Isai, V. (2022, December 24). With Unfit Drinking Water, Indigenous Communities in Canada Bear Hardship. The New York Times. https://www.nytimes.com/2022/12/24/world/canada/canada-indigenous-populations-drinking-water.html?searchResultPosition=7

 

Indigenous communities in Canada have been suffering from a lack of safe drinking water. Defunct infrastructure and a lack of qualified operators at local water plants have led to many people getting sick from drinking from the tap. Gastrointestinal and respiratory infections, rashes, and other health issues were commonplace as many couldn’t afford the expenses of bottled water. North Spirit Lake, an isolated reserve found in Northern Ontario, has been under a boil advisory for over two decades. This community alongside 250 other nations have been affected since 1977. A class action lawsuit filed by three Indigenous communities led to the Canadian government pledging to spend at least 6 billion Canadian dollars on water infrastructure.

 

Learning about the experiences of the Nations in Canada is eye-opening for me. I never realized how much I take advantage of our clean water supply. Day by day, we have fresh running water just about everywhere we go. Taking this into consideration, it’s very apparent that these communities in Canada are getting marginalized by their own government. The federal government has the legal obligation to provide these services, and it’s a human rights violation to deprive anyone of those services. Ever since the natives of North America have been colonized, they have gone through centuries of constant belittlement by their colonizers from any established Country. This is still true up to this day. I’m just glad that progress has been made. Again, another good example of how environmental issues are often tied to human rights issues.