Thousands of students have asked Trudeau to end the First Nations water crisis

On Tuesday, we delivered the latest collection of Water Drops to Prime Minister Trudeau with the help of some Ottawa elementary school students. These hand-written notes and drawings remind the Prime Minister that the promise he made eight years ago, to finally put an end to drinking water advisories on First Nations reserves, has still not been fulfilled. We displayed them on the fence surrounding Parliament Hill and then delivered them to the Prime Minister’s office across the street.

After decades of neglecting the deplorable quality of drinking water on First Nations reserves, the federal government has recently made some progress on this issue – but only thanks to constant pressure from the public. There are still 26 First Nations communities that don’t have clean tap water to drink – some of them have been waiting almost thirty years for the federal government to honour their obligations.

For World Water Day in March of this year, we also produced a resource package to help elementary teachers introduce this critical issue to their classes. We will continue to collect and deliver Water Drops as part of our campaign in support of the human right to water.

We thank all our supporters who have, for years, helped us in advocating for the right of First Nations to have the sovereignty, resources, and tools they need to ensure their communities have access to safe drinking water on reserves.