Archive for the ‘Water is a Human Right’ Category

Maude Barlow to Water Walkers + Right to Water

Wednesday, May 25th, 2011

Maude’s statement to Mother Earth Water Walkers

Council of Canadians Submission – Right to Water

On May 20th, 2011, the Mother Earth Water Walkers  stopped at Victoria Island for the day. Emma Lui, Council of Canadians, shared a statement prepared by Maude Barlow.

Chi miigwech to Francine Payer and Irving Leblanc from the AFN for coordinating the event.

Photo: Emma Lui, Council of Canadians.

Victoria Island, Ottawa, Ontario, May 20th, 2011, 10am-2pm

Photos by Joanne Lamoureaux

EG4W + Ontario Canadian Federation of Students locals + World Water Day, Canada Water Week

Wednesday, March 9th, 2011

February 28, 2011 LETTER SENT TO ALL ONTARIO CANADIAN FEDERATION OF STUDENT LOCALS

Boozhoo Ontario CFS Locals,

I was fortunate enough to speak to at the Spirit of the North conference to the Northern Ontario universities. We discussed plans for World Water Day (March 22/11) and Canada Water Week (March 14-22/11).  There was support for holding ‘Glass Action’ days on campuses.

I am attaching a poster, and will make some suggestions here if you choose to hold a ‘glass action’ day on your campus.  EG4W World Water Day 2011 POSTER PDF

It can be a one day event on World Water day, March 22/11 (register your event @ http://www.worldwaterday2011.org/)

or the inaugural Canada Water Week event from March 14-22/11 (http://canadawaterweek.com/events)… or any day of your choosing!

Here are a list of suggestions, and links that you may find useful in planning your ‘glass action’:

-        stream “Glass Action’ film http://www.emptyglassforwater.ca/video.php

-        stream “No Running Water” by the Winnipeg Free Press http://www.winnipegfreepress.com/no-running-water/

-        show a feature length film, inviting the greater community to attend (i.e. Waterlife, Water on the Table)

-        encourage people to bring empty glasses for water… if you have it in your budgets, you could mail in glasses for your students, or ask your MP drop them off to the Prime Minister… you could also have empty glasses on hand for people… start a water glass drive now… insert the postcards into each glass, so people can just quickly fill it out, then drop it into a box for shipping. EG4W CFS letters to PM (4 per page) PDF

-        post the glasses you mail in on the EG4W website (glass counter: http://www.emptyglassforwater.ca/counter.php)

-        invite the Chief or an Elder from a neighbouring community to speak at your event,  find out what their water situation is… perhaps you will be doing a water ceremony that day, ‘Greet Pray Semaa’, please send us this information so we can place a virtual semaa/tobacco leaf on our website (ceremony tracker: http://www.emptyglassforwater.ca/nyk/?page_id=145)

-        promote the Mother Earth ‘Turtle Island’ Water Walk at your event. (www.motherearthwaterwalk.com) This year the Grandmothers and youth are walking and carrying water from all 3 oceans, and the Gulf of Mexico, and meeting in Bad River, Wisconsin where the waters will converge on JUNE 12th. I am helping coordinate this event. Water Walk 2011 Brochure PDF

-        PETITION: Manitoba Chiefs, “Water is a Human Right” http://www.manitobachiefs.com/water/index.html

-        PETITION: http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/grassynarrows/ Grassy Narrows background http://www.cupe.on.ca/doc.php?subject_id=218&lang=en

-        Health Canada Drinking Water and Wastewater Info http://www.hc-sc.gc.ca/fniah-spnia/promotion/public-publique/water-eau-eng.php

-        Learn about Bill S-S11 http://www.emptyglassforwater.ca/nyk/?cat=5 NO to opening the door to privatization! Read this submission by the Council of Canadians to the Senate Committee Bill-S11 PDF

Miigwech for your support and your efforts.

Please forward questions, comments, poster designs to joanne@emptyglassforwater.ca .

Miigwech, thank you,

Joanne Robertson

Founder, Empty Glass for Water campaign

www.emptyglassforwater.ca

Council of Canadians call a spade a spade!

Tuesday, March 1st, 2011

MEDIA RELEASE

For Immediate Release
March 1, 2011

Council of Canadians raises concerns about Senate bill on First Nations water safety

Ottawa – The Council of Canadians has raised several concerns with the Safe Drinking Water For First Nations Act (Bill S-11) in a submission to the Standing Senate Committee on Aboriginal Peoples.

With 117 communities under water advisories in December, the Council of Canadians strongly supports the creation of legislation that recognizes First Nation communities’ right to water and ensures safe drinking water for First Nation communities.

“Water is a human right, public trust and global commons,” says Council of Canadians national water campaigner Emma Lui, who prepared the submission. “We are extremely concerned that the Bill as it stands lacks funding commitments and could open the door to water privatization in First Nation communities. The Bill also currently gives the Canadian government the power to force a community to allow a private, for-profit entity to build, operate and/or manage its water services.”

The UN passed two resolutions last year recognizing the right to safe and clean drinking water and sanitation, with the second resolution making the right legally binding. The Council’s submission highlights that several clauses in Bill S-11 are inconsistent with the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous People (DRIP), which Canada endorsed last November. In developing Bill S-11, many First Nation communities were not consulted and the bill does not require consultation in developing regulations on safe drinking water for First Nation communities.

The UN DRIP requires free, prior and informed consent to any decisions affecting indigenous lands and resources. Any bill or regulations involving safe drinking water in First Nation communities should be developed alongside First Nation communities and must include their concerns.

“It’s deeply troubling that several clauses affirm that the regulations made under Bill S-11 take precedence over aboriginal and treaty rights and First Nation laws or by-laws,” says Council of Canadians chairperson Maude Barlow.

Last December, the Council released a report entitled Public Water for Sale: How Canada will Privatize our Public Water Systems warning of the potential impacts of the Canada-EU Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA) on Canada’s water systems. (see below) The report noted that, “The private sector will have the ability to enter First Nations as owners and operators of water and wastewater facilities due to a lack of infrastructure, resources and training within First Nations.” CETA and Bill S-11 combined could prevent First Nations from building, owning and operating their own water and wastewater plants.

The Council of Canadians is urging that any legislation on safe drinking water for First Nations include funding commitments, the explicit recognition that First Nation communities have a right to build, own and operate their own water systems, clear responsibilities for governments and private companies and a clause on free, prior and informed consent on any decisions affecting water systems.

The full submission is available Bill-S11. Please download and read the full submission.

For more information:

Dylan Penner, media officer, Council of Canadians, 613-795-8685, dpenner@canadians.org, Twitter: @CouncilofCDNs

December 16, 2010

Canada-EU trade talks put Canada’s water up for sale, says new report

Ottawa, ON — Canada’s already challenged public water systems are under threat from a broad free trade agreement being negotiated by Canada and the European Union (EU). A new report released today, Public Water for Sale: How Canada will Privatize Our Public Water Systems, warns that public water in Canada will be lost unless the provinces and territories take immediate steps to remove water from the scope of the proposed Canada-EU Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA).

The report from the Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE) and the Council of Canadians exposes how CETA would open up public municipal water systems across Canada to privatization. At the request of Europe’s large private for-profit water corporations, provincial and territorial governments are considering including drinking water and wastewater services in their services commitments under CETA. They have been asked by the Harper government to make the final decision before a sixth round of CETA talks in Brussels this January.

“CETA is a water privatization deal,” says Maude Barlow, national chairperson of the Council of Canadians. “Our public water is being negotiated away behind closed doors. We need to act now or we will wake up one morning and our public water systems will be gone.”

CUPE and the Council of Canadians are calling on the provinces and territories to assert their jurisdiction and protect water from the Harper government’s reckless disregard for Canada’s public water. The report notes the CETA agreement would compound existing pressure in Canadian municipalities and First Nations reserves to privatize water systems due to a lack of proper public funding and federal programs designed to encourage privatization.

“Canadians hold a great deal of trust in publicly owned, operated and delivered water and sanitation systems,” says CUPE National President Paul Moist. “Water and other essential services – such as health care, public transit, postal services and energy – are vital to our communities. This deal will allow the world’s largest multinational corporations to profit from Canada’s water.” Moist is also calling on CUPE’s municipal locals to take action against this deal which is being negotiated without full public debate.

EU negotiators are also asking that Canada’s municipalities and their water utilities be included in a chapter on public procurement. If this happens, it would be the first time Canada has allowed our drinking water to be fully covered under a trade treaty. The goal is clearly to encourage the privatization of Canada’s public municipal water systems.

“Canada’s drinking and sewage systems are important community assets. Public drinking water and sanitation services are a human right and the lifeblood of well-functioning communities,” says Barlow.

The report is available at www.canadians.org and www.cupe.ca

For more information:

Greg Taylor, CUPE National Media Relations – (613) 237-1590 ext. 393
Matthew Ramsden, Communications Officer (Campaigns) – (613) 698-5113 (cell)

Right to water and sanitation is legally binding, affirms key UN body

Wednesday, November 24th, 2010
LINK   http://www.un.org/apps/news/story.asp?NewsID=36308&Cr=water&Cr1=
A young boy getting a drink of water from an open pipe.

1 October 2010 – The main United Nations body dealing with human rights has affirmed that the right to water and sanitation is contained in existing human rights treaties, and that States have the primary responsibility to ensure the full realisation of this and all other basic human rights.

While the General Assembly declared in July that safe and clean drinking water and sanitation is a human right essential to the full enjoyment of life and all other human rights, this is the first time that the Human Rights Council has declared itself on the issue.

“This means that for the UN, the right to water and sanitation, is contained in existing human rights treaties and is therefore legally binding,” said the UN Independent Expert on human rights obligations related to access to safe drinking water and sanitation, Catarina de Albuquerque.

“This landmark decision has the potential to change the lives of the billions of human beings who still lack access to water and sanitation,” she said of the resolution adopted yesterday by the Geneva-based Council.

Almost 900 million people worldwide do not have access to clean water and more than 2.6 billion people do not have access to basic sanitation. Studies also indicate about 1.5 million children under the age of five die each year and 443 million school days are lost because of water- and sanitation-related diseases.

The Assembly’s resolution recognized the fundamental right to clean water and sanitation, but did not specify that the right entailed legally binding obligations.

The Council closed this gap by clarifying the foundation for recognition of the right and the legal standards which apply, according to a news release.

“The right to water and sanitation is a human right, equal to all other human rights, which implies that it is justiciable and enforceable,” said Ms. de Albuquerque. “Hence from today onwards we have an even greater responsibility to concentrate all our efforts in the implementation and full realization of this essential right.”

Assembly of Manitoba Chiefs – ‘Water is a Human Right’ campaign

Wednesday, November 24th, 2010

This article was posted on Nation Talk,  2010/11/22

LINK to article.

Water is considered a basic human right according to many international treaties, including the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child.

But in CANADA, running water is not available to INDIGENOUS PEOPLE living in Manitoba. The Island Lake area of four reserves has a population of 10,000 and half of its homes DO NOT HAVE RUNNING WATER.

The Indigenous people of the Island Lake region have less clean water than people living in refugee camps overseas.

This isn’t happening in the third world, it’s happening in one of the WORLD’S RICHEST COUNTRIES.

Indigenous people in Canada live in third world conditions and MOST CANADIANS are NOT even AWARE of it.

If you CARE ABOUT PEOPLE in this country, if you are ASHAMED OF OUR GOVERNMENT and the way it treats Indigenous people, then take a stand.

Why should CANADA’S INDIGENOUS people be treated like THIRD WORLD CITIZENS?

Join us in the “WATER IS A HUMAN RIGHT” campaign to make Canada adhere to the same standards the United Nations says are rights FOR ALL.

We have prepaid postcards to the Prime Minister of Canada using the image above. They are available at AMC, 2nd floor, 275 Portage Ave., Winnipeg. You can also sign the online petition on the right or join our facebook group, Assembly of Manitoba Chiefs.

For More Information:
Winnipeg Free Press: No Running Water

Is an investigative series of the lack of running water on First Nations Communities in the Island Lake region of Manitoba, for full story and details please visit: http://www.winnipegfreepress.com/no-running-water/
United nation general assembly declares access to clean water and sanitation is a human right:
28 July 2010 – Safe and clean drinking water and sanitation is a human right essential to the full enjoyment of life and all other human rights, the General Assembly declared today, voicing deep concern that almost 900 million people worldwide do not have access to clean water.

UN News Centre
http://www.un.org/apps/news/story.asp?newsid=35456&cr=sanitation&Cr1

Winnipeg Free Press – Poor sanitation, poor health
(story on Jacob Flett, child in postcard campaign photo)
http://www.winnipegfreepress.com/no-running-water/without/Poor-sanitation-poor-health-106368494.html

United Nations News Centre
1 October 2010 – The main United Nations body dealing with human rights has affirmed that the right to water and sanitation is contained in existing human rights treaties, and that States have the primary responsibility to ensure the full realization of this and all other basic human rights.
While the General Assembly declared in July that safe and clean drinking water and sanitation is a human right essential to the full enjoyment of life and all other human rights, this is the first time that the Human Rights Council has declared itself on the issue….
Right to water and sanitation is legally binding, affirms key UN body

World Health Organization
http://www.who.int/water_sanitation_health/rightowater/en/

Assembly of First Nations
http://www.afn.ca/article.asp?id=2844

Council for Canadians: Acting for Social Justice
http://www.canadians.org/water/index.html

Right to Water
http://www.righttowater.ca/

Assembly of Manitoba Chiefs
http://www.manitobachiefs.com/water/index.html

Please go to the Assembly of Manitoba Chiefs and sign the ‘Water is a Human Right’ petition.

Water_Is_A_Human_Right_POSTCARD

This postcard is produced by the Assembly of Manitoba Chiefs.

Please download and print your own postcard and mail.

Note from Empty Glass for Water… please mail an empty glass for water to the Prime Minister of Canada asking him to get safe water to our communities in Manitoba! Miigwech.

LATEST NEWS: Manitoba Chiefs push for road in north, Route touted as key to get First Nations some running water

Thursday, November 18th, 2010

By Helen Fallding, Winnipeg Free Press, Nov 16/10

LINK:

http://www.winnipegfreepress.com/breakingnews/chiefs-push-for-road-in-north-108364574.html

Speeding up construction of a $1.4-billion all-weather road from Norway House to Island Lake is the best way to ensure thousands of First Nations residents get running water, their chiefs said Monday.

The chiefs from Wasagamack, St. Theresa Point, Garden Hill and Red Sucker Lake flew to Winnipeg for a news conference at the Island Lake Tribal Council office, where they joined Manitoba Grand Chief Ron Evans in calling on the federal government to help pay for the road. All plumbing and construction supplies now have to be brought in via an ice road that was open for less than four weeks this year.

Enlarge Image (WINNIPEG FREE PRESS)

“We need to expedite the road that goes into that region,” Evans said, referring to the east-west route announced last week by the East Side Road Authority. A previous proposal for a road all the way up the east side of Lake Winnipeg was rejected because it would have been 168 kilometres longer.

“The province tells us that it would take 30 years… to build a road into that region if there’s no federal support,” the grand chief said.

He estimates that with federal help, the road could be built in less than 10 years. So far, the provincial government has committed $93 million — with more expected in today’s throne speech — and the federal government has committed nothing.

Ten more years is a long time for families to wait when they’re getting sick from overflowing outhouses and hauling water buckets from outdoor taps, so St. Theresa Point Chief David McDougall has started work on an emergency plan to protect the health of his people until multimillion-dollar piping can be installed.

He estimates that 364 outhouses need to be built on concrete pads in his community alone, and 314 water containers installed that hold at least the 350 litres per family per day needed to meet United Nations minimum health standards. Trucks would need to be bought and drivers hired to suck out sewage from the outhouses and deliver clean water.

McDougall said some homes likely don’t have driveways usable by delivery trucks, so road access work would also be required.

None of that can be done within existing budgets, the chief said. He said First Nations are criticized for running deficits when they try to meet local needs with an inadequate budget, when Indian Affairs should instead be accused of running a humanitarian deficit.

That department directed questions by the Free Press to Infrastructure Canada. In an email, Infrastructure Canada said it has not received a formal request from the Manitoba government for funding for new all-weather roads for the Island Lake region. “While most Infrastructure Canada funding has already been committed under existing sources of funds, if a proposal is received, it will be examined in the context of available funding.”

NDP MP Niki Ashton, who represents northern Manitoba, said she has raised the issue of roads to northeastern Manitoba numerous times in the House of Commons. She wondered why the federal government doesn’t make a long-term commitment to an all-weather road instead of spending money every year on ice-road maintenance, flying in emergency supplies and medevacs. The road would also open up possibilities for economic development like mines and tourism. “The fact that we’re able to send somebody to the moon 50 years ago just speaks to the imbalance when it comes to First Nations and not being able to build a road.”

McDougall said it costs about $25,000 to connect each home to existing water lines from his community’s treatment plant. He got plumbing only after his home burned down, making him eligible for a newer house. Garden Hill Chief Dino Flett is lucky enough to live on the side of town that got funding a few years ago for water hookup.

McDougall said he grew up in a family that managed to keep clean without running water by assigning all 11 kids chores. He said the unhealthy grime in some Island Lake homes is partly due to the “malaise” that sets in when people feel hopeless after generations of disruption by residential schools, adoption by outsiders and failed urban relocation programs.

As a former school principal, he believes in the power of education. “I’ve been trying to encourage people to look after a certain plot of land.”

The chiefs thanked the Free Press for a recent series of articles drawing attention to the water and sewer problems in Island Lake. (LINK: http://www.winnipegfreepress.com/no-running-water)

“We are very much in Third World conditions back in Island Lake,” McDougall said. “The rest of the country never knew about it.”

helen.fallding@freepress.mb.ca

Leader threatens to take road, water issues global

If the federal government does not take rapid action on an all-season road and emergency water and sewer solutions, Island Lake leaders will be forced to call on the international community, said St. Theresa Point Chief David McDougall, who chairs the Island Lake Tribal Council.

He said he would consider calling in humanitarian organizations that serve Africa and the Middle East.

The Winnipeg-based Mennonite Central Committee is already discussing whether it can help, following a series of Free Press stories highlighting the desperate living conditions in the Island Lake region.

Executive director Peter Rempel said the charity, which usually focuses its efforts overseas, is trying to arrange a meeting with Northern Manitoba Grand Chief David Harper. MCC wants his advice and the advice of local leaders and churches on “practical immediate solutions we could offer to alleviate the situation somewhat.” Macdonald Youth Services has already donated to the Island Lake Tribal Council some plastic water containers with spigots and cash to purchase rain barrels.

The Assembly of Manitoba Chiefs will consider setting up a charitable foundation if it doesn’t get a quick response from St. Boniface MP Shelly Glover, who is parliamentary secretary for Indian Affairs, Grand Chief Ron Evans said.

The chiefs will distribute postcards showing an Island Lake child suffering from a water-related skin condition that they hope Manitobans will send to their MPs.

LINK TO VIDEO:

http://link.brightcove.com/services/player/bcpid58616497001?bctid=676418637001