Safe, reliable drinking water and wastewater services are human rights under international law. They are also the heart of healthy communities. But these rights are denied to many Indigenous communities in Canada.
It’s a national disgrace that any Indigenous communities have unsafe water. Some communities have lived under boil water advisories for decades. While some boil water advisories have been lifted, long-term investment in infrastructure and training is required for First Nations to have stable and self-sufficient water systems.
Instead, the federal government is denying it has any legal responsibility and wasting money fighting First Nations that are suing for their right to safe water.
CUPE stands with Indigenous peoples in proclaiming “Water is life” and recognizing water as a basic human right for all people. Our union will work towards reconciliation by honouring Indigenous peoples’ role as the stewards and protectors of the waters of their treaty lands and traditional unceded territories. CUPE supports Indigenous peoples in their fight for access to safe, clean drinking water – a fight that has been going on for far too long.
Across Canada, cities and towns are under growing pressure to privatize water services. CUPE has a proud history of defending public water and wastewater services. The vast majority of municipal water systems are publicly owned and operated, many run by CUPE members. We must fight to keep them public.
We must be on the lookout for contracting out and public-private “partnerships.” Inadequate federal and provincial funding has left municipalities facing budget crunches, and corporations are using this as a chance to sell their privatization schemes. We can stop the spread of privatization by bringing water and wastewater work back in house.
We must also prioritize clean water and fight the corporations that continue to pollute the waterways that are our life sources.
On World Water Day, we urge CUPE members to protect water as a human right and a public service.
Take action:
- Share CUPE’s Water is life resources about the ongoing struggles of Indigenous peoples, and how CUPE members can listen, learn and act.
- Check out CUPE’s tools to reverse privatization including a workshop and guideBring our work in house: How to stop contracting out.
- Learn about the Ocean Plastics Charter, which the Government of Canada developed and signed in 2018.
- During the upcoming federal election ask candidates in your riding how they will support and protect public water.
