State of emergency remains over lack of safe water supply in Attawapiskat
Attawapiskat First Nation Press Release ...
Water NOT Safe to Drink, Attawapiskat First Nation - INAC Refuses to Support Health Canada Experts
Attawapiskat, Ontario – October 24, 2006. INAC’s senior representatives will not back Health Canada’s Expert Dr. Courteau M.D. who confirmed, late last week, that the water in Attawapiskat First Nation is safe to drink.
The expert opinion of Dr. Courteau was the basis of INAC’s refusal to provide the community of Attawapiskat with bottled water.
Despite using Dr. Courteau’s expert opinion to deny Attawapiskat First Nation’s request for bottled water, Senior INAC officials refused to sign a letter assuring the community that the water was safe for human consumption last night at a public community meeting held in Attawapiskat First Nation. INAC also remained steadfast in their refusal to provide bottled water to the community.
The Chief of Attawapiskat delivered the report of the First Nations Engineering Services Ltd. on Attawapiskat’s water portability to the Minister of Indian Affairs on September 15th. The INAC officials present at the community meeting stated they would not sign a letter confirming the safety of the water because they did not have a copy of the water reports and had not reviewed them. INAC relies on its counterpart, Health Canada, for such expert advice and opinion.
The Attawapiskat First Nation is leary of any verbal commitments made by INAC to perform the immediate repairs needed at the water treatment plant in the community. INAC has still to come through with verbal commitments made to remediate an oil spill in the community, to demolish a condemned school and to build a new one in its place. Chief Carpenter explained “With INAC’s track record, I have no reason to believe that INAC will come through with any verbal commitment made with respect to this issue. Based on previous experience with INAC, our community’s distrust should not be a surprise.”
Attawapiskat Chief Carpenter stated that he had no choice but to interpret INAC’s refusal to sign the letters presented to them by the community’s working group on water quality, as a statement that they do not concur with Health Canada’s opinion that the water is in fact safe to drink.
Mushkegowuk Council Grand Chief Stan Louttit, who was a member of Canada’s Expert Water Panel mandated to travel the country hearing concerns about water quality in First Nation communities, stated that he could not understand INAC’s reluctance to provide the community with the assurance it needs, “I hear INAC saying the water is unsafe…and I will work with Chief Carpenter and Attawapiskat to find a resolution to this issue.”
Attawapiskat Deputy Chief Miriam Wesley reminded INAC that many issues were brought to INAC’s attention upon the beginning of the Council’s term in 2004; “We brought these issues to your attention, INAC asked ‘what is it you want, Chief?’ Chief Carpenter informed you of the most pressing issues faced by our community. Now we are in our 3rd year and our term ends this summer and still nothing has been done – it’s like working with a turtle. We can’t wait anymore.”
The school has been closed due to the community state of emergency declared by the Chief and Council. Immediate repairs of the water treatment plant are required and had INAC signed the letter concurring with Health Canada’s opinion that the water was safe, the children of the community would not be at risk of losing their school year. As a result of the impasse of last night’s meeting, the Chief and Council felt they had no choice but to uphold the declaration of a State of Emergency meaning the school remains closed.
Contact information
Chief Mike Carpenter @ 705-997-2166
Deputy Chief Miriam Wesley @ 705-997-2166