Meegwetch.
I, too, want to acknowledge we are gathered here today in the traditional territory of the Algonquin Nation, so I thank them for allowing us to have this gathering in their territory today.
I also acknowledge my friends and colleagues who are with me. I also acknowledge all of you, members of the committee, and also the staff members and support people who are sitting around the room.
My name is Alvin Fiddler. I am from a small community in northern Ontario, the Nishnawbe Aski Nation called Muskrat Dam. I was elected as the grand chief in August of last year.
I want to begin by apologizing to our staff at NAN. They worked so hard to make speaking notes for me, and they also made a presentation, which I will submit to the committee later on. I just want to take this time to talk to you and to visit with you, since we don't have too many opportunities like this for us to engage in dialogue directly with parliamentarians and committees such as yours.
I want to begin by reading a letter that was written by one of our chiefs, Chief Wayne Moonias of Neskantaga First Nation. He wanted to be here to talk to you directly, but there was a death in the community. One of the elders passed away in Neskantaga. He's also preparing for Minister Bennett's visit this Saturday. It's a lengthy letter. I just want to read a portion of it.
Just so you know who Wayne Moonias is, he is the Chief of Neskantaga. Neskantaga is right in the heart of the Nishnawbe Aski Nation. It's in the Ring of Fire area. Neskantaga is probably the closest community to that Ring of Fire. Neskantaga is a small community of about 300 people.
Some of you are probably aware of the circumstances and the situation in that community. They've had numerous suicides over the last two years. They've been on a boil water advisory for 23 years straight. I believe, as Chief Moonias says, he holds that record. It's a record that none of our chiefs and none of our communities want to hold. This is what he says in his letter, when he's talking about the Ring of Fire:
The so-called Ring of Fire, a mining development of historic proportions, is located with within our traditional territory. It is a shared territory with two other First Nations, but Neskantaga First Nation is the only community up-river of the development on the same Attawapiskat watershed.
He goes on to talk about his community.
However, I need to tell you, that there are communities that live, eat, and use this territory since time-immemorial.1. But let me tell you what it means to live in Neskantaga First Nation. Neskantaga holds the record for the longest boil water advisory of any First Nation in Canada, dating back to 1995: “one of the longest human rights violations in Canadian history.”The failure of Canada to deliver safe drinking water to my community is what I call “program abuse”. The Minister of Indigenous Affairs has promised us a new water treatment plant, but we still have no firm timeline for when the government will deliver on the promise. Unfortunately, the water crisis is only one of many emergencies in Neskantaga.
Then he talks about the number of suicides they've had over the last five years. There have been 10 completed suicides in his community and numerous attempts. And there are other deaths due to violence and other circumstances. There are heavy losses.
He's also reaching out to Canada as a treaty partner and that's why I'm here as well. We are not here as a stakeholder or part of an interest group. We signed Treaty No. 9 in 1905 and 1906, and then the adhesion of that treaty was made in 1929 and 1930. NAN also represents six Treaty No. 5 communities that fall within the Ontario border.
I want to take this opportunity to speak about my role as the Grand Chief of NAN. As I said, I was elected in August of last year. I cannot count how many funerals I've gone to in our communities, whether it's suicides or house fires.
I was in Pikangikum, on Sunday, with my friend and colleague, Regional Chief Day, to pay our respects to that community as they laid to rest nine of their community members that died in a house fire two weeks ago. Three of them were children, four and five years of age, and the youngest was four months old. That's the reality for many of our communities, the social conditions, the challenges that exist. Whether it's the suicide epidemic or water situation, or overcrowding, that is the daily life of our community members right across the NAN territory.
I've talked a lot over the last two weeks about Pikangikum. While the focus is on the tragic fire, I talk about the good things as well, the good things that are happening in our communities. That's what we need to invest in. That's where Canada needs to look. If they're serious about rebuilding that relationship with us, we're open to that as well. But it has to be respectful. It has to be done in a way that benefits us as well. I think for far too long we've been left out, whatever processes were developed.
The last thing I want to say is that numerous studies have been done on our communities. Far too many. This one was from last year, last April. The Auditor General of Canada released a report on health care in the North, in NAN territory, and also in northern Manitoba. I remember coming to Ottawa to receive this report. That evening I received a call from one of our chiefs in the Keewaywin First Nation telling me that a 10-year-old boy committed suicide. This report, for the most part, has been sitting on a shelf somewhere. There's been very little action on the part of this government to implement the recommendations and the actions this report calls for.
To me, when you know of a situation, when you're aware something bad is happening, and you do nothing, that is neglect. I don't know what else you would call it. That's just negligence.
I want to ask one of our colleagues, Dr. Mike Kirlew, to talk about what this means, the inaction or the neglect on the ground in our communities. I want Dr. Kirlew to take a few moments and talk about what we mean by that.
Meegwetch.