Better access to water is helping create new possibilities for people in some of the world’s most remote communities. Goal 6 of the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) aims to ensure the availability and sustainable management of water and sanitation for all. Unfortunately, by 2030, billions of people will lack access to these basic services unless progress is quadrupled.
The United Nations has long been addressing the global crisis caused by insufficient water supply to meet basic human needs, as well as the growing demands on the world’s water resources for human, commercial, and agricultural needs.
Water is at the core of sustainable development and is critical for socio-economic development, energy and food production, healthy ecosystems, and human survival. It is also central to adaptation to climate change, serving as a crucial link between society and the environment.
At the human level, water cannot be seen in isolation from sanitation, as both are vital for improving health, reducing the global burden of disease, and enhancing education and economic productivity.
In July 2010, a milestone was reached when the human right to water and sanitation was recognized by the United Nations General Assembly.
The Water Action Agenda at the UN 2023 Water Conference was adopted, representing voluntary commitments by nations and stakeholders to achieve the SDGs and their water-related targets.
On World Water Day, March 22, 2018, the International Decade for Action, ‘Water for Sustainable Development,’ began and will end on World Water Day, March 22, 2028. The Decade is about accelerating efforts to meet water-related challenges, including limited access to safe water and sanitation, increasing pressure on water resources and ecosystems, and the exacerbated risk of droughts and floods.
Many Canadians assume that communities under boil-water advisories are in remote northern regions. However, Six Nations of the Grand River, just a few kilometers from major cities like Hamilton and Toronto, has over 2,000 households living without clean water, a basic need and human right. Residents live with the fear and worry of bathing their children in contaminated water, taking a bath, or drinking tap water.
In an article written by Stella Acquisto and Meredith Bond, posted on the City News website on August 30, 2022, Chief Mark Hill was quoted saying, “We’re doing our best to progress our community as best as we can. But there come challenges,” and “One of those challenges is the access to clean drinking water, potable water.”
In a new series, CityNews will talk to Six Nations community leaders, residents, and water keeper Autumn Peltier about efforts to provide every resident with clean water and why this issue is proving so hard to solve nationwide.
According to the federal government’s map, there are 31 long-term drinking advisories in effect in 27 communities across Canada.
To progress the work on water mains and the water treatment plant, these communities rely on grants and subsidies from the federal government. Although the government talks about reconciliation, Six Nations of the Grand River, the largest reserve, faces significant poverty, and some homes have no running water.
The Six Nations of the Grand River has a water service strategy, including water mains to homes from the treatment plant, estimated to cost $80 million. However, since 2018, no further funding has been available for the reserve, even though the federal government funded the expansion of the treatment plant to two federally funded schools and 400 homes.
Although funding from Indigenous Services Canada has been provided to upgrade and install water treatment plants in certain reserves, the federal government has issued water advisories for the following reserves:
Atlantic Canada
- A First Nation in Newfoundland, home to 836 people on reserve.
Saskatchewan
- English River First Nation, in northern Saskatchewan, home to over 700 people on reserve.
- Little Pine First Nation, Saskatchewan, home to 975 people on reserve. The community upgraded its water treatment plant with funding from Indigenous Services Canada.
- Okanese First Nation, home to 190 people. The community broke ground on a new water treatment plant in April 2024.
- Peepeekisis Cree Nation No.81, home to 700 people on reserve.
Manitoba
- Mathias Colomb Cree Nation, home to 2,223 people.
- Shamattawa First Nation, a remote community in northern Manitoba, home to 1,425 people, only accessible by air or winter road.
- Tataskweyak Cree Nation, a remote community of 2,353 people on the shore of Split Lake, northeast of Thompson, Manitoba.
- Tootinawaziibeeng Treaty Reserve, home to approximately 712 people.
Ontario
- Anishnaabeg of Naongashiing, home to 204 people on reserve.
- Bearskin Lake, home to 489 people living on reserve.
- Chippewas of Georgina Island, home to 210 people on reserve.
- Chippewas of Nawash First Nation, home to 751 people on reserve.
- Chippewas of the Thames First Nation, home to 1,017 people on reserve.
- Deer Lake, home to 1,124 people on reserve.
- Eabametoong First Nation, home to 1,623 people.
- Fort Severn, home to 553 people on reserve.
- Gull Bay (Kiashke Zaaging Anishinaabek), home to 393 people on reserve.
- Lac La Croix First Nation, home to 315 people on reserve.
- Marten Falls, home to 388 people on reserve in northeastern Ontario.
- Muskrat Dam Lake, home to 261 people living on reserve.
- Neskantaga First Nation, home to 374 people on reserve.
- Nibinamik First Nation, home to 78 people on reserve.
- North Caribou Lake, home to 948 people on reserve.
- North Spirit Lake, home to 430 people.
- Oneida Nation of the Thames, home to 2,230 people on reserve.
- Sandy Lake First Nation, home to 2,687 people living on reserve.
- Slate Falls Nation, located in northwestern Ontario, home to over 250 people on reserve.
- Wawakapewin First Nation, a remote community in northern Ontario that can be reached by float plane or winter road, home to 37 people living on the reserve.
The aim of SDG 6 is to ensure access to safe water sources and sanitation for all. SDG 6 goes beyond drinking water, sanitation, and hygiene. Canada’s ambition under SDG 6 is to ensure that everyone in Canada has access to drinking water and uses it sustainably. The national target is to resolve long-term drinking water advisories on public systems on First Nation reserves. SDG 6 addresses the quality and sustainability of water resources, which are critical for the survival of people and the planet. The 2030 Agenda recognizes the centrality of water resources to sustainable development. Improved drinking water, sanitation, and hygiene are vital for driving progress in other areas, including health, education, and poverty reduction.
