QUEEN’S PARK – On World Water Day, NDP Indigenous Relations and Reconciliation critic Michael Mantha, called out Premier Kathleen Wynne for failing to make progress on lifting boil water advisories in First Nations communities in Ontario.
“Our province has more boil water advisories than any other province in the country,” Mantha said. “How can we tolerate this happening today, that some communities up north are living without clean drinking water? Why is this government not acting to provide clean drinking water to First Nations and to stop this crisis?”
The Neskantaga First Nation in Ontario has had a boil water advisory since 1995. Mantha said that Wynne has had her entire mandate as premier to help this community but has failed to do so. According to Health Canada, 79 Ontario First Nations were under boil water advisories in 2016.
“Why is it not a priority for this government to make sure every community in Ontario has access to clean drinking water? Let’s remember—water is life,” Mantha said.
