Last In Line For Clean Drinking Water Canadaâ s Attempt To Utilize "Comparability" To Address Drinking Water On First Nations Reserves

Above all, it is time to listen to First Nations communities, leaders and organizations to hear what they have to say about drinking water quality on reserves. The Government of Canada, through Indigenous and Northern Affairs Canada utilizes a comparability policy that determines First Nations community drinking water requirements based upon non-First Nations towns and villages that are nearby. Given the centuries of colonization, degradation from residential school, as well as the current crises involving not just drinking water-related gastro-intestinal and skin diseases but loss of life due to youth suicide in northern communities, a new approach towards drinking water quality and community wellness must be implemented. High on the list would be enacting regulations to protect drinking water quality on reserves. Incorporating First Nations' perspectives is the crucial part of the puzzle that is missing. Through a review of legislative and policy documents, First Nations submissions and position papers and information elicited from key interviews with topic experts, this paper hopes to pull apart the flawed concept of comparability and instead invite the Government of Canada to join with their partners, First Nations, and develop the kinds of drinking water strategies that will bring meaningful change to reserves and restore the human rights of First Nations living in this land base now called Canada