What if Ottawa spends $2B on water for First Nations and it still isn’t safe for everyone to drink? – Thestar.com
Aug. 3, 2018
KITIGAN ZIBI, QUE.—A green dot.
That’s the symbol the federal government uses for this First Nation in the Gatineau River Valley. An online map that tracks one of the Liberal administration’s signature pledges — to rid First Nations of warnings that their tap water is dirty and unsafe — marks Kitigan Zibi with a green dot, like a traffic signal, indicating Mission Accomplished.
Go ahead. Drink the water.
Except half the community still can’t.
“My kids never drank from the tap,” said Celine Brozeau-Ottawa, the local health and safety technician who tests the water for the First Nation located about a two-hour drive north of Canada’s capital, directly beside the Quebec town of Maniwaki. Even with a new, multimillion-dollar water system, hundreds of people in Kitigan Zibi remain under a do-not-consume order that has persisted since 1999.
