boil water advisory

A remote northern Ontario First Nation now has a water treatment plant, but is still unable to lift its boil water advisory of almost three decades.

Indigenous Services Canada won't set a deadline for lifting all remaining long-term drinking-water advisories in First Nations communities, but it will create a website to provide estimated completion dates for each one that remains.

Communities say more needs to be done to help protect water infrastructure from floods, drought and other climate hazards.

An investigation by a consortium of journalists including Global News, APTN News and the Institute for Investigative Journalism exposed complaints about the construction firm originally hired to upgrade the water treatment plant meant to end Neskantaga First Nation’s historic long-term boil water advisory.

In the struggle to provide clean drinking water to residents, many First Nations leaders say they face obstacles of funding, bureaucracy, lack of control and systemic racism.

Over several months, journalists from a consortium reviewed thousands of pages of court documents and internal records, while conducting dozens of interviews with First Nations leaders, members of communities, water operators, and former and current government officials across the country. A common complaint? "Shoddy work."

Provincial and federal governments say they are ready to help with flooding in northern Alberta as the number of evacuations in Fort McMurray continued to increase on Monday, April 27, 2020.

Indigenous Affairs Minister Carolyn Bennett announced $9.2 million to replace the water treatment system on the White Bear First Nation, southeast of Regina.