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Latest news about the Safe Drinking Water Team
In a city of pinstripes and partisan power brokers, Mike Allison sticks out like a sore thumb. He’s in the wrong place — and he knows it. “I shouldn’t be here,” the denim-clad Indigenous elder suddenly says, fighting tears beneath the brim of his trademark cowboy hat. “I should be out on the land, working with my kids, teaching them values. I should be teaching them kids how to work with the environment, not fight for it.”
After living on the Tyendinaga Mohawk reserve in southeastern Ontario for nine months, he wasn’t looking to use TikTok to copy the latest dance routines. He wanted to highlight some First Nations reserves where clean drinking water remains impossible to find. So last January, from his account called @slapppps, Mcguire showed black water spewing from the pipes of his home. The video went viral, racking up 2.5 million views.
The federal government has been working since 2020 to create a Canadian agency dedicated to water management across the country. Public consultations ended on March 1, and the Indigenous engagement process will continue throughout 2021. But many questions and expectations remain about the nature of the new Canada Water Agency. Water governance encompasses all the administrative, social, political, economic and legal processes put in place to manage water. In other words, it is these societal processes that determine how governmental and non-governmental groups develop measures and make decisions in the area of water management.
Amid mounting frustration, Whetung and other Indigenous leaders have launched national class-action lawsuits against the federal government. Arguing the federal government failed to provide clean water and forced communities to live in a manner “consistent with life in developing countries” they are suing the government for $2.1 billion damages — the costs associated with years of bottled water trucked and a water treatment system for the whole community.
It’s 2021 and many people in Canada’s First Nations still do not have clean drinking water. The startling fact is laid bare in “Clean Water, Broken Promises,” an extensive report from Concordia University’s Institute of Investigative Journalism which brought together 70 students from 10 universities, professional journalists from six news outlets across Canada for two years of extensive reporting in a collaborative investigation. Two of the key members of the investigative team join “This Matters” to discuss the toll of the water crisis on generations of First Nations communities.
We finally have a chance to get it right. For the first time in history, Canada has launched a $1 billion investment dedicated to First Nations, Métis and Inuit infrastructure. The Canada Infrastructure Bank (CIB) is establishing the Indigenous Community Infrastructure Initiative (ICII), which will enable the building of new infrastructure projects in Indigenous communities and help generate investments in projects that are vital to economic growth and environmental protection. For decades, the promise of investments and dedicated funding have fallen flat. Limited to what the federal government can fund within their restrictive policies and confined by an infrastructure funding process that is flawed, sluggish and heavy regulated. Resulting in lackluster infrastructure projects that limit Indigenous autonomy and self-determination.
Canada will collect data on the impact of siting a disproportionate number of polluting industries and landfills in areas inhabited by racial minority communities, federal lawmakers voted Wednesday. The bill aims to tackle "environmental racism," where Indigenous, Black and other racial minority communities are exposed to higher levels of dirty air, contaminated water or other toxins and pollutants. One of the most famous cases is in the Indigenous Grassy Narrows First Nation community in Ontario, where residents have since the 1960s suffered health impacts from mercury contamination produced by a former pulp and paper mill.
Where would we be without water to drink, to wash and cook with, and to keep us healthy and alive? Water is essential. But as we mark another World Water Day, many First Nations communities in Canada still don’t have access to safe water. Five years ago today, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced a commitment of $1.8 billion over five years to address the water crisis so First Nations wouldn’t need to boil water to make it drinkable, rely on bottled water, or evacuate their communities because their water is unsafe to use.
On the United Nations' World Water Day Unifor is renewing its call to guarantee safe drinking water for Indigenous communities across the country. "Canadians must hold this government to account," said Unifor National President Jerry Dias. "Safe drinking water is a right." United Nations' World Water Day coincides with the Trudeau government's self-imposed deadline to eliminate water boil advisories and ensure safe drinking water in Indigenous communities. A Parliamentary Budget Officer's report last year cast doubt on whether there was enough funding to get the job done.
Canada may not be on track to achieve its self-imposed goal of ensuring access to clean water to all Indigenous communities by the end of this month, but the government says the issue sits among its top priorities. At a news conference in Ottawa on Monday, Indigenous Services Minister Marc Miller unveiled a new strategy designed to lift all remaining boil water advisories across the country.
