Safe Water for First Nations
Nothing is more important than clean water.
Yet at any given time there are drinking water advisories in dozens of First Nations communities across Canada. The lack of clean, safe drinking water in First Nations is one of the greatest violations of the UN-recognized human rights to water and sanitation.
While there has been progress in recent years, there are still 31 long term drinking water advisories on 29 reserves including some that have been in place for more than 25 years. There is also a deficit in funding for the maintenance and operation of drinking water systems on reserves, which the Parliamentary Budget Officer identified as amounting to $138 million per year.
Instead, the Liberal government has been promoting public-private partnerships (P3s) as a solution. History has shown that P3s not only cost more, but they also lead to the privatization of water and a loss of community control and jobs. P3s are not the answer to the drinking water crisis in First Nations.
The Council of Canadians fights for safe, clean water for everyone. We support Indigenous peoples’ right to self-government and self-determination. Greater control by and for First Nations over water is a basic step toward reconciliation, a requirement of the UN Declaration of the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, and a necessary precondition to ending drinking water advisories in First Nations for good.
20+ years
Some of the advisories date as far back as 1995 – like Neskantaga First Nation.
July 2010
In 2010, the United Nations declared water and sanitation human rights, acknowledging they are essential to the realization of all other rights.
5,000
A single drinking water advisory can mean as many at 5,000 people lack access to safe, clean drinking water.
73%
73 per cent of First Nations’ water systems are at high or medium risk of contamination.
Lack of access to clean, safe drinking water in First Nations must be fixed for good.
Canada must uphold the human right to water which guarantees access to safe drinking water for all.
Twenty-nine Nations communities in Canada do not have access to safe drinking water. They have Drinking Water Advisories in place and cannot drink tap water unless it has been boiled first to sterilize it.
Some of these communities have been forced to boil all their drinking water for almost thirty years! Entire generations have grown up without access to safe tap water.
During the 2015 federal election, Prime Minister Trudeau promised to eliminate DWAs within five years. Some progress was made but for the last three years, there has been very little improvement. It is clear that the federal government has lost any sense of urgency for solving this problem.
Can you imagine any non-Indigenous community in Canada being forced to endure such conditions for decades? Neither can we. Join us in renewing public attention on this important issue and help us pressure the federal government to finally solve it.
TAKE ACTION
It’s time for our elected leaders to finally eliminate the remaining drinking water advisories.
While the Federal government pats itself on the back for making progress, dozens of First Nations communities are still waiting. We must keep up the pressure.
Long-term drinking water advisories with public systems on reserves
the problem
In Canada, the federal government has a special responsibility to make sure that people living on First Nations reserves have clean water to drink.
The treaties that we signed with First Nations long ago still bind us and they must be honoured.
Our First Nations treaty partners have not benefitted nearly as much as we have. We are all responsible for ensuring our governments respect and abide by the treaties.
For decades, the federal government has failed to provide enough money to build and operate the necessary water treatment equipment on many reserves.
In 2015, Prime Minister Trudeau pledged to solve this issue within five years.
But recently as that deadline loomed, the Parliamentary Budget Officer warned that there remained important shortfalls in federal funding for the maintenance of existing water treatment equipment and for the training required to operate it.
We have to do better.
Make a splash this school year: Help turn schools blue!
Our new Blue Community Schools program, with Maude Barlow, empowers educators, students, and schools to take action in protecting water as a human right. Join us in nurturing the next generation of Water Defenders in Canada.
Water Drops
So far, thousands of water drops and more than 50,000 emails have been delivered to the prime minister’s office
Young activists can use this printable Water drop to draw, write, and colour their own message.
Tips: How students and teachers can take action for clean water in First Nations
Water Drops designed by school students
Read more analysis
Sources:
- Alternative Federal Budget 2024, Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives
- Indigenous Services, Crown-Indigenous Relations table plans to cut spending, CBC News, March 14, 2024
- Backgrounder on Bill C-61, First Nations Clean Water Act, Indigenous Services Canada, December 11, 2023
- Bill C-61, 44th Parliament, 1st session November 22, 2021, to present
- Glass half empty? David Suzuki Foundation and Council of Canadians, February 2017
