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Latest news about the Safe Drinking Water Team
Manitoba's Court of Queen's Bench
Leaders from an Oji-Cree First Nation in Treaty 9 in Ontario say they want the Canadian government to take action to properly compensate all their community members enduring a long-term boil-water advisory, after learning most of them won't be eligible for a class action settlement. In December 2021, Canada's Federal Court and Manitoba's Court of Queen's Bench jointly approved an $8-billion settlement for First Nations living under drinking-water advisories lasting longer than one year.
A recent court decision mandates billions of dollars be set aside to bring clean drinking water to a number of First Nations communities and to compensate community members who have lived for years under boil-water advisories and without access to clean water. In a joint decision, the Federal Court of Canada and Manitoba’s Court of Queen’s Bench approved an $8-billion settlement agreement.
Thousands of people who have been affected by years-long drinking water advisories could see compensation, after courts approved an $8-billion class-action settlement in what one chief called a "historic moment" for First Nations in Canada. Canada's Federal Court and Manitoba's Court of Queen's Bench issued a joint decision Wednesday approving the settlement in two national class-action lawsuits launched against the federal government by First Nations living under drinking water advisories.
This time of year, with the temperature plunging below -20 C, a snowmobile and an ice chisel are required tools for anyone in Tataskweyak Cree Nation in need of fresh water. There’s the bottled stuff, trucked into town courtesy of the federal government, but the weekly shipment of 1,500 cases is only sufficient to meet basic consumption needs. For cleaning, cooking and basic hygiene water, many residents need a supplementary source. And rather than use their tainted tap water, they follow a snowmobile trail several kilometres to Assean Lake, pails in hand.
A legal challenge filed in Manitoba's Court of Queen's Bench could cost the federal government billions, if it is proven the government has violated the Charter rights of a large class of First Nations people for decades by failing to provide them with safe drinking water. A proposed class-action lawsuit was filed on Nov. 20 by Tataskweyak Cree Nation Chief Doreen Spence on her own behalf and on behalf of her northern Manitoba First Nation. The suit alleges the First Nation has spent decades without access to clean drinking water and seeks damages.
