Considering the extreme harm colonial governments in Canada have perpetrated against Indigenous people over the past 150 years, one would think this country could at least provide First Nations with clean drinking water.
You know, the kind non-reserve communities like Winnipeg, Brandon, or smaller ones such as Selkirk, Lac du Bonnet or Winkler take for granted.
Instead, First Nations, such as Shamattawa located in northern Manitoba, are forced to suffer with unclean water, causing people to get sick and in some cases develop rashes. The lack of clean drinking water weighs heavily on the mental health of that community and makes it extremely difficult to lead productive lives.
The Canaidna goverment still can’t ensure Indigenous people are afforded the same rights as other Canadians, including access to clean drinking water, writes columnist Tom Brodbeck. (Jonathan Hayward / The Canadian Press files)
There is no urgency by the federal government to solve the drinking water problem in Shamattawa, only finger pointing about why a faulty water treatment plant installed there still hasn’t been fixed after years of deficiency. The matter is now headed to court.
This would never happen in Winnipeg or Brandon, whose population are made up mostly of non-Indigenous people. It wouldn’t be tolerated. Solutions to faulty water treatment plants would be found quickly. Politicians would be under pressure to fix the problem immediately. An all-hands-on-deck approach would be employed.
But not on reserves like Shamattawa, where Indigenous people continue to be treated like second or third-class citizens. It’s as if they don’t matter.
In many ways, Canada has made little progress in fulfilling its obligations under the numbered treaties negotiated mostly in the late 1800s. Those nation-to-nation agreements spell out how Indigenous and non-Indigenous people are to live together in peaceful co-existence and mutual respect, while sharing the fruits of the land First Nations have lived on for thousands of years.
Instead, colonial governments and settlers have benefited from the rich resources of the land, while displacing and marginalizing Indigenous people and disrupting their way of living. Worse, colonial governments have attempted to eradicate Indigenous people through coercive assimilative policies over the past 150 years — policies governments today say they regret and for which they have apologized.
Yet, they still can’t ensure Indigenous people are afforded the same rights as other Canadians, including access to clean drinking water.
Shamattawa First Nation Chief Jordna Hill held a news conference in Winnipeg this week, pleading with Canada to stop fighting with them in court over drinking water.
The First Nation launched a lawsuit against the federal government in 2022 demanding clean drinking water be a right on reserves (like it essentially is for the rest of Canada). Fifty-eight other First Nations have joined the class-action suit.
A century and a half after treaties were negotiated, including Treaty 5 in what is now northern Manitoba, Indigenous people are still fighting for the basic rights that were promised them when Indian commissioners travelled by steamboat throughout Lake Winnipeg in the 1870s to sign treaties with First Nations.
It’s a national disgrace.
“We are here to ask for equality the way people in Winnipeg and other cities have drinking water,” Hill said. “We want the same.”– Shamattawa First Nation Chief Jordna Hill
“We are here to ask for equality the way people in Winnipeg and other cities have drinking water,” Hill said. “We want the same.”
That’s not much to ask, is it? A properly functioning water treatment plant so people can pour a glass of clean water, take a shower or draw a bath without worrying about getting lesions on their skin?
The lack of clean drinking water on reserves is just one of many examples of how First Nations are not afforded the same rights as non-Indigenous people. First Nations do not have access to the same level of health care, education and child welfare services as non-Indigenous communities. Economic development is lacking on reserves. In many cases, it is virtually non-existent.
We can’t pretend as a country that we are making progress on reconciliation until those inequities are addressed in a meaningful way. Not through lip service by colonial governments but through real, concrete action.
The generational harm caused by a century and a half of assimilative policies — including residential and day schools, the ‘60s Scoop, and the attempt to eradicate Indigenous language and culture — cannot be reversed overnight.
But things like clean drinking water and basic public services can be fixed relatively quickly if the political will existed.
It has to start with ensuring Indigenous people, including those living in remote communities like Shamattawa, have the same rights as all Canadians. That is the essence of what constitutionally protected treaties are all about.
Canada not only has a legal responsibility to make good on those treaties, ensuring First Nations have basic public services is a human right.
That part of the reconciliation path Canada is now on is severely lacking.
tom.brodbeck@freepress.mb.ca
Tom Brodbeck
Columnist
Tom Brodbeck is a columnist with the Free Press and has over 30 years experience in print media. He joined the Free Press in 2019. Born and raised in Montreal, Tom graduated from the University of Manitoba in 1993 with a Bachelor of Arts degree in economics and commerce. Read more about Tom.
Tom provides commentary and analysis on political and related issues at the municipal, provincial and federal level. His columns are built on research and coverage of local events. The Free Press’s editing team reviews Tom’s columns before they are posted online or published in print – part of the Free Press’s tradition, since 1872, of producing reliable independent journalism. Read more about Free Press’s history and mandate, and learn how our newsroom operates.
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