Chief David Harper
On July 21, the Winnipeg Free Press reported, “Northern Manitoba First Nations are taking their plea for running water to Canada’s provincial premiers as they began their annual meeting (July 20-22) in Vancouver. (On July 20), Manitoba Keewatinowi Okimakinak Grand Chief David Harper called on the premiers to amend their year-old Water Charter to include making access to clean running water a basic human right of all Canadians.”
“The Water Charter was endorsed at the premier’s meeting in Winnipeg last August. The charter acknowledges access to clean water is necessary for both the health, sanitation and livability of Canadian communities but the calls for action focused on conservation and efforts to enhance water safety. Harper wants it to include bringing water to aboriginal Canadians, whose health and standard of living suffer greatly due to a lack of access to clean water.”
“Manitoba Premier Greg Selinger was not available to discuss the issue (on July 20), but Aboriginal Affairs Minister Eric Robinson said Manitoba has been championing the issue at the federal level for months. Robinson said he could not predict whether the subject would be raised by Selinger or the aboriginal leaders (at a session at the Council of the Federation meeting), noting there are a lot of competing priorities when it comes to improving the standard of living for aboriginal Canadians.”
“Harper also called for Manitoba Premier Greg Selinger to show leadership by working to bring running water to homes in Island Lake within two years. …More than 800 homes in the Island Lake area of Manitoba have no indoor plumbing and rely mainly on untreated water toted from nearby lakes and rivers. Residents who live in those homes often have less access to clean water than do refugees in United Nations-sponsored camps.”
On July 14, the Canadian Press reported, “The United Nations has recognized water and sanitation as a human right, said Maude Barlow, the council’s national chairwoman, in a presentation to the Assembly of First Nations. Barlow said that means Ottawa is obligated under international law to come up with a plan to fulfil that right, and yet dozens of First Nations communities continue to go without clean water. ‘The federal government is in violation of this new international recognition,’ said Barlow, a former senior adviser on water with the UN General Assembly. ‘They have obligations to fulfil and we must not let them off the hook.’ Barlow was speaking at a session on community development and safety during the Assembly of First Nation’s 32nd annual meeting in Moncton.”
The Winnipeg Free Press article is at http://www.vancouversun.com/business/First+Nations+call+premiers+make+water+access+human+right/5135646/story.html. The Canadian Press report is at http://www.metronews.ca/calgary/canada/article/917211–safe-water-right-for-all-first-nations-told–page0.
