Access to clean water a luxury for some First Nations reserves – rabble.ca
January 4, 2018
I recently went to a movie and one of the pre-screening ads was about donating to a global charity that helps people get access to clean water.
As I watched the ad, I wondered how many people in that packed theatre knew that it is not only communities in developing nations that struggle for access to clean water. The very same issues are true for some reserves.
“Two-thirds of all First Nation communities in Canada have been under at least one drinking water advisory at some time in the last decade,” according to a CBC News investigation, and it has not gotten much better in 2017.
“The longest-running water advisory is in the Neskantaga First Nation in Ontario, where residents have been boiling their water for 20 years,” says the CBC report. In second, third and fourth place are the Nazko First Nation, Alexis Creek First Nation and Lake Babine First Nation, all of which are in British Columbia and have struggled with water issues over the past 16 years.
