A new chance to get water protection right

It is a new year, and with that comes an opportunity to put right what has gone wrong in the past.

It’s especially true as the federal government works on its relationships with First Nations.

As it struggles to make good on former prime minister Justin Trudeau’s old promise to put an end to boil-water advisories on First Nations, the Carney Liberals find themselves caught between their own ambitions and the needs and rights of the people with whom they must co-operate. Carney, in his push for nation-building projects, has overseen the passage of legislation that makes it easier for major projects to get underway with somewhat less regard for environmental laws.

That’s a problem for residents and leaders of First Nations, who have long struggled to be heard regarding their right to preserve their own environment while Ottawa and other powers dig up the ground around them, particularly when it comes to water supplies.

A clean water bill, written with input from First Nations, faced objections from two provinces before ultimately being scuttled by the last federal election. While Indigenous Services Minister Mandy Gull-Masty and Carney have promised a new clean water bill, they are not committing to provisions from the previous bill which offered protections for source water.

There is reason for First Nations leaders to be beyond exasperated with such governmental hedging. According to the Canadian Press, “Indigenous leaders say the government’s progress on addressing their own communities’ critical priorities slowed to a crawl over the past 12 months,” and that “2025 was a lost year for efforts to repair drinking water system…”

While progress has been made — 150 advisories have been lifted since 2015 — as of Dec. 29, there were 39 active long term drinking water advisories on reserve in 37 communities across Canada, according to the federal government’s website.

While Trudeau is no longer in government, his promise is still fresh in the minds of those who heard it and needed it to bear fruit, and there is still work to be done on that front. Because of that, it seems irresponsible not to promise to ensure that, at the very least, future projects do not endanger even more water sources for First Nations communities.

The very simplest thing Ottawa can do in this new year is write its legislation with one thing in mind — that First Nations, like any other country on the planet, are sovereign entities whose concerns and needs must be taken as seriously as that of any other nation. As the federal government itself outlines, it is a “nation-to-nation, government-to-government, and Inuit-Crown relationship.”

That means if a project plan doesn’t take into account the ways it may affect a nearby (or downstream) First Nation, and cannot guarantee the preservation of that nation’s crucial needs, such as water, it does not go ahead. It cannot be a case of promising something and under-delivering, or winking and nodding at consultation and then doing whatever suits the developer or market best, anyway.

If it compromises the integrity of a neighbouring nation, then pause and go back to the drawing board. If it can’t be done, it can’t be done.

Gestures of reconciliation are not always complicated. They are especially simple when working together on things to come in the future, because the priorities can be simple: be honest, be collaborative and be respectful.

Let’s hope lawmakers in Ottawa are doing the same thing many other Canadians are doing in this first week of the new year: resolving to do better.

» Winnipeg Free Press