Last year, Canadians were battered by wildfires, heat waves and floods, but a new private member’s bill aims to help communities weather the climate crisis. On Feb. 8, NDP MP Niki Ashton tabled a bill that would instruct the Canada Infrastructure Bank to prioritize projects that help the country adapt to or mitigate the effects of climate change. It would also require the bank’s board to have at least three members recommended by Indigenous organizations to represent Inuit, Métis and First Nations people.
First Nations-owned water authority pitched to fix chronic drinking water issue
Two Indigenous groups in the Atlantic region, the Mi'kmaq and Wolastoqiyik, are pitching a First Nations owned water authority to the federal government and First Nations. "We want to be able, at the end of the day, to turn on the tap and drink a glass of water," said Pictou Landing First Nation Chief Andrea Paul, one of the three current board members for the Atlantic First Nations Water Authority (AFNWA). "Some communities can't do that," she said.