WC134 JanFeb 2024 - Magazine - Page 28
LEGAL
Water has a deep significance within Indigenous communities and
inadequate access to safe drinking water poses not only a health risk to these
communities but also presents a risk to their economic and social well-being.
Access Denied
Bringing safe and reliable water to
Canada’s Indigenous communities
BY SELINA LEE-ANDERSEN
N JULY 2010, the United Nations General Assembly adopted
Resolution 64/292, which recognizes that clean drinking water
and sanitation are essential to all human rights. While much of
Canada enjoys water quality that is considered among the best
in the world, many Indigenous communities do not have access
to safe drinking water in their communities. As of August 2023,
Indigenous Services Canada reported 28 drinking water advisories
on reserve lands across 26 Indigenous communities.
Health Canada, which is responsible for monitoring drinking
water quality on reserve lands, issues three types of drinking water
advisories: (i) boil water; (ii) do not consume; and (iii) do not use.
Advisories can be both short-term (less than 12 months) or longterm (12 months or more). The majority of the current 28 drinking
water advisories are in Ontario, with Saskatchewan and Manitoba
rounding out the list. Many of these advisories have been in place
for more than a year, and some Indigenous communities have lived
with water advisories for decades. For example, the Nestanga First
Nation in northern Ontario have lived under the longest boil water
advisory, which was issued in February 1995.
I
Selina Lee-Andersen
Selina Lee-Andersen is a partner
based in the Vancouver office of
Miller Thomson LLP and her practice
specializes in environmental,
regulatory and Aboriginal law.
28
Governmental challenges
Despite attention from federal and provincial governments to
this long-standing issue, inadequate access to safe drinking water
persists in Indigenous communities. A 2001 assessment by Indian
and Northern Affairs Canada found that one-third of all on-reserve
drinking water systems posed potentially high risks to water quality
and human health. While a number of safe drinking water initiatives have been implemented since 2001, it was not until 2013 that
the federal government passed a framework for a regulatory regime
for drinking water on reserves in the form of Bill S-8: Safe Drinking Water for First Nations Act. In 2019, Nestanga First Nation,
Curve Lake First Nation. and Tataskweyak Cree Nation initiated
a national class action lawsuit to address drinking water advisories
WATER C AN ADA • JANUARY/ FEBRUARY 2024
WAT E R C A N A D A . N E T
