OTTAWA — The national chief of the Assembly of First Nations is calling on all members of Parliament to send a First Nations water bill to the Senate before the holiday break, saying the water crisis demands urgent action.
“This legislation reflects years of advocacy by First Nations and marks a milestone in a decades-long fight for adequate water and wastewater in First Nations across Canada,” Cindy Woodhouse Nepinak wrote in an open letter to MPs.
“We cannot afford further delays to this legislation or missed opportunities while First Nations continue to live without access to safe and clean water. Bill C-61 must advance now, not next year. We urge all members of Parliament, across all party lines, to act.”
The government legislation known as Bill C-61 recognizes that First Nations have an inherent right to clean drinking water and commits the government to provide adequate and sustainable funding for water services in First Nations.
The House of Commons has been gridlocked since late September because of an ongoing privilege debate that centres on a request for the Liberals to hand over to Parliament and the RCMP unredacted documents about misspending at a now-defunct green tech fund.
That has taken precedence over nearly all other government business, and the water bill is awaiting a final vote in the House of Commons.
Last week, Liberal MP Jaime Battiste, who is Mi’kmaq from Eskasoni First Nation, asked for unanimous consent from MPs to adopt the bill and send it to Senate. But several Conservative MPs said no. The Conservatives then introduced a unanimous consent motion of their own that also asked MPs to condemn the Liberals for their inaction on the file. That, too, was voted down.
Chiefs who gathered with Battiste and Indigenous Services Minister Patty Hajdu last week expressed their disappointment with the bill not moving forward, and accused Conservative House leader Andrew Scheer of using the bill as a political tactic.
“I’m very disappointed that he used clean drinking water as a tactic in this House in order to say, ‘If you do this, then we will do this,’ where there’s real lives that are being affected,” Cowessess First Nation Chief Erica Beaudin told reporters at a news conference.
“We’re not talking about toys, we’re not talking about items that are not essential, but water is essential and you either believe in clean drinking water for everybody or you don’t. And if you do, you do everything you possibly can to work toward that happening.”