Shoal Lake 40 First Nation, Ends 24 Year Boiled Water Advisory Ends

Shoal Lake 40 is one of 109 First Nation communities to have their boiled water advisory lifted under the Liberal government.

Water is a fundamental human right essential to the survival of humanity, whereas Canada’s Indigenous people for decades have been denied that basic right to clean drinking water. Science states that a human being can last 3 weeks without food but can only last 3-4 days without water. Dehydration sets in and they go into shock becoming vegetative. In other words, water is the most important thing and yet billions of people around the world don’t have access to clean drinking water.

Up until 2015, a vast amount of Canada’s Indigenous communities were still under boiled water advisory. The advisory signals the water is unsafe for human consumption.  

“Good morning. In 2015, there were 105 Long Term Drinking Water Advisories (LTDWA) in effect in First Nations with no plan to lift them. Today, 116 LTDWAs have been lifted in partnership with First Nations with plans in place to lift all remaining!” Said Marc Miller, Minister of Indigenous Services of Canada

To date, under the Trudeau administration, the federal governmnet has invested over $4 billion in 535 water infrastructure projects, including 99 new water plants and 436 plant upgrades. The Canadian government has also reached a landmark settlement in the amount of $8 billion dollars for not providided clean drinking water on Indigenous reserves.

As of yesterday, 32 Frist Nations communities across Canada are working on resolving 51 long-term drinking water advisories. Although there is still work to be done, it is reassuring to know, 109 Indigenous communities can enjoy a fundamental human right of having clean drinking water.

Images source https://twitter.com/MarcMillerVM

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