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Latest news about the Safe Drinking Water Team
"For the first time coming to the island since I was a little child, I saw corn growing," Diabo, council chief responsible for the environment portfolio at the Mohawk Council of Kahnawà:ke, said at a news conference Wednesday announcing the completion of the nearly decade-long project to restore water flow in the bay and naturalize its surroundings.
The Mohawks of the Bay of Quinte – Kenhtè:ke Kanyen’kehá:ka will soon have more reliable safe drinking water at 320 more residences thanks to 21 kilometres of new water main infrastructure. Chief Donald Maracle and the Council of the Mohawks of the Bay of Quinte (MBQ) hosted a sod-turning ceremony on Monday, Oct. 3, 2022, at the corner of Beach Road and Young Street in Shannonville, marking the beginning of the third phase of the project, which has the long-term goal of contributing to the lifting of five long-term drinking water advisories in the community.
Neskantaga First Nation and Indigenous Services Canada Earlier this summer on July 23, Neskantaga First Nation welcomed the Honourable Patty Hajdu, Minister of Indigenous Services and Minister responsible for the Federal Economic Development Agency for Northern Ontario (FedNor), to the community. The Minister's visit coincided with Neskantaga's Traditional Gathering that took place from July 18 to 21, 2022, which included various ceremonies, teachings and traditional activities at the Landsdowne House site—the former location of the community. The visit also coincided with the Neskantaga First Nation pow wow, which took place from July 22 to 24, 2022. Minister Hajdu joined community members and visitors for the Grand Entry ceremony as well as other community activities throughout the day.
All levels of government need to come together to help solve flood-related infrastructure issues on Manitoba's largest First Nation, community leaders said. "There is serious work to do," William Sutherland, Peguis First Nation's director of emergency management, said in an interview Sunday as the flood-battered community north of Winnipeg was toiling to again try and shore up structures, roads and homes as water levels rise from recent rainfall.
Respect for water was as much a part of Phillip Solomon’s fishing education as sawing through thick winter ice. The Anishinaabe fisherman can see how rising temperatures are changing Gitchigumi and the fish his community relies on. Sometime in the early 1990s, the ice was so unusually thick and smooth on Gitchigumi that Anishinaabe fisherman Phillip Solomon drove his car, a 1984 Monte Carlo, across the lake from Fort William First Nation to Pie Island with a friend. “There was seven feet of ice,” says Phillip, who everyone calls “Benny.” “There was no snow. We cut the hole, standing in the hole. I was standing in six feet of ice.” By the time he and his friend cut all the way through the ice, there was only a foot of water to fish in, and the two had to set their net somewhere else.
On Monday, NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh and NDP MP Charlie Angus (Timmins—James Bay) visited Neskantaga First Nation to talk with the community about their longstanding water crisis. In 2015, Justin Trudeau promised an end to boiled water advisories on reserve and made Neskantaga the symbol of the Liberal promise to deliver on clean water. And yet the community is now 26 years without safe water with no end in sight. Singh was in the community to hear firsthand what solutions are needed.
Today, the Honourable Marc Miller, Minister of Indigenous Services, Chief Randy Fobister and elected council of Asubpeeschoseewagong Netum Anishinabek (ANA) met in community to sign an amendment to the Mercury Care Home Framework Agreement, which builds on the Government of Canada's commitment to ensuring that ANA residents who are living with methylmercury poisoning receive the care they need while staying closer to home, community and family.
For as long as she’s been alive, Chief Emily Whetung of Curve Lake First Nation says her community has been without clean, running water. “When you live in a place where you have reliable clean drinking water, you put your child in the bathtub and they play around, and they splash, and you don’t worry about it. When you live in a community that has constant water problems, you sit beside your child the entire time and make sure their face doesn’t go in the water,” said Whetung, who added the water is not only unsafe to sip but can be unsafe to the touch. “Many families in my community and others have to watch for skin conditions.”
With ongoing boil water advisories in more than 100 communities across the country, Angus said the federal government’s “blanket approach” just isn’t working, and that each community needs to be looked at independently. “For example Attawapiskat, they’re getting their water from a stagnant water pool. I don’t care how much chemicals you pour into that stagnant water, it’s not going to be safe water. Why are we not looking at getting water from a clean source? In Northern Ontario, we have multiple clean water sources. It just means the government has to spend a little more money, put the pipes a little further.”
As of June 2012, there were 146 First Nations communities in Canada under a long-term Drinking Water Advisory. Drinking Water Advisories are created when the water in a community is deemed unacceptable based on the Canadian Drinking Water Guidelines which set basic parameters for clean, safe drinking water. A long-term drinking water advisory is one that has remained in place for at least one year. Some of these communities had been living under an advisory for over 20 years. First Nations communities are disproportionately affected by water quality problems as a result of longstanding water resource management issues and colonial practices of the province. The federal government has a goal to end all long-term drinking water advisories on public systems on reserves by March 2021. Since November 2015, 88 have been lifted, however 61 remain.
