Shoal Lake 40 First Nation is welcoming clean, running water for the first time in nearly 25 years. The First Nation on the Manitoba-Ontario boundary is celebrating today the opening of its new water treatment plant, along with a new school. The federal government says a long-term boil-water advisory for the community, which was issued in 1998 and was one of the longest in Canada, has been lifted. The First Nation was cut off from the mainland more than a century ago during construction of an aqueduct that supplies Winnipeg with its drinking water.
Family goes without running water to simulate what it's like to live with unsafe tap water as many Indigenous people do
Gordie Hanna says the last week highlighted to them that we really do take the convenience of tap water for granted. The Cambridge resident tells 570 NEWS that the other takeaway was "that people shouldn't have to do this in Canada ... anywhere." He figures they went through 130 litres of water in seven days. Hanna says "We didn't realize just how much we use, and how much we enjoy the quick and easy convenience," of turning on the tap and getting warm water for things like doing dishes.