lack of clean drinking water

Shoal Lake 40 shares optimistic vision of future during annual treaty day celebrations

Shoal Lake 40 shares optimistic vision of future during annual treaty day celebrations

Some members of Shoal Lake 40 travelled to their home community for the first time in decades — or ever — during this week's annual treaty day celebrations, and say they're hopeful for the First Nation's future after decades of forced isolation and a lack of clean drinking water.

Social factors make Indigenous people more vulnerable to COVID, says B.C. professor

Social factors make Indigenous people more vulnerable to COVID, says B.C. professor

Lack of access to clean drinking water and low-quality health care have had a direct impact of Indigenous people’s vulnerability to COVID-19, according to a B.C. expert. Kimberly Huyser, an associate professor of sociology at the University of British Columbia, has been studying Indigenous people’s health in relation to the pandemic since it began. She said it wasn’t the specific virus that interested her, but rather the way it highlighted how health care often fails Indigenous people in North America.

Curve Lake hopeful ‘absolute tragedy’ of clean water crisis for First Nations ends with $8 billion settlement

Curve Lake hopeful ‘absolute tragedy’ of clean water crisis for First Nations ends with $8 billion settlement

Despite $8 billion coming to provide clean drinking water to communities like Curve Lake First Nation, that money won't fix the physical or emotional trauma inflicted on Indigenous peoples. “There is absolutely no amount of money that can make up for being denied clean drinking water for so many years,” says lawyer Stephanie Willsey. Willsey, who is Chippewa from Rama First Nation, helped bring a class-action lawsuit against the federal government. She says the settlement will change people’s lives and set up future generations so they won't have to face the same health crisis First Nations have been dealing with for decades.