When documentarian James Burns and Apache guitarist Stevie Salas set out to create a film that examined the ongoing impacts of the water crisis in Indigenous communities, the two knew they wanted the final piece to be an exploration of identity and how it's tied to Earth's most abundant natural resource. The result is an ambitious 104-minute documentary that blends unscripted real-life moments with scripted vignettes to go beyond the template of using statistics and experts to put the spotlight on an issue that transcends geographical boundaries.
Former MCFN judge named to Order of Canada
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 world is running out of water,' says water expert from Six Nations, Ont.
The world is "running out of water," Makasa Looking Horse says, and if we don't take action soon, it will be too late. Looking Horse, from Six Nations of the Grand River in Ontario, is one of the hosts of the Ohneganos Ohnegahdę:gyo – Let's Talk about Water podcast, which won a 2021 David Suzuki Foundation Future Ground Prize. The prize recognizes youth-led movements. It's a podcast created, the Suzuki Foundation says, to "engage Indigenous communities and disseminate research findings by facilitating meaningful discussion about water issues and climate change."
Six Nations moving to second phase in waste water upgrades
Six Nations is moving into phase two in its wastewater facilities upgrade. Six Nations Elected Council (SNEC) approved payment of a little over $382,000 for the project at its Finance Committee meeting on November 7. The project will replace a pressurized sewage pipe with a larger, 932-metre pipe through horizontal drilling that will connect the lift station to three lagoons. Replacing this pipe, which runs from Fourth Line to the lagoons behind the public works building will speed up sewage treatment.
‘Restoring water for our people’: Pilot project installs tap filters in Six Nations
The pressure was on for Rhonda Skye. Firstly, she was representing an innovative Indigenous-driven pilot program proposing a short-term solution to ongoing water quality issues on Canadian reservations, partnering the Dreamcatcher Foundation, Healthy First Nations and the Autumn Peltier Project. Well beyond that, the filter installation Skye was overseeing this morning was on her brother Scott General’s tap. “I’ll give her a shot,” Rhonda’s younger sibling laughed. “If she lies to me, I’m telling mom.”
Returning home to the rez was the best decision I ever made
For one thing, the majority of homes do not have drinkable running water at Six Nations. Yes, we did get a water treatment plant and yes, it's operational but hooking your house up if you're currently not on the system costs anywhere between $8,000-$10,000 depending on how far your house is from the water main. At the old farm house, we have a cistern that gets filled once a month as we do all the cleaning and bathing with trucked-in water. Rez connections are such that I text one of my cousins and he brings it on demand. Once a week, we fill two 22-litre water jugs for drinking water at a water supplier on Chiefswood Road (also another cousin).
Water is priceless, but not free: How much should it cost?
No Canadian pays for water – not citizens, farmers or industry. Under NAFTA first – and now the USMCA – if the government starts selling water, it becomes an exportable product, which is widely recognized as a very bad idea. What does cost money is the use of water infrastructure: things such as pipes, testing and labour. Large industrial users are charged more than residents for the privilege, but the amount collected from commercial water bottlers in Ontario has long been criticized as ridiculously low. Until 2017, the administrative fee was just $3.71 for every million litres. The provincial government now charges $503.71 for that amount.