When The White man Got The Aboriginals Off the Good Land, Did They Promise Running Water

Type of water supply to homes serviced by Indian and Northern Affairs Canada, March 2010


REGION /a) Housing units /b) Water trucked to 45-gallon barrels c) / No water service d) / No plumbing (A+B)

Atlantic a) 6743 b)0 c) 11 d) 11

Quebec a)9,889 b) 0 c) 0 d) 0

Ont. a)23,783 b)59 c)1,011 d) 1,070

Man. a)15,633 b)908 c)540 d) 1,448

Sask. a) 13,544 b)47 c)53 d)100

Alb. a)14,718 b)329 c)283 d)612

B.C. a) 18,959 b) 1 c)164 d)165

Yukon a)583 b) 0 c)4 d)4

TOTa)103,852 b)1,344 c)2,066 d)3,410
Source: Indian and Northern Affairs Canada

I think a better question is why are there far less homes.

Answer that question and you will probably have an answer to your water question

Here is a much better read on the water issues Rosie

1) ... we keep training peeps to get certification to work with water training 11 more in the last year alone... but percentage of reserves that have a certified guy has gone from 65% to 60%.. only assumption is that they are moving off reserve and using the valuable skills to make more money in other places.

2) " Certified oversight, which would result in a lower risk ranking for the community, has been offered to the First Nation. However, to date, the First Nation has not responded. Nevertheless, the department will keep encouraging the First Nation to take advantage of certified oversight services."

ie they are refusing to work towards an ends that would more quickly get them to good water

3) "Its water problems date back to Nov.18, 2005 when a drinking water advisory was put in place because of equipment malfunction. INAC evaluated the plant and found the necessary operation and maintenance work was not being done."

ie.. they are not doing what they are supposed to be doing and the equipment breaks down.


4) Progress to date: Northwest Angle No. 37 has been removed from the Priority Community category. The drinking water system is no longer high-risk since the First Nation hired an overall responsible operator to provide oversight of the water system.

again.. someone else needed to be hired to manage the system

DeanK - what do you mean by far less homes?
How did the aboriginals end up 500KM Northeast of Wpg? Are those fly in reserves?

total housing units in Quebec 9889
total housing units in Manitoba 18529

total Aboriginal people Quebec 108000ish
total Aboriginal people Manitoba 175000ish.

You'd think an enterprising native would start a water-equipment maintanence company and travel to all these reserves on contract basis. I'm sure the Fed's would throw millions at them. But I guess not. When we meet next Friday let's put the pla together and do it ourselves. First Nations Water Integrity Services will be us. We travel once a mnth to all reserves and do the testing/maintanence work. We'll charter a plane. Rosie we'll need to customize the twin-prop with couches and lounge area.

water equipment maintenance is a daily thing. The only real way to do it is have an on site person trained to work on it.

They get free training for this job and then like smart people take their training and move away to a better community for way more money.

I suspect one of the other problems is that as soon as these newly trained guys come in and they say to their bosses we need X money to ensure this runs properly, they are promptly told. No.. the money is just not there..and the guys get frustrated and move on.

Really? Something tells me that if band A does a report and says they need x amount for this newly created budget/lan to ensure their water going forward - the cheque would be in the mail. What they need is a plan and the execution. I say we discuss it. It's a critical service that remains unmet - to no lack of trying on the funding side but nonetheless - unmet as of now.

"Something tells me that if band A does a report and says they need xamount for this newly created budget/lan to ensure their water goingforward - the cheque would be in the mail"
nope

they get X dollars per citizen per year... its very rare they automatically get extra for projects that should not be needed and are only needed because of negligence.

They've been making headlines for not having drinking water. Regardless of why that is (their own neglect) - do you honestly think INAC would deny a plan to address that? I'm sure they're actively trying to solve this issue right now. Canada is getting global attention (Bono's trip?) for the conditions on reserves being equivalent to third world regions. I'm pretty sure they'd fund such an intitiative - especially with some native ownership. We'd partner with that person.

A good letter to the editor in the Free Press pointed out that, that person was brought up on a farm, never had running water, and never had dirty kids, or dirty floors, and kept their clothes clean by hauling buckets of water into the house, and in the winter melting snow for drinking water!
Maybe what is lacking on reserves is a How to keep things clean manual?



Nobody ever said life was fair. Almost impossible to keep a house clean? Please, spare me. I was born in 1930 on a farm in rural Manitoba. It was not a reserve but there was no running water.
In the late '40s and '50s, I was raising three children in a small two-bedroom house -- no running water, portable toilet (a pail), wood stove, oil heater for winter heat and carrying drinking water three blocks, yes, by pail!
We had a metal tank outside to catch rainwater and melted snow and ice to wash clothes and bathe in the winter. We had very little money but managed with a garden and hard work to make ends meet.
My family always had clean clothes and my house was spotless. Don't tell me the aboriginal population can't do the same. Just do what you have to do and stop the complaining.
JOYCE KEATING
Carman

Having no running water 75 years ago is one thing, but nowadays it's another thing.

We know it's not a question of money, as we've been giving reserves billions over the years....so what's the problem?

Perhaps, how the money is being spent?

Cancel INAC. The Chiefs are corrupt.

OK, colour me stupid, but the military has the ability to purify water for a long time. Every disaster in the world, and the military sends engineers to operate very portable plants to provide potable water. So, if that tehnology exists, then why can it not be established on reserves??

This is not a matter of the ability to do this stuff, but rather the will. Surely no one in their right mind thinks that all reserves have to have full water and sewer service to each residence, which may be scattered over a very large area. Other than throwing money at the problem, the article doesn't seem to provide any solution. Just more bitchin' and complainin'. What crap!!

" So, if that tehnology exists, then why can it not be established on reserves??"

the technology gets installed... and then it is not maintained so it falls into disuse.

"which may be scattered over a very large area."

extremely large area. Like up to 1/2 mile (or more) between houses in some areas.

What do farmers do?

Drill wells perhaps?

yup.
and when there is no water often they just drill a big ass hole and pump water into it.

but Thinking about that for a moment. Its not the individuals land. So even if one of the residents was enterprising enough to drill his own well. It would not be his and the band could just come along and take it.


On operation Repo last night the guys tried prepossessing a car off of some Reserve... did not work out so well for them.

Build the houses closer together or drill wells for each member as part of the package that is given to every member of the reserve.

Build houses closer together: yes.
Drill wells: not so easy in the granite rock. There are a few houses up there that have wells, but most of the time it is not feasible.

We should keep in mind that these stories are not representative of ALL housing on reserve or reflecting a system issue, but this is about a few 1000 residences that are the exception to the rule. The solution should obviously focus on those residences just around the corner that HAVE water and sewage, as they can serve as examples on how to do it. Or how about just putting a pipe from the neighbour with water to the neighbour without water.

Why are these people 500 KM Northest of Winnipeg on rock?
Why are aboriginals in Quebec gots running water and in Manitoba not?

"Why are aboriginals in Quebec gots running water and in Manitoba not?"

go back to the answer I already gave you

I have figured out the problem, and there are appx 170,000 problems.

How did the aboriginals end up 500 km northeast of Winnpeg?

they were born there.