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Latest news about the Safe Drinking Water Team
The Ktunaxa Nation says it has been left out of conversations between the federal and provincial governments and mining companies – a feeling the nation says is validated by documents revealed through a Freedom of Information request. The request to uncover the documents was made by the Ktunaxa Nation. The nation, along with local activist group Wildsight, have long been ringing the alarm bells regarding the Elk Valley’s mining pollution.
A spokesperson for B.C.'s Ministry of Land, Water and Resource Stewardship said talks are continuing and "we hope to have more to say about this soon". Since August the province has started issuing some drilling permits for leases with existing well pads, and other work that does not require land to be disturbed. Jeremy McCrea, an analyst with Raymond James, said this was a positive sign. Conversations with management teams indicate companies plan to increase spending in late 2022, suggesting these negotiations will be resolved by then, he added.
Two communities in southern Saskatchewan officially cut the ribbon Tuesday on a new $3.3-million wastewater treatment facility that is being touted as eco-responsible and award-winning. The facility will serve businesses and about 300 people in Lebret, and another 126 people in Wa-Pii Moos-Toosis on Star Blanket Cree Nation, according to a release.
Despite seeing promising crop yields this year, there's a heightened sense of pessimism among Alberta farmers as the harvest season wraps up. Farmers said that barley and wheat crops were great, but the excessive heat and above-average temperatures over the summer created issues for other crops, like canola — and it's leaving them worried for the year ahead. "The crop utilized every ounce of moisture that was in the soil this year to produce what we got and our farming practices helped us produce what we have," said Larry Woolliams with Airdrie-based Woolliams farms. "But there is zero reserve."
Peachland residents, Syilx people and water leaders are encouraged the provincial government has acknowledged many communities in B.C. face a water crisis, made worse by a changing climate and increased land uses. Budget 2022 dedicates $30 million in much-needed funding to safeguard B.C.’s watersheds by supporting local and Indigenous governments and non-profits like Peachland Watershed Protection Alliance doing watershed work. As the climate crisis continues, we are also pleased to see the government recognize the central role those resilient watersheds play in our lives by investing in much-needed floodplain mapping and outdated flood infrastructure, which will make our communities more resilient to future storms and floods.
One of the cornerstone announcements in the last year for the Saskatchewan agriculture sectors has been the launch of the Lake Diefenbaker Irrigation Expansion Project by the provincial government. The April 6 budget was the first provincial budget since that announcement, but so far, the dollar figures are relatively small – just $18.9 million this year for the Westside Expansion Project. But Premier Scott Moe sees a big future, a little further down that water pipeline, as it were.
Residents across the Kenora and Kiiwetinoong ridings will have access to clean water for potentially the first time in their homes, after $33 million was pledged for water treatment plant upgrades and repairs across northwestern Ontario last week. Kiiwetinoong MPP Sol Mamakwa says the announcement between the federal and provincial governments, which includes funding from the communities themselves, has been a long-time coming.
The Regional District of Bulkley-Nechako passed a resolution to acknowledge the “long-standing interference” on the claims of Indigenous communities in the Nechako First Nations region. Construction and operation of the Kenney Dam has caused interference on the claim of Aboriginal rights and title of First Nations, specifically Saik’uz First Nation, Stellat’en First Nation and Nadleh Whut’en, RDBN officials noted in a March 10 news release. Officials are asking the federal government, provincial government and Rio Tinto to do “all things necessary to support the efforts of the Nechako First Nations to restore the ecosystem functioning of the Nechako River and its affected tributaries.”
Activists in northeastern Ontario fighting for safe, clean water in First Nations communities across Canada are getting tired of broken promises. After five years and millions in spending, the Liberal government announced in early December that it would not fulfill its commitment to end all long-term water advisories on reserves by March 2021. Although some progress has been made – 97 advisories have been lifted since November 2015 – there’s still a long way to go. There are 59 active long-term water advisories in 41 communities across the country, and activists maintain that clean water should be a priority for the federal government, especially during a global pandemic. “Water is a basic human right, and nobody should have to beg for it. This is wrong, and it’s come to the point where I think it comes down to racism,” said Autumn Peltier, a teenage water-rights activist from Wiikwemkoong Unceded Territory on Manitoulin Island.
Pays Plat Chief Peter Mushquash emphasized the importance of protecting Lake Superior for future generations during a Dec. 15 announcement of water treatment plant investments in his community and Biigtigong Nishnaabeg. “Water is important, it’s very important,” Chief Mushquash says. “That’s where we get our water, right out of Lake Superior. So we have to look after that Lake Superior. We have to be very careful with our water.”
