Thank you for the question.
One long-term drinking water advisory is too many. I would say there are currently 28 long-term drinking water advisories in 26 communities, as you mentioned. All of those drinking water advisories have a plan in place in order to lift them. Since 2015, there have been 143 long-term drinking water advisories lifted, and another 259 short-term water advisories—which are water advisories under a year—that have been lifted.
To the question on modalities or reasons, there are largely two principal reasons that these long-term drinking water advisories are in place, and there are plans and actions to see them come to an end.
The first is infrastructure. I mentioned that by the end of next year, this department will have provided $5.6 billion, largely in infrastructure funding to support the end of these long-term drinking water advisories, but also to support the administration of water affairs in all 634 first nations across Canada. Infrastructure is increasingly expensive. These systems, in some cases, take years to develop, plan and replace. We are committed to working in partnership with first nations in order to see the best pieces of infrastructure meet the best health and water outcomes for any particular community.
The second modality—to answer your question of “Why?”—is largely about the operations and maintenance of water systems. The operations of these facilities are managed by first nations, but they are truly complex pieces of infrastructure. We have several programs to support first nations in the administration of their water affairs.
We recognize that there are currently 28 long-term drinking water advisories. We are pleased that we have seen success over the last number of years, but we are by no means at the end of this process. We continue to work in partnership with first nations in order to see that progress come to an end.