WC134 JanFeb 2024 - Magazine - Page 29
Every person living in Canada deserves
access to safe drinking water.
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in their communities, asserting that the federal government
failed to take all reasonable steps to ensure that First Nations
communities have adequate access to safe drinking water. In
December 2021, the Federal Court and the Court of Queen’s
Bench of Manitoba issued a joint decision approving an agreement to settle the class-action suit. The settlement includes
compensation for impacted communities whose members
have been subject to a drinking water advisory for at least one
year between November 20, 1995 and June 20, 2021, and
financial commitments to construct, operate and maintain
infrastructure to provide safe drinking water to communities.
In response to First Nation concerns that the 2013 law was
inadequate and potentially infringed Aboriginal and treaty
rights, and in line with the Safe Drinking Water Class Action
Settlement Agreement, the federal government repealed the
2013 legislation and is in the process of developing a legislative proposal with First Nations input to replace the repealed
legislation. Proposed legislation is expected to be introduced in
late 2023 or early 2024.
Road to resolution
In 2015, the federal government committed to eliminating all
long-term drinking water advisories on First Nation reserves
WAT E R C A N A D A . N E T
by March 31, 2021 and committed more than $4.6 billion in
2016 to improve the operation and maintenance of wastewater
systems on First Nation reserves. While 143 long-term drinking
water advisories have been lifted since 2015, the federal government was unable to meet its target. The persistence of long-term
drinking water advisories can be attributed to a range of systemic
problems, ranging from the historical displacement of Indigenous
communities to remote regions and/or areas where water resources
are stressed, aging infrastructure, lack of access to funding, smaller
water distribution systems which are often more vulnerable to contamination, and fragmented regulations and regulatory oversight
of drinking water on reserves.
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. In order to ensure the sustainability of safe drinking water systems in Indigenous communities, all
levels of government will need to take a more holistic approach
and engage with Indigenous communities to leverage Indigenous
knowledge and address the systemic imbalances relating not only
to water regulations, but also the broader social, economic, and
environmental issues impacting the delivery of safe water to communities.
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