Today, Northwest Angle No. 33's Angle Inlet community site held celebrations following the completion of a new water treatment plant for Angle Inlet. Chief Darlene Comegan and the Honourable Patty Hajdu, Minister of Indigenous Services, announced today that with the water treatment plant complete, the community lifted three long-term drinking water advisories. The new centralized water treatment plant will provide reliable access to safe and clean drinking water for 100 residents. The water treatment plant meets the community's current needs and has the capacity to support future population growth over the next 20 years.

Today, as we join the international community to mark World Water Day, we are reminded of our shared responsibility to protect access to clean, safe water here at home and around the world. There is no resource more essential to Canadians and the Canadian economy than clean water. Water ecosystems, when managed properly, help alleviate hunger, poverty, and illness, fight climate change, and support biodiversity. This year’s World Water Day theme, ‘Accelerating Change’, asks us to speed up our action to keep our water safe, clean, and sustainably managed.

Wednesday marks World Water Day, a day raising awareness of the more than 2 billion people around the world living without access to safe water, including many First Nations communities in Canada. The federal government says 138 long-term drinking water advisories have been lifted since November 2015, although some short-term boil water advisories have also slipped into the long-term category during that timeframe.

Oneida Nation of the Thames First Nation (ONTFN) has been under a boil water advisory since 2019. However, the first steps in the slow process of changing that are expected shortly. “There is an agreement coming, it's just at the table now,” said ONTFN Chief Todd Cornelius. “We're expecting to inform our community soon of the agreement.” Cornelius was tight lipped about the timeline, but CTV News has learned an announcement is imminent.

Manitoba Chief speaking at United Nations 2023 Water Conference - AFN Manitoba Regional Chief Cindy Woodhouse is speaking at the United Nations in New York this week about long-term drinking water advisories – a problem that persists in First Nations communities across Canada. Alex Karpa reports.

In 2021, Federal Court approved a class-action settlement between Canada and several First Nations that were subject to long-term drinking water advisories from 1995 to 2021. Now, settlement negotiators have extended the deadline for First Nations to submit a claim until March 7. If the Band Council Acceptance Resolution that a First Nation files with the settlement administrator is accepted, it will receive a $500,000 base payment and be eligible for additional payments of up to 50% of the amounts paid to eligible individuals in the community.

A prominent human-rights group says Canada is failing to address long-standing abuses, delivering a rebuke of what it calls the federal government’s inadequate climate policy and violations of the rights of Indigenous people and immigration detainees. Human Rights Watch says more than two dozen First Nations remain under long-term drinking water advisories, despite Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s promise to bring that number down to zero.

Canada has lifted 137 long-term drinking water advisories on reserves since November 2015. That’s equal to 82 percent of long-term advisories in the last seven years, the government claims. Still, the Liberals fell short of their promise to lift all drinking water advisories by March 2021. There are currently 31 long-term advisories still in place in 27 communities. And a document tabled this week in the House of Commons shows the work doesn’t end once an advisory is lifted. According to the document, tabled in answer to a question from Conservative MP GARY VIDAL, four First Nations have seen long-term drinking water advisories recur on five water systems that previously had advisories lifted.

The First Nations Drinking Water Settlement provides compensation for First Nations impacted by long-term drinking water advisories that lasted continuously for at least one year between November 20, 1995 and June 20, 2021. Compensation is available for individuals and includes additional compensation for health harms (Specified Injuries) sustained by those following drinking water advisories. Personal representatives can claim on behalf of eligible minors, those with mental incapacity (under disability) and those who passed away on or after November 20, 2017. The deadline for individuals to submit a claim is March 7, 2023.

The Mohawks of the Bay of Quinte – Kenhtè:ke Kanyen’kehá:ka will soon have more reliable safe drinking water at 320 more residences thanks to 21 kilometres of new water main infrastructure. Chief Donald Maracle and the Council of the Mohawks of the Bay of Quinte (MBQ) hosted a sod-turning ceremony on Monday, Oct. 3, 2022, at the corner of Beach Road and Young Street in Shannonville, marking the beginning of the third phase of the project, which has the long-term goal of contributing to the lifting of five long-term drinking water advisories in the community.

An innovative way to bring clean water to indigenous communities is being installed in homes at a reserve not far from Toronto. The project is an early step in a plan that advocates hope will eventually spread across Canada. “Water is a basic human right no matter how rich or poor we are, where we come from, what the colour of our skin is we all deserve clean drinking water,” said water rights advocate Autumn Peltier.