preventative maintenance

BARRIE-INNISFIL: Q-and-A with NDP candidate Aleesha Gostkowski

BARRIE-INNISFIL: Q-and-A with NDP candidate Aleesha Gostkowski

3. We are a rich country in many ways, but many Indigenous reserves still don't have clean drinking water. The tragedy of residential schools has ripped open the hurt and trauma many of our Indigenous families have felt for generations. Many of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission recommendations remain unheeded. How would you address these issues and help heal these wounds? As Jagmeet Singh previously stated, we wouldn't be asking this if it were Toronto or Vancouver that didn't have clean drinking water. The plan is to provide clean drinking water to reserves, there should be no hesitation. It is not enough to just simply provide water treatment plants either, we need to think long term. For example, my cousin lives near Tsiigehtchic, which has a water treatment plant, but every eight months the plant needs maintenance which nobody in the community knows how to do. We should be investing in training operators, preventative maintenance, and upkeep. I understand that there isn’t a blanket solution for clean drinking water on reserves but if we prioritize this issue we can get it done. All people who live in Canada deserve access to clean drinking water.

First Nations workers in Sask. sacrifice wages, vacation to run underfunded water systems

First Nations workers in Sask. sacrifice wages, vacation to run underfunded water systems

Rebecca Zagozewski is the executive director of the Saskatchewan First Nations Water Association, a non-profit organization that works to build First Nations’ capacity to take care and control of their own water services. She says recruitment and retention of water treatment plant operators is a “real problem” on Saskatchewan First Nations, largely because they often can’t pay operators competitive wages.