Nations communities have lifted 108 long-term drinking water advisories, restoring reliable access to safe drinking water for approximately 6,350 homes and 467 buildings in 79 communities since November 2015.
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.
For most people, this simple routine is so commonplace that we take it for granted. But for 38 Indigenous communities across Canada, this is not the reality. The water they need for drinking, washing and bathing must first be boiled for at least one minute until it is safe to use. “I think water should be the right of all our people, regardless of how many people are living on a certain reserve. If there is an accessible water source then they should be doing what they can to provide potable drinking water for that community,” says Warren Brown, manager of Lytton First Nation O&M Department Operation.
Tataskweyak Cree Nation (TCN) is one of more than 55 First Nation communities in Canada under a long-term boil water advisory and has been for the last four years. On Thursday, the First Nation’s Chief and NDP MP Niki Ashton called on Ottawa to restore clean drinking water. TCN has said the Canadian government has failed to deliver on the promise of clean drinking water for their community. “We can no longer ignore it anymore. We have to fight for our people," said TCN Chief Doreen Spence. "We matter like all other Canadians." Spence said they are left with no choice but to bring the issue – a basic human right – to the United Nations.
The Semiahmoo First Nation has been under one of the longest continuous boil water advisories in Canadian history, but this recommended health safety practice will finally end sometime in 2021. Earlier this month, the First Nation held a ceremony recognizing the City of Surrey’s opening of the Semiahmoo Water Tie-in Connections to the water distribution system.
Indigenous Services Minister Marc Miller has overruled a senior departmental official over the framing of an investigation into Neskantaga First Nation's 25-year-long water crisis, CBC News has learned. Anne Scotton, the department's Ontario regional director general, informed Neskantaga Chief Chris Moonias on Thursday afternoon by email that the terms of reference for the investigation would be finalized soon, and that a consultant had been chosen to manage the third-party probe. There was a line in the attached document for the chief's signature.
A B.C. First Nation is applying to argue its case at the Supreme Court of Canada for the protection of its drinking water in relation to the Trans Mountain pipeline expansion. "This application is unlike any other proceeding concerning the Trans Mountain Pipeline Expansion Project," states the Coldwater application, filed on Friday. "It is about ensuring that the sole source of drinking water within the Coldwater Indian Band's reserve is protected."
For decades, Pictou Landing First Nation has lived uneasily near an industrial plant emitting brown, foul-smelling waste and the effluent treatment facility they say causes respiratory and skin illnesses. Now, the mill is being mothballed. Ms. Francis, a member of Pictou Landing First Nation, fought for years to stop toxic wastewater from the Northern Pulp plant from being pumped into a tidal estuary next to her community. After decades of court battles, environmental studies and protests, people on the Nova Scotia reserve are hopeful they may one day be able trust their water and land again.
Nova Scotia Premier Stephen McNeil has sided against a pulp mill’s plea for a lifeline in a move that has bitterly split his province, earning praise from environmental, fisheries and Indigenous groups, but angering many in the province’s forestry sector. The Northern Pulp mill in Pictou had been asking for an extension on a provincially imposed deadline to stop dumping contaminated wastewater in Boat Harbour, next to the Pictou Landing First Nation, in what many have called one of the province’s worst examples of pollution linked to racism.
