five years

Clean water for First Nations critical during the COVID-19 pandemic: Activists

Clean water for First Nations critical during the COVID-19 pandemic: Activists

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.

Members of Neskantaga come home today to boil water advisory

Members of Neskantaga come home today to boil water advisory

Another factor in the chief's decision is the fact that the plant still isn't running at capacity. It's designed to produce 3.8 litres of water per second for each of its two treatment lines, but the most it can produce now is less than three litres, according to project progress reports obtained by CBC News. "The amount would still meet the [community's] need," said Lalita Bharadwaj, a professor at the School of Public Health at the University of Saskatchewan who studies access to safe drinking water in First Nations. "But it raises concerns about the sustainability of the system, and operations and management of the system." Bharadwaj said there should be four operators working at the plant — two who are certified and two others from the local community who can receive training, which she said could take years.

Nova Scotia Premier rejects pulp mill’s request to keep dumping waste water near First Nation

Nova Scotia Premier rejects pulp mill’s request to keep dumping waste water near First Nation

Nova Scotia Premier Stephen McNeil has sided against a pulp mill’s plea for a lifeline in a move that has bitterly split his province, earning praise from environmental, fisheries and Indigenous groups, but angering many in the province’s forestry sector. The Northern Pulp mill in Pictou had been asking for an extension on a provincially imposed deadline to stop dumping contaminated wastewater in Boat Harbour, next to the Pictou Landing First Nation, in what many have called one of the province’s worst examples of pollution linked to racism.