Feds set agenda for clean drinking water

Indian and Northern Affairs Canada says it's getting serious about the quality of drinking water in First Nation communities. The move comes early in the life of the new Conservative Party of Canada government.

Indian Affairs Minister Jim Prentice and Assembly of First Nations (AFN) National Chief Phil Fontaine appeared together at a press conference on March 21 to announce the new national water quality standards.

Prentice acknowledged that 170 of the more than 700 on-reserve water treatment centres across the country have problems. But he said setting standards and demanding accountability from all parties involved will be enough to fix the problems.

"The critical problem isn't money," the newly appointed minister told Windspeaker during a phone interview hours after the press conference. "The critical problem, according to the auditor general, is accountability. So that's step one. The other critical problem to the auditor general is the absence of standards, so we've dealt with that. I think you have to appreciate what we've done here. We've introduced the concept of what I call communities at risk. In the past there was no system of priorizing where communities fit into the overall framework. So if something bad happened, something bad happened. It seemed to be a surprise to people when it occurred."

Fontaine called the new initiative "an encouraging first step in our larger effort to close the gap in the quality of life between First Nations and non-Aboriginal Canadians."

The national chief saw it as a good sign that the new minister was so quick to address this serious public health issue that critics have said is a glaring example of a double standard between what is acceptable for Native and non-Native communities in Canada.

"The plan that we are presenting today is consistent with plans put forward by the AFN and First Nations. It is encouraging that the minister is willing to listen and willing to act. His efforts on dealing with this issue and ensuring that the government moves on our issues are encouraging," Fontaine said.
But the national chief added that the drinking water situation is only one aspect of a much larger problem.

"The drinking water crisis is not simply about specific issues like better treatment plants or more reporting," he said. "It is about ensuring more of our people graduate so they can get the necessary training they need to be effective water quality managers. It is about ensuring our communities have resources to keep these qualified people in their communities because they often get better offers by the public and private sector. And it is about seeing this issue as part of our broader efforts to foster healthy communities and healthy individuals."

The new minister took a shot at the former Liberal government during his interview.

"What I think you're seeing here is a new government responding in short order to the fact that there are communities living at risk, and responding to most of the recommendations of the auditor general from about a year ago which the previous government was not prepared to act on. In fact, the previous government wasn't prepared to act on either of those things," he said.

In addressing the situation, the government has looked at the overall problem and come up with a new way to track the data and monitor progress.

"We've introduced a ranking system. Initially we've focused on the communities where there's a boil water advisory. And then we overlay other factors on top of it, five specific factors of risk: the water source, the extent of operations and maintenance, the quality of the reporting, the quality of the operators that are in the place, the age of the system, those types of things. So when you overlay all those factors on top of each other and look at it scientifically, we say that there are 21 communities living with risk and we've made a priority of dealing with those," he said.

But he knows those 21 communities are just the start.

"We understand that the list is much longer than that," he said. "We know there are 170 other such communities. We are dealing with those as well. But we wanted to focus firstly on the systems where we know there are people living at risk."

In a previous interview the minister talked about clarifying roles and responsibilities within the department so that things won't fall through the bureaucratic cracks. He was asked if this was an example of that and if there would be other similar initiatives.

"It is part of an on-going plan," he replied. "I think it's part of an overall framework of accountability. One thing we tried to be very clear about today was to do what the auditor general called on us to do, which was to clarify who's responsible for what. I think there needs to be some discipline and accountability on the part of the department. If the department knows that these communities are in risky circumstances, the department needs to deal with it."

But First Nation governments also carry their share of responsibility, he added.

"This is very important. The First Nation and their elected governments are responsible for the construction, the operation and the maintenance of the water system. That is their responsibility. If First Nation citizens are not getting quality water, that has to be clear in terms of accountability," Prentice said. "The department provides funding and it has to provide sufficient funding to help put these systems in place and it has to provide standards. So that's clear that that's what the department is doing and the money has been tied to the standards so that if you're going to receive money from this department, you're going to have to live up to these national standards. And the department of Health, who is also a partner in all of this, they are responsible for testing. So we've tried to be very clear in all of this."

Many government policies are enacted without spelling out clearly the specific penalties that would result from non-compliance. The minister acknowledged there are not any such "teeth" in the new policy, but he said there soon will be.

"Initially these standards are tied to funding and are expected to be followed. They will have to be followed. That's the contractual requirement. We will be appointing a panel of three experts who will, in the time between now and the fall, consider the whole issue of how to make these standards legally enforceable and what the consequences are," he said. "The other aspect of this that I think is important is we intend to report to Parliament and intend to be very clear in reporting to Parliament on the status of progress."

The AFN will appoint one member of that three-member panel of experts. The government will appoint the other member and the panel's chairman. Prentice believes there will not be a problem with non-compliance on the First Nation side.

"The First Nation leaders I have met have been pretty clear with me that what they need is the tools and resources to be able to get the job done," he said. "They expect to live up to these standards. I haven't met anyone today who disagrees with the need for standards or disagrees with the substance of these standards. People are prepared to follow them and to be accountable for following them. But they need the tools and resources."