The SDWF provides educational tools and tips to schools in Saskatoon and beyond, showing students where drinking water comes from and what can be done to ensure safe drinking water for everyone. Some of their educational tools also reference the psychological, emotional and spiritual harms that can come from not having safe drinking water. Hancock said the work they do is in response to the Truth and Reconciliation Calls to Action 18 and 19, which ask for all forms of government to acknowledge the rights of Indigenous people when it comes to proper health care and close the gaps between First Nations and non-First Nations people in health care outcomes. This includes infant mortality, maternal health, suicide, mental health, addictions, life expectancy, birth rates, infant and child health issues, and chronic diseases.
Building trust in its tap water will be Neskantaga’s next big challenge
The chief of the First Nation in Northern Ontario that has suffered through the country’s longest continuous boil water advisory is hopeful that water coming out of the taps in the homes of Neskantaga will be safe to drink sometime in early 2021. The question now is: Even if public health and First Nation officials pronounce the water safe to drink, will anyone trust in the purity of what comes out of their taps?