(Toronto, Ontario – March 22, 2024) Ontario Regional Chief Glen Hare has released the following statement today on World Water Day, an annual observance that celebrates water and raises awareness of the 2.2 billion people living without access to safe water.
“This year’s theme is ‘Water for Peace,’ but for many First Nations in Ontario, that peace remains elusive and accessing clean drinking water can be a fight,” said Ontario Regional Chief Glen Hare. “First Nations in Ontario continue to be the most affected in all of Canada by the decades’ long on-reserve water crisis.”
Three quarters of Ontario First Nations have faced drinking water advisories since 1995, according to new data obtained via the Access to Information Act. Long-term boil water advisories have impacted 50 First Nations communities in Ontario — more than a third — in the last three decades. These findings are a result of new studies research illustrating the oftentimes dire consequences of unsafe drinking water.
“World Water Day this year is all about water for peace. Without clean drinking water, there is no peace. Safe, clean drinking water is a basic human right and the lifeblood of existence. First Nations have been denied that fundamental right.”
While there have been promising steps in recent years to ensuring every First Nation in Ontario has access to clean drinking water, there remains much to fix. Chronic underfunding of infrastructure and a lack of access to clean water is a form of environmental racism and deeply impacts the well-being of First Nations communities.
Ontario Regional Chief Glen Hare (Gwiingos)
-30-
The Chiefs of Ontario support all First Nations in Ontario as they assert their sovereignty, jurisdiction and their chosen expression of nationhood. Follow Chiefs of Ontario on Facebook, Twitter or Instagram @ChiefsOfOntario.
Media Contact:
Christopher Hoyos
Director of Policy and Communications
Policy and Communications Sector
Chiefs of Ontario
Telephone: (416) 579-4998
