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Latest news about the Safe Drinking Water Team
As summer droughts become increasingly common and more severe in B.C., farmers on the Sunshine Coast are asking to be exempt from emergency water usage restrictions. The district is currently under Stage 2 restrictions — where lawn watering is not permitted, and other types of water usage are permitted with restrictions — but provincial forecasters warn the province could face a long, unusually severe drought this year.
Federal Agriculture Minister Marie-Claude Bibeau chaired the biennial Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations Conference last week in Italy. This year's theme was water resource management. Bibeau was the first woman to ever chair the FAO conference and the first Canadian to do it since 1997.
Eabametoong First Nation remains in a state of emergency as the northwestern Ontario community marks more than a week without access to running water. The remote Ojibway First Nation of about 1,600 people is approximately 360 kilometres north of Thunder Bay, Ont. It has been in a state of emergency since a fire broke out at the Eabametoong First Nation Water Treatment Plant last Wednesday.
In the summer, an electric fence is what makes rotational grazing work, especially when trying to devise a water system, which he considers crucial year-round. “And so you’re gonna have to make an investment in some water pipes, getting the water line in pasture, and then come up with some water points where you can move those animals around your farm. “You don’t want an animal to walk much more than 1,000 feet to get water.”
Today, Chief Lynn Indian of Big Grassy First Nation; Chief Jeff Copenace of Ojibways of Onigaming First Nation; the Honourable Marc Miller, Minister of Crown–Indigenous Relations; and the Honourable Greg Rickford, Ontario's Minister of Indigenous Affairs, announced that the Big Grassy and Ojibways of Onigaming First Nations, the Government of Canada, and the Government of Ontario have concluded tripartite negotiations and reached a settlement agreement for the First Nations' flooding claims.
There are still 28 boil water advisories left on First Nations in Canada. That's according to Indigenous Services Minister Patty Hajdu. She says the challenge now is making sure there are qualified people to operate the water treatment systems. "A lot of it comes down to water operators," Hajdu said on Wednesday after her visit to Northwest Angle #33.
Construction of the project began in May of 2021. The project included twinning a portion of the EK Raw Water line, building a Rural 44 Water Pipeline Utility (R44WPU) reservoir and pumphouse, upgrading the Town of Eston water treatment plant, and installing more than 300 km of water distribution line. All this work was completed by March 2023.
Today, Northwest Angle No. 33's Angle Inlet community site held celebrations following the completion of a new water treatment plant for Angle Inlet. Chief Darlene Comegan and the Honourable Patty Hajdu, Minister of Indigenous Services, announced today that with the water treatment plant complete, the community lifted three long-term drinking water advisories. The new centralized water treatment plant will provide reliable access to safe and clean drinking water for 100 residents. The water treatment plant meets the community's current needs and has the capacity to support future population growth over the next 20 years.
Peltier’s work as an Indigenous rights and clean water activist was highlighted at this year’s Collision tech conference, which took place from June 26 to 29. As a speaker at the conference, Peltier discussed what the next generation of climate activists might look like. The 18-year-old has spent more than half her life speaking about the value of clean water to organizations such as the United Nations and the World Economic Forum. Although various long-term drinking water advisories have been lifted in recent years, nearly 30 warnings remain in place in 26 communities across Saskatchewan, Manitoba and Ontario, as of June 19.
A First Nation on Vancouver Island has been legally barred from accessing one of its primary traditional food sources for the past 25 years, one of 154 shellfish harvesting sites closed by federal law in B.C. due to poor water quality. Some of those sites may be safe at times, a recent audit concluded, but they cannot be reopened because the federal agency in charge of testing those waters is understaffed. As a result, it devotes the majority of its limited resources to commercial harvesting areas. Shellfish beds First Nations have relied on for as long as their people have existed haven’t been given such high priority.
