Kristen Villebrun and Wendy Bush hoped they wouldn't have to pray for Chedoke Creek, but four years after they first raised alarm about the water's condition, they were part of an Indigenous full moon ceremony to do just that. About 50 people showed up near Princess Point on the dark and frigid Monday evening for the monthly ceremony, which was particularly special as it focused on Chedoke Creek. The body of water that runs into Cootes Paradise had about 24 billion litres of sewage and storm water runoff leak into it due to a gate being left open.
The Indigenous Services Minister has tabled much-anticipated legislation to improve water quality in First Nations communities. “Created with First Nations, this legislation is the foundation of clean and safe drinking water for generations to come,” stated Minister Patty Hajdu. “It establishes the rights and supports that should have always been there for First Nations. It creates the tools First Nations need to manage their water systems and ensure the water they draw from is safe.”
“I think it is time for Indigenous leaders and communities to take a look at how much participation in resource extraction is too much and how to mitigate some of these things and push towards water conservation and other things we know will help to curb forest fires,” said Houle. A hot and dry spring has meant that there has been little precipitation to help firefighters battle the blazes.
Line 5 transports crude oil through the heart of the Great Lakes, an invaluable cultural resource for residents and visitors to the region who benefit from the connection with the water and the land. The pipeline has already leaked 29 times, spilling over 4.5 million litres of oil and putting 84 percent of North America’s surface freshwater at risk. And yet, Canada continues to prioritize the ongoing operation of the pipeline over this critical global freshwater system.
U.S. Indigenous leaders from the Pacific Northwest say they won’t give up trying to convince Canada’s federal government to agree to a bilateral investigation of toxic mining runoff from the B.C. Interior. Representatives from several U.S. tribes were in D.C. Tuesday and Wednesday to meet with officials from the White House, the State Department and the Department of the Interior, as well as with lawmakers on Capitol Hill.
Another round of negotiations over the Columbia River Treaty have wrapped up in Washington, D.C., as delegations with Canada and the U.S. met for the 16th time to discuss modernizing the water sharing agreement. The latest talks focused on strengthening co-operation to support aquatic life and biodiversity in the Columbia River Basin, ongoing studies regarding salmon reintroduction, flood-risk management and greater flexibility for how treaty dams are operated, according to an update from the province.
Indigenous leaders in Manitoba are calling on the federal government to do more to respect the basic human rights of Indigenous people living in Canada after the group Human Rights Watch released their 2022 report on issues affecting human rights and Indigenous people. Human Rights Watch is an international non-governmental organization headquartered in New York City that conducts research and advocacy on human rights.
Talks on a plan to protect land and water globally are underway at the COP15 meeting in Montreal, with the host nation Canada among a legion of countries pushing for a “30×30” deal to protect 30% of the world’s land and ocean by 2030. Agreements on the targets, approaches and language in the post-2020 global biodiversity framework have been especially slow, with ministers from around the world set to arrive tomorrow to approve on the text. Indigenous delegates and analysts are calling for the integration of Indigenous land rights, knowledge and financing to resolve the 30×30 conservation target, citing Canada’s guardians program as a successful way to meet area-based conservation goals.
Serendipity seemed to strike the participants in an Indigenous water ceremony in Niagara-on-the-Lake, held by the Niagara River — the ceremony kicking off a project that's all about just how important water is for us all. As participants raised their voices in song, rain starting falling on them outside the Fort George National Historic Site’s navy hall — which did not go uncommented on by the ceremony’s leader, Linda Manitowabi of Wiikwemkoong First Nation.
In the first minutes of the Nohomin Creek wildfire, poor access to water hampered efforts to fight the blaze that would go on to consume several homes on Lytton First Nations’ land, according to Indigenous leaders. With the wildfire still burning and a heat wave on the horizon, First Nations in the Fraser Canyon are calling for greater water rights and better access to water for their communities. “I can only run my garden hose for 20 minutes before I run out of water,” said Nlaka’pamux Nation Tribal Council chairman Matt Pasco, chief of the Oregon Jack Creek Band. “That’s not going to fight any fire.”
The province has unveiled a five-year, 89-point action plan to advance the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP), which became legislation in B.C. over two years ago. Hailed as historic by government and Indigenous leaders speaking at its unveiling, the plan outlines a list of "significant actions" the province is promising to undertake in consultation and cooperation with Indigenous Peoples.
In the bitter cold winter of 2017, British Columbia’s minister of energy and mines discovered that someone had staked a mining claim in his actual backyard. The request had come without notice or warning. If approved, it would allow the people behind it to pan for precious minerals in streambeds on his Cranbrook, B.C., property, less than 50 miles north of the U.S. border.
In 2015, Liberal Leader Justin Trudeau promised to lift all long-term drinking-water advisories by March 2021. He admitted in December the deadline would be missed, but lifted more than 100 long-term drinking water advisories over five years. In March, Liberals committed to ending all advisories but did not set a new deadline. Roughly 50 long-term drinking-water advisories in 31 First Nations are still in place. In their platform, Conservatives say they will end long-term drinking water advisories by targeting high-risk water systems and work with Indigenous communities to find new approaches to provide clean drinking water in the long term. The NDP promises to fully fund the services and infrastructure for clean water in order to end water advisories. The party pledges to support Indigenous-led water management training programs and water system operations, and will fund on-reserve emergency management and prevention.
Concerns about water access in Indigenous communities go well beyond persistent drinking water advisories, two Indigenous leaders say. Both Iqaluit Deputy Mayor Janet Pitsiulaaq Brewster and Samson Cree Councillor Mario Swampy said there's still more work to do in the wake of the $8 billion settlement reached recently in two class action lawsuits against the federal government over boil water advisories.
Amid mounting frustration, Whetung and other Indigenous leaders have launched national class-action lawsuits against the federal government. Arguing the federal government failed to provide clean water and forced communities to live in a manner “consistent with life in developing countries” they are suing the government for $2.1 billion damages — the costs associated with years of bottled water trucked and a water treatment system for the whole community.
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.
