Sludge Watch ==> The High Cost of Lousy Water - crisis in indigenous 'Canadian' communities

[Maureen Reilly]

http://dominionpaper.ca/original_peoples/2006/11/22/the_high_c.html

November 22, 2006
The High Cost of Lousy Water
Water Crisis in Indigenous 'Canadian' Communities

by Kim Petersen

Clean water is a rarity on many reserves. According to Health Canada, as of 
November 10, 86 First Nations communities were under drinking water 
advisories across Canada.

Cuts to programs and services on the Kashechewan First Nation reserve in 
northern Ontario are causing some people to accuse the federal government of 
trying to make up the costs of last year’s evacuation. In April 2005, Cree 
living in the community of about 1,900 people, 10 kilometers upstream from 
James Bay, were flown out due to sewage-contaminated drinking water. The 
community was evacuated again after flooding in April 2006.
Kashechewan had already been under a boil-water advisory for two years 
before the first evacuation. The community remains under a precautionary 
drinking water advisory, but Health Canada states that essential upgrades to 
Kashechewan’s water systems have been carried out and that certified 
personnel are closely monitoring the system. Consequently, Health Canada 
maintains that Kashechewan’s water system no longer poses a high risk to 
health.

But Kashechewan is just one of many First Nations communities with 
boil-water advisories. According to Health Canada, as of November 10, 86 
First Nations communities were under drinking water advisories across 
Canada.

While Canada might possess as much as 20 per cent of the world’s supply of 
fresh water, usable freshwater is much less. Still, Environment Canada says 
that Canada has seven per cent of the world’s renewable fresh water.

While everyone needs water to survive, water is also important in the 
culture of the Original Peoples; Original Peoples have long been connected 
with waterways. This reverence for water is exemplified by the Cree in 
northern Manitoba at Echimamish. Echimamish River, 
"the-river-that-flows-both-ways," flows east into the Hayes River and west 
into the Nelson River. This awe-inspiring reversal of flow eased travelling 
between the rivers. In gratitude, the Original Peoples paid tribute after 
each crossing.

The UN Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights holds that the 
right to water is crucial to human dignity and that other rights flow from 
this. Nonetheless, uranium contamination in Sahtu (Great Bear Lake), mercury 
poisoning in northern Canada and the flooding of territory by huge 
hydro-electric projects and other industrial projects have imperiled the 
salubrity of many bodies of water on indigenous land.

With this in mind, in early September, Deh Cho First Nation Grand Chief Herb 
Norwegian hosted a gathering of approximately 200 Original Peoples from 
Alberta, British Columbia and Denendeh (Northwest Territories) in Liidlii 
Kué (colonial designation: Fort Simpson) to discuss how to improve water 
quality and preserve the supply of fresh water.

“In Canada we have an abundance [of water] and we take it for granted, but I 
think we need to be very serious about what we have at our doorsteps. First 
Nations have been using it for thousands of years and now we want to have 
something done about the problems that are coming our direction,” said 
Norwegian.

Pat Marcel, an elder and tribal chairman from Fort Chipewyan, Alberta, 
blamed the greed of governments and industry for the present predicament of 
contaminated and depleted water.

That greed might extend to having Original Peoples pay for the poor 
condition of their water infrastructure. Wawatay Online News reports that 
Indian and Northern Affairs Canada (INAC) may freeze funding for First 
Nations in Ontario to recoup the costs incurred by the evacuation of 
Kashechewan that occurred earlier this year.

According to Nishnawbe Aski Nation Grand Chief Stan Beardy, INAC is 
“creating further bureaucratic delays in already approved capital projects 
because they have to save money.”

Charlie Angus, NDP Member of Parliament for Timmins-James Bay is critical of 
the government’s attempt to recoup funds in Kashechewan. Angus was quoted: 
“You name me one non-native community in this country that ever suffered 
from a natural disaster that had to pay for the cost of this natural 
disaster by taking funding dollars from other communities.”

INAC denies the charges.