Jun 24, 2015
Will Canada Unblock this People's 'Road to Freedom'?
The First Nation of Shoal Lake 40 are surrounded by water they can't drink but Winnipeg can. But they have a dream.
Read my story in The Tyee.
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Will Canada Unblock this People's 'Road to Freedom'?
The First Nation of Shoal Lake 40 are surrounded by water they can't drink but Winnipeg can. But they have a dream.
Read my story in The Tyee.
GOAL To raise the $10 million Ottawa refuses to invest in new access road essential to Shoal Lake 40 First Nation's future, a road that'd finally make it possible for them to enjoy their own water—the same water that's nourished Winnipeggers for 100 years
WHERE DO YOU GET YOUR WATER FROM, WINNIPEG?
DID YOU KNOW…
In 1914, the federal government permitted Winnipeg to expropriate over 3,000 acres of the reserve’s land and divert water from Shoal Lake to the urban centre.
In 1919, Winnipeg built an aqueduct along underground pipes to divert water from Shoal Lake, Ont. to supply to the city.
DID YOU KNOW…
Shoal Lake No. 40 has been living under a boil water advisory for 17 years.
To this day, clean water is widely inaccessible in the Shoal Lake region.
DID YOU KNOW…
The people of Shoal Lake Number 40 First Nation have been relocated and isolated, so Winnipeg can have fresh, clean drinking water.
First Nations communities were physically displaced from traditional villages where drinking water was located and excluded from water infrastructure development.
Residents struggle to access resources for survival on the artificial island—previously a peninsula, but re-constructed in order to build the aqueduct—surrounded by contaminated water.
LEARN MORE AND JOIN THE DIALOGUE...
Visit http://sl40.ca/
(extracted from: http://www.themanitoban.com/2014/09/first-nations-community-launches-human-rights-violations-museum-on-cmhr-grounds/20738/)
Taking the time within the course Women, Health, and The Environment at the University of Winnipeg to examine where Winnipeg is getting its water --and at what price-- has been one of its many substantial take-aways.
It is hard for me to believe that so many human rights violations and injustices are taking place, at what Shoal Lake activists are calling: the other end ofthe pipe. After this opportunity to learn, I am ready to become a part of the dialogue.
Water as a human right...
“Water is a part of all of us. Water is going to connectall of us together. We don’t have clean water; therefore, we don’t have opportunities. Water is life; all we want is life.” -Chief Erwin Redsky
Shoal Lake No. 40 has suffered from a significant violation of human rights, and I can’t help but see it as prevailing colonialism in Manitoba—and I'm beginning to realize that I’m not the only one. One reporter from the Winnipeg Free Press, Peter Ives, took the trip to Winnipeg’s water source and stated this in a way that really resonated with me.
“Being in Shoal Lake No. 40 drove home to me how colonialism persists in Canada today. As is all too common across Manitoba and Canada, key resources such as water and land are secured for one community through broken agreements and false promises to aboriginal communities who have lived caring for the land and water for countless generations.”
In other words, these injustices taking place in Shoal Lake are a prime example of how systematic racism is still dictating who is worthy of water, and in turn, life in this country. It is time for this community to be given the opportunity to become re-connected with Canada, and leave their past of isolation and displacement behind.
And believe it or not, though their hardships are extreme and plentiful, Shoal Lake No. 40 isn’t asking for much in order to make this a reality.
According to Ives, “Many of these problems could be solved with a bridge and a road. In the last few years, the community used volunteer labour to construct the Freedom Road, a winter road that is also passable in the summer as long as there's not too much rain and a temporary bridge over the canal. Apparently, the City of Winnipeg has committed to build a permanent bridge, although it would connect only to the temporary road. If the City of Winnipeg, the Manitoba and Ontario governments and the federal government would commit to funding the construction of the Freedom Road as a permanent road, many of the hardships could be mitigated.”
The ways in which Shoal Lake No. 40 activists are promoting the significance of this addition to their community is through powerful awareness raising and the education of Winnipeggers; teaching them where their water really comes from, and at what price.
Now you know where you get your water from, Winnipeg. What are you going to do about it?
A collaborative response to the water injustices in Manitoba by the explorers of Women, Health and the Environment at the University of Winnipeg.