The Ermineskin Cree Nation in Alberta has revived a lawsuit it launched 10 years ago in an effort to get the federal government to recognize its human right to clean, safe water. They say, Ottawa’s proposed legislation on First Nations drinking water fails to recognize that people on reserves have the same right to trust what comes out of their tap as every Canadian. “People can’t even bathe in it,” Chief Joel Mykat said in an interview.
“We have tried to work with Canada over the past decade but things have only gotten worse. Bill C-61 fails to recognize that we have [the] right to safe drinking water.”
The request is supported by the UN Special Rapporteur on the Human Right to Water and Sanitation, Pedro Arrojo Agudo, who held a country visit to Canada this April. This week, he will present the country report on Canada to the United Nations in Geneva.
- Ermineskin Cree Nation Update: Safe drinking water litigation
- CBC report
- CBC report on the country visit of Pedro Arrojo-Agudo, United Nations special rapporteur on the right to drinking water and sanitation, in April.
- Information on the presentation of the Canada country report by Pedro Arrojo-Agudo, United Nations special rapporteur on the right to drinking water and sanitation, this week in Geneva.
