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Latest news about the Safe Drinking Water Team
A reserve in central Manitoba has access to clean drinking water after what the community says was almost two decades of trucking it in. On Oct. 29 this year, Nibi Envirotech finished installing a water filtration system, giving residents of Tootinaowaziibeeng Treaty Reserve — also known as Valley River First Nation — access to potable water.
Indigenous communities in Canada's oil sands region on Monday called for Alberta's energy regulator to be disbanded and replaced following a months-long toxic tailings seepage from Imperial Oil's Kearl oil sands mine. Community representatives were testifying to a parliamentary committee in Ottawa about the impact of the leak and ongoing concerns about oil sands tailings management.
Canada has lifted 137 long-term drinking water advisories on reserves since November 2015. That’s equal to 82 percent of long-term advisories in the last seven years, the government claims. Still, the Liberals fell short of their promise to lift all drinking water advisories by March 2021. There are currently 31 long-term advisories still in place in 27 communities. And a document tabled this week in the House of Commons shows the work doesn’t end once an advisory is lifted. According to the document, tabled in answer to a question from Conservative MP GARY VIDAL, four First Nations have seen long-term drinking water advisories recur on five water systems that previously had advisories lifted.
The Government of Saskatchewan is putting $1.9 million towards remote monitoring technology for rural water treatment facilities. The 10 projects will go through the Saskatchewan Advantage Innovation Fund (SAIF) and the Agtech Growth Fund (AGF), run under the auspices of the Innovation Saskatchewan government agency. One of the projects will be led by Saskatoon-based Delco Water, which is working with rural municipalities and First Nations, including the Meadow Lake Tribal Council, to develop and pilot remote sensing technologies.
In the far northwest of Manitoba, the Seal River flows 260 kilometres through the thick boreal forest into Hudson Bay. It's the only major river in northern Manitoba without any dams. No roads lead to the river, and there's only one human settlement in the river's watershed. That community, the Sayisi Dene, is leading an initiative along with neighbouring Dene, Cree and Inuit communities to protect the 50,000 square kilometres of the watershed. That's an area of untouched wilderness roughly the size of Nova Scotia, which would be protected from industrial development if the community's proposal is accepted.
Despite tireless advocacy, the federal government is still denying Indigenous communities much of the funding they have requested for discovering the remains at former residential schools and healing programs. Across the country, there are still 32 long-term boil water advisories in effect in 28 communities, and at least 45 short-term drinking waters advisories in Indigenous communities. More troubling, as Indigenous women and girls face an ongoing genocide, the government has failed to build new shelters to help Indigenous women and gender-diverse people and children flee violence.
Residents in Rouleau and Wilcox and surrounding rural municipalities can enjoy clean, quality drinking water now that construction of a new water treatment plant is finished. More than a dozen people — including both mayors, municipal officials, provincial dignitaries, and project contractors — gathered in Rouleau on Sept. 28 for a grand opening ceremony to celebrate the $10.6 million regional water system project.
Today, Saskatchewan communities and eligible organizations may start submitting funding applications for proposed water, wastewater and other projects under the last intake in the province for the Investing in Canada Infrastructure Program (ICIP). “We encourage applicants to provide their project submissions as early as they are able to so communities can put shovels in the ground as soon as possible," Government Relations Minister Don McMorris said. “Our provincial government will continue to invest in infrastructure to create jobs, position communities for growth and continue to build a stronger Saskatchewan.”
Amos 5:24 states “But let justice roll down like waters, and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream.” Beyond being used as a metaphor, water itself is a justice issue. Two billion people in the world lack access to safe drinking water at home. At the 11th Assembly of the World Council of Churches (WCC), the Rev. Elias Wolff, from Brazil, talks about the situation in his own country. “Brazil has 12% of the world’s fresh water, and 53% of the fresh water of Latin America. But 35 million people in Brazil have no access to fresh water, and 100 million lack access to sanitation infrastructure.”
Filmmaker Kevin Settee's four-part documentary series is an ode to one of the world's largest freshwater lakes and the people and communities who care for it. The series profiles the resilience and ingenuity of four Indigenous communities: Matheson Island, Poplar River First Nation, Fisher River Cree Nation and Camp Morningstar. Using an "own voices" approach, Settee connects with people who are responding to various external challenges such as climate change, the COVID-19 pandemic and industrial encroachment.
