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Leaders of an Indigenous community near London, Ont., are calling for the federal government to work with them to help solve chronic water supply problems after a state of emergency was issued Tuesday due to low water levels. Residents of Oneida Nation of the Thames are under an order to conserve water and limit its use with the community's water tower at an all-time low. The tower is the primary source of water for the 546 homes and 22 buildings in the territory.
An organization that will take over the responsibility of water supplies in First Nations communities in Mi’kma’ki from the federal government is optimistic the spring budget will bring good news for the chronically underfunded utility. The Atlantic First Nation Water Authority signed a framework agreement with Indigenous Services Canada in 2020 to transition the control and oversight of drinking water and wastewater services in 15 Mi'kmaw and Wolastoqey communities to the First Nations-led organization.
Residents of Hitac̓u, the heart of the Ucluelet First Nation, have been told not to drink, bathe in, or even clean with the water coming out of their taps. Water in the community goes on a return journey to become drinkable — it travels from Hitac̓u across the Ucluelet Inlet to the District of Ucluelet, where it is processed and then flows back to Hitac̓u as potable water. But the submerged water line it travels in is was hit and damaged by a barge on Monday.
