CEGC 3: Access to safe water in all communities: Neskantaga First Nation & Toronto
Neskantaga First Nation
Water Crisis in Neskantaga First Nation
Canada is known to have access to incredible amounts of safe drinking water in comparison to many of its counterparts, but several Canadian communities are fighting for a glimpse of the fair, equitable access to drinking water. The Neskantaga First Nation has been advocating for clean running water for multiple generations (Stefanovich, 2020). The Neskantaga First Nation is situated approximately 450km North of Thunder Bay, ON. Since 1995, the First Nation has been placed on a boil water advisory (Indigenous Service Canada). To put this into context, there were 29 First Nation communities remaining under long-term drinking water advisory in January 2023 (Government of Canada, 2021). Using funding from the federal government, the First Nation is approaching completion of a project to upgrade and build an expansion of the existing water treatment system. Remaining work focuses on finalizing the construction of the new water treatment system project and addressing technical and operational deficiencies.
References
- Government of Canada; Indigenous and Northern Affairs Canada. (2021, March 29). Ending long-term drinking water advisories. Retrieved from https://www.sac-isc.gc.ca/eng/1506514143353/1533317130660#dataset-filter.
- Stefanovich, O. (2020, December 17). After evacuating twice over tainted water, Neskantaga residents plan their return home | CBC News. CBCnews. https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/neskantaga-plans-return-home-water-crisis-1.5840308.
Toronto
Water Pollution around us
The city of Toronto is the most populated city in Canada located on the shore of Lake Ontario, one of the Great Lakes located between Canada and the USA. The city possesses an outdated sewage infrastructure for the management of their wastewater. The city mainly uses combined sewers, where the same piping system handles storm water and sewage. When there is a lot of rainfall happening suddenly, the amount of rainfall will eventually overwhelm the sewers and untreated sewage will be discharged into locations such as the Don River and Lake Ontario. The Don River stretches almost 38 kilometers and discharges in Lake Ontario. It is one of the most urbanized watershed in Canada with 1.4 million residents. It is extremely vulnerable to climate change events such as heavy rainfalls. The preponderance of paved surfaces limits the soil and vegetation available to absorb the additional water caused by the rainfalls. These circumstances increase the risk of flooding and overflow of the combined sewer systems into the Don river affecting its quality.
References
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TEMPLATE CEGC 3 Cities and Communities Cards_2023 02 28 – EN
