Chiefs representing First Nations from the Island Lake area of northern Manitoba held a news conference Thursday to lament Ottawa's response to immediate, short-term help while they discuss how to hook the communities up with running water and proper sewage in the long term.
"They agreed to help us with short-term solutions. Their solutions are slop pails and 45-gallon drums. That's not acceptable," said Chief Dino Flett, of the Garden Hill First Nation. "In some houses, 15 people have to use that slop pail. That's not safe. That's not healthy."
And don't blame it on what the CONs call an unwanted and unnecessary election. Island Lake Chiefs met with INAC last December to address the problem. They weren't asking for fancy washrooms, they simply wanted emergency measures taken, porta-potties with holding tanks. Nothing as expensive as the nearly $300,000 spent on a washroom in Baysville 30 kilometres from the G8 meeting site in Clement's riding.
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Here's another perspective on this story, too, that's certain to get your back up:
http://www.winnipegfreepress.com/local/first-nations-water-plight-needs-action-chiefs-120533874.html
"The chiefs at the four remote aboriginal communities, which make up the area located about 600 kilometres northeast of Winnipeg, admitted at a press conference on Thursday they purposely decided to work with the federal government instead of publicly criticizing them in the wake of last year's award-winning Free Press investigation into the lack of clean running water on First Nations.
Now, they admit after taking that approach, Indian and Northern Affairs Canada shortchanged them and only sent them hundreds of water barrels and slop pails, and one water truck and one sewage truck for each of the four reserves, instead of a total of 28 trucks, garages to store them in, seven washroom units, and four laundromat units."
For First Nations approaching the government for aid, it's heads they win, tails we lose.
I don't even know what to say about this anymore. Other Canadians have some awareness of these things but no one seems to give a damn. There's no way a white community would be left like that.
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