A new human rights report released this week highlights Canada’s failures to address long-standing abuses, including the failure to provide clean drinking water to First Nations. The report published by the Human Rights Watch group outlines the lack of safe water access in indigenous communities across the country, despite the federal government’s promise in 2015 to end all drinking water advisories on First Nations reserves by 2021.
Ontario First Nations chief hails federal funding to end five long-term drinking water advisories
The Mohawks of the Bay of Quinte First Nation is expanding its water system to deliver clean drinking water to hundreds of residents who have been grappling for more than a decade with seven drinking water advisories. The Bay of Quinte is on Lake Ontario and the First Nation is not remote or isolated. It’s just off Ontario’s Highway 401, between Toronto and Montreal. Chief R. Donald Maracle said his community has suffered from a lack of safe water since 2008, due to fecal, bacterial and algae contaminations. A regional drought made many groundwater wells go completely dry in 2017.