Mr. Speaker, I rise in the House today to follow up on a question that I earlier put on March 2, which happened to be the United Nations World Water Day. That question was put to the government at large for a specific reason. Many of the ministers in the government share responsibility for the protection of our water resources.
In his wisdom, the Minister of the Environment responded, and I look forward to hearing the response to my question today.
Perhaps it is appropriate that the matter is again being raised just two days before the 40th Earth Day. Therefore, there is a two day notice to the ministers that they can still yet table the long awaited federal initiatives on water, which they have been promising for quite some time.
One of those is the aboriginal safe drinking water law, which was promised in the 2009 throne speech, yet to be presented to the House as far as I am aware.
The second would be a law to ban bulk water exports, a matter of great concern. For a number of years now, Canadians across the country have expressed this concern.
The third one is for the federal government to finally assert its federal powers to address serious climate impacts and pollution threats to Canadian waters.
I will address most of my comments today to the matter of aboriginal safe drinking water. The Minister of the Environment, for example, may wonder why he would speak to that, he is not the Minister of Indian Affairs. Hear me out and I will explain why it is a matter of concern, not only to the Minister of the Environment, but also to the Minister of Natural Resources, in addition to the Minister of Indian Affairs.
The need for a law to protect aboriginal safe drinking water has been identified not once, not twice, but at least three times by federal authorities. In 2005 the audit by the Commissioner for Environment and Sustainable Development issued a strong recommendation for the federal government to take action on aboriginal safe drinking water. She stated in that report:
When it comes to the safety of drinking water, residents of First Nation communities do not benefit from a level of protection comparable to that of people who live off reserves. This is partly because there are no laws and regulations governing the provision of drinking water to First Nation communities, unlike other Canadian communities. INAC and Health Canada attempt to ensure safe drinking water in First Nation communities...This approach does not cover all the elements that would be found in a regulatory regime for drinking water, and it is not implemented consistently.
The Commissioner for Environment and Sustainable Development went on to recommend five areas where action should be taken by the federal government. One specifically was that laws and regulation should be enacted to govern the provision of drinking water for these communities and that technical assistance be provided to first nations.
The second report was by the Senate Committee on Aboriginal Affairs. I will quote from the recommendation from that committee. It states:
Ironically, a number of the issues surrounding drinking water quality on-reserve have been the result of economic development and other activities that have polluted the source water surrounding First Nations communities.
That gives a hint to the government as to why I would say that both the Minister of the Environment and Minister of Natural Resources have a responsibility as well to move in to take action to protect aboriginal safe drinking water. The very reasons why first nations are leery of moving expeditiously on a federal law is because the intent would be to hand over liability to them. They are saying that they need the resources and the capacity.
What action is the government taking in all of these to protect Canadian water?