Water: Aboriginal peoples responsible for stewardship

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The clock is ticking for the world's water resources, and Aboriginal people must start working harder to protect them. This was the key message delivered at the Water for Life Conference held in Winnipeg Oct. 19 and 20.

Water for Life was hosted by the Southern Chiefs' Organization (SCO), which represents 36 southern Manitoba First Nations.

Though Aboriginal title to water has yet to be recognized by governments in Canada, Chris Henderson, SCO Southern Grand Chief, said that water is nevertheless emerging as an issue so critical that it demands co-operation on all sides.

"We do have to all work together to honor the traditional teachings of respect for water," Henderson said. "That's why we took it upon ourselves to organize this forum, to share concerns, issues and solutions."

The range of speakers over the two days demonstrated how water issues cross political, scientific, traditional and economic boundaries.

On the political side, for example, Professor Thora Hermann from the University of Montreal talked about the Ralco Hydroelectric project in southern Chile. This project has become a case study in hydropower, Indigenous peoples' rights (the Mapuche Peheunche) and local empowerment.

Merrell-Ann Phare of the Centre for Indigenous Environmental Resources talked about national and international law relating to Indigenous water rights. "Regardless of what the law says, rights come from the connection to traditional territories," Phare said. "That includes the inherent right to govern water according to your nation's traditional laws."

Phare went on to say that, "Regarding Indigenous water rights in Canada, there has never been a case in the Supreme Court of Canada that has confirmed or denied the existence of water rights," Phare said. Peigi Wilson of the Assembly of First Nations followed with a look at transboundary water issues. She noted, for example, how First Nations peoples are continuing to mount strong challenges to proposed bulk water exports from the Great Lakes.

Using science as the starting point for his discussion of water, Al Kristofferson of the Lake Winnipeg Research Consortium described how this non-profit multi-disciplinary organization came together to address the increasing pollution of Manitoba's 'great lake.'

Kathy Bird of Matootoo Lake Medicine Lodge in Manitoba shared her personal experiences in reconnecting with ceremonies, such as those celebrated when waters open in the spring. She also noted that water is in itself a medicine that serves as the foundation for preparing other traditional medicines.

Activism on water issues was addressed by a couple of speakers, Anil Naidoo with the Council of Canadians, and David Danyluk with Save Our Seine.

Naidoo, who heads the Council of Canadians' Blue Planet Project, zeroed in on how water has been appropriated by several huge transnational corporations to generate profit for their shareholders. Blue Planet is presently working toward getting the United Nations to ratify an International Treaty on the Right to Water, aimed at formalizing the right of every person on earth to clean and affordable water.

Save Our Seine is a feisty grassroots organization that has made tremendous gains in cleaning up and preserving large stretches of the Seine River and its riparian zones in Winnipeg.

Renowned scientist and environmental activist David Suzuki headlined the banquet dinner on Oct. 19. His impassioned speech did not disappoint those in the packed room.

"The human brain invented the idea of a future. We're the only animals to realize we could shape the future by what we do today," Suzuki said.

"Why is it we're turning our backs? Why are we no longer using our brains to look ahead and avert damage?" he asked.

Point by point, he built a case on how humans and their institutions, such as media, have given us only fractured pieces and incomplete understandings of the massive environmental crisis we face.

e referenced, for example, the 1992 World Scientists' Warning to Humanity, a document drafted by Nobel Prize winners and other leading researchers. With phrases like "collision course", "irreversible damage" and "unable to sustain life in the manner that we know," this document should have been the wake-up call to end all wake-up calls, Suzuki said.

But what was the response of the media.

"CBC didn't report it. The Globe and Mail didn't report it. None of the major TV networks reported it. The New York Times and Washington Post decided it was not newsworthy. What do the media think is important? O.J. Simpson. Bill Clinton. Yet when half of Nobel Prize winners say we have to act now, it's not newsworthy."

He came down particularly hard on the economics of our consumer society, calling economics "a set of values posing as science."

"The ecological footprint of Canadians is bigger than the land can support," he continued. "It's suicidal to talk about the need for growth."

Overall, the Water for Life conference encouraged Aboriginal people to take stock of their traditional role of stewards of the environment, and to wholeheartedly recommit to that role.

"We need to act now while we have the chance. Some countries would live and die and fight for water," said Manitoba Metis Federation President David Chartrand.