SOLUTIONS FOR FIRST NATIONS WATER PROBLEMS MOVING AT SNAIL’S PACE
NDP MP Carol Hughes, Algoma-Manitoulin-Kapuskasing
Listen to Hughes
OTTAWA, ON –Access to drinking water shouldn’t be a privilege for Canadians according to Carol Hughes.
The MP for Algoma-Manitoulin-Kapuskasing rose in Question Period to grill the government on the snail’s pace of improvements to First Nation’s water problems.
“We don’t live in a third world country. We have plenty of water,” said Hughes. “Yet, many people living in First Nations communities don’t have access to safe drinking water.”
An ongoing post-card campaign by the Assembly of Manitoba Chiefs is aimed at prompting the government to act on the issue. The card states that access to safe drinking water is a human right that is not available to many remote First Nations.
Hughes’ question comes on the heels of salacious revelations that former PMO insider Bruce Carson used his influence to gain access to the office of the Minister of Indian and Northern Affairs to promote water treatment facilities to First Nations. Mr. Carson’s fiancé – a former Ottawa area escort – would have received twenty percent of all profits from sales. Mr. Carson broke the government’s rules for lobbying and is now under investigation.
“Illegal lobbying and influence peddling by a notorious fraudster like Bruce Carson is scandalous, but what’s worse – is the absence of water filtration systems for aboriginal people,” said Hughes. “Can the minister explain why, after all this time, so many First Nations communities are still without access to safe drinking water? “
Hughes notes that the problem is not limited to one region or even a lack of infrastructure. Some First Nations and non-First Nation communities that actually have the infrastructure are having financial difficulty operating them.
