A new report from the Polaris Institute in collaboration with the Assembly of First Nations says “too many First Nation communities are living with substandard water and fear for their health from what comes out of their taps.”The report — titled “Boiling Point” — profiles six First Nations communities, but notes there are approximately 100 in Canada where the water situation has reached a “crisis point.”
“The fact that almost 100 First Nation communities cannot drink their water is a national disgrace,” the report says. “A country that prides itself on the promotion of human rights should be ashamed that communities are being neglected while they live in Global South conditions. Clean water is such a basic need that it is unthinkable that communities are told to manage without it.”
The six communities profiled are: Lansdowne House (Neskantaga) and Pikangikum First Nation in Ontario; Kitigan Zibi Anishinabeg in Quebec; Fort Chipewyan in Alberta; Little Salmon Carmacks in Yukon; and Yellow Quill First Nation in Saskatchewan.
“Today, it is unacceptable that many of our First Nations should be subjected to conditions where there is no access to safe potable water,” Phil Fontaine, national chief of the Assembly of First Nations says in the report.
“The six profiles examined in Boiling Point compose only a snapshot of this crisis which is much deeper and more sustained than many people think,” the report says. “It our hope that Canadians will join with First Nations in demanding accountability and the right to safe drinking water.”
To view the full report, visit here.
