Thank you.
My name, for those of you who don't know me, is Chris Moonias, chief of Neskantaga First Nation. If you don't know where Neskantaga is situated, it's 430 kilometres north of Thunder Bay. It's a remote, fly-in community.
Recently, I read a MacIean's article that described me as “large” and “quiet”, but it noted that I make “powerful declarations” when I do speak, so I hope my voice resonates here. Maybe it's because I was at Queen's Park last year and got kicked out of there when I shouted no to the ring of fire being proposed for my traditional territory—Neskantaga traditional territory. Hopefully that won't happen here.
Anyway, this time I have Darian Baskatawang here, our lawyer from OKT. He is representing us in our water class actions. Darian is beside me on my right.
Today marks 10,837 consecutive days that we've been under a boil water advisory—the longest in Canada. That's nearly 30 years. Come February 1, it will be 30 years, and we're likely to reach that 30-year mark. This is something that hits close to us. It impacts us deeply as Neskantaga First Nation members. Neskantaga is ground zero for a shameful story in Canada. We're hopeful about amendments related to the human right to water and about the codevelopment of a funding model that exceeds the settlement agreement commitments.
Source water protection is critical for us. The provinces don't want to play ball, threatening our water supply in the name of money and mining. That's why I shouted at Queen's Park. That's why our position is the way it is. It's to defend and protect our environment and water. We asked the province's premier to meet with us. To this day, he hasn't met with Neskantaga.
Our highest priority remains obtaining clean, safe drinking water as we approach 30 years under our boil water advisory. I urge you to remember that real lives are affected by this legislation. Failing to pass it means condemning us and communities like ours to a continued lack of essential and legal potable quality and quantity standards. That's why we launched a class action with Tataskweyak and Curve Lake. We demanded legal changes to recognize the harms caused by the government's inaction and Parliament's failure to do more than say, “may act”.
Today, people in Neskantaga suffer from severe eczema, chronic mental health issues and other health crises due to water contamination. We have people from Neskantaga who cannot go home because of the boil water advisory. We have people who are stuck in Thunder Bay because of the boil water advisory. We have people who are approved to do home dialysis, but they cannot go home because of the boil water advisory.
On January 2, I took my best friend home in a coffin because he couldn't go home. He'd been stuck in Thunder Bay. He couldn't do home dialysis because of the boil water advisory. I have an elder sitting behind me. His wife cannot go home because of the boil water advisory. That's why it deeply affects us.
The settlement we reached represents a new dawn for us. Central to this agreement are key provisions to ensure that our boil water advisory ends and new ones don't arise. That's the main reason we were in that class action. The biggest, most important thing for us is to make sure that we have a standard of water in our communities so that this doesn't happen again to us or any other first nation in Canada.
We need quality and quantity standards for drinking water so that we can cook, do dishes, shower and even wash our babies without worrying about consequences. Those things we cannot even do at home. We're given only 1.5 litres a person to do all of that. Imagine using 1.5 litres to do all that's listed here: clean, do dishes, wash yourself, wash your babies and cook.
On the actual cost for operations, maintenance and infrastructure upgrades, shift the conversation from crisis management to rights recognition. The bill makes progress, and it must ensure funding to meet the needs and standards for quality and quantity of water. It also needs to uphold source water protection, which is essential for our communities.
Parliament hasn't done enough in the past. We need to replace yesterday's “may” with tomorrow's best efforts. We can't afford just “may”, which led to three decades of hardship for Neskantaga. We need action. We need protection. We need to make sure that the legislation is there to protect us and make sure it doesn't happen again.
My message from Neskantaga is clear. Pass this bill with the amendment suggested by the first nations advisory committee. We need you to act now.
We don't need perfection. We just need your best efforts. We don't want to start over either. Don't start over. We have something we can work on. Let's move forward.
Meegwetch.