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Latest news about the Safe Drinking Water Team
The Indigenous Services Minister has tabled much-anticipated legislation to improve water quality in First Nations communities. “Created with First Nations, this legislation is the foundation of clean and safe drinking water for generations to come,” stated Minister Patty Hajdu. “It establishes the rights and supports that should have always been there for First Nations. It creates the tools First Nations need to manage their water systems and ensure the water they draw from is safe.”
Within an Anishinabek News article from 2013, the author was concerned that word games were being used to extinguish Native rights. The Department of Justice experimented with various wording for non-derogation language for use in the 2015, Safe Drinking Water for First Nations Act, which contradicts promises made to Indigenous peoples in the treaties. For example; “For greater certainty, nothing in this Act or the regulations is to be construed so as to abrogate or derogate from any existing Aboriginal or treaty rights of the Aboriginal peoples of Canada under section 35 of the Constitution Act, 1982, except to the extent necessary to ensure the safety of drinking water on First Nation lands.”
