Study indicates widespread distrust of drinking water on First Nations reserves – IPolitics
Jul 6, 2018
A new survey shows widespread distrust of of drinking water in First Nations .
The study was commissioned for the First Nations and Inuit Health Branch of Health Canada and it interviewed 710 First Nations peoples and 721 residents from other small towns across the country (excluding B.C.) on various water and health questions to test the effectiveness of the federal government’s plan to increase water safety in small communities. Each survey is accurate up to + or -3.7 per cent 19 times out of 20.
Of the First Nations participants, only half rated their water quality as ‘good’, compared to 74 per cent of their non-Indigenous counterparts. The disparity exists on both sides of the spectrum too — with one in five First Nations interviewed rating their water quality as poor compared to one in eight non-First Nations people.
