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Latest news about the Safe Drinking Water Team
“siwɬkʷ (WATER) IS SACRED AND IS LIFE FOR ALL PEOPLE. We know from our histories and our knowledge that water is one of the most important resources available to humans and animals.” But for Dawn Machin and Sarah Alexis, both from snƛ̓x̌ʷx̌ʷtan (Six-Mile Creek area in the North Arm of Okanagan Lake), there’s a disconnect between what water represents to humanity and how it’s perceived.
It was the Coldstream Ranch manager, Crawley Ricardo who, in 1905, hired engineer A.E. Ashcroft to look at creating an irrigation system from Jones Creek (now called Duteau Creek) with dams on Aberdeen and Haddo lakes in the hills south of Coldstream. The massive project started with the creation of the White Valley Irrigation and Power Company in 1906 to initially supply the Coldstream Ranch and Estates with water.
On a clear crisp morning in northern Manitoba, John Henderson III and Drayden Jobb launch a single-engine boat from the Conawapa boat launch in Gilliam into the waters of the Nelson River, to pull the net they set overnight to catch sturgeon. The two young men, both in their 20s, are from the Fox Lake Cree Nation, whose people have been hunting alongside the river and fishing it for generations. "The mighty Nelson," Jobb says as the boat makes its way from shore.
About 100 Grassy Narrows First Nation residents have arrived in Thunder Bay, Ont., after the community was partially evacuated due to flooding. They arrived in Thunder Bay, which is about 400 kilometres southeast from Grassy Narrows, on Monday. Grassy Narrows Chief Randy Fobister said the evacuees from his community are all vulnerable people, including those with health issues and elders.
Dene National Chief Norman Yakeleya said that the issue of water safety, especially flowing from the oil sands, has been a concern for as long as he has been Chief. In a tele-press conference Yakeleya told media that he is “befuddled as to why an essential service, such as monitoring the quality of the water coming from the oil sands production fields, was suspended.” He said that water is essential for drinking, for fish, for the animals, and “for the sake of all people in the Northwest Territories.”
The Columbia River Treaty, an international agreement governing the flow of water between British Columbia and six U.S. states, will be 55 years old this year. It has not aged well. The river springs from the Columbia Icefield in the Rocky Mountains of B.C. and winds 1,930 kilometres through the Northwestern United States – Washington, Oregon, Idaho, Montana, Nevada and Wyoming. No other river in North America spills more water into the Pacific Ocean.
