Committee
Consult the user guide
For assistance, please contact us
Consult the user guide
For assistance, please contact us
Add search criteria
Results: 61 - 75 of 262
Christiane Fox
View Christiane Fox Profile
Christiane Fox
2021-04-29 11:56
Through its action plan, the department is committed to ensuring the elimination of all long-term advisories so that people can access safe drinking water. This drives us to take action and continue the work. We want to ensure that communities aren't under advisories. We completely agree that all Canadians should have access to safe drinking water.
View Maxime Blanchette-Joncas Profile
BQ (QC)
I understand, Ms. Fox, but 10 years is a long time. I still find it difficult to read all the findings of the Office of the Auditor General. Most campgrounds provide better service than the services available to some indigenous communities.
I'm trying to understand. I agree that the COVID-19 pandemic slowed down some activities. However, at what point did your department already know, even at the start of the pandemic, that the work would slow down significantly?
In December 2020, the government offered a mea culpa to mitigate the situation before the submission of the Auditor General's report. The government knew that the report would be scathing. I can't imagine that you didn't know about this until December 2020. The pandemic had been going on for almost a year.
When did your department realize that the pandemic would slow down some of your ongoing work?
Christiane Fox
View Christiane Fox Profile
Christiane Fox
2021-04-29 11:57
It is important to note that in March 2020, the department was beginning to think about the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic. We did a reassessment, over the summer, when the second wave seemed to be diminishing. We thought that a decrease in cases would allow us to begin work.
However, the arrival of the third wave in September and October had a much more pronounced impact in indigenous communities. We were thinking about acceleration strategies, but when we saw the number of cases and closures in the fall, we realized that we were not going to meet the timeline.
View Niki Ashton Profile
NDP (MB)
Thank you.
I'd like to ask Indigenous Services Canada to respond to the reality of Tataskweyak Cree Nation. Again, here's my question. The first nation has been clear that the water in their community is undrinkable, yet ISC maintains that guidelines are being met. If yes, why are you maintaining guidelines and what good are they if they are making people sick?
Christiane Fox
View Christiane Fox Profile
Christiane Fox
2021-04-29 11:58
First of all, you raised a question in your last intervention around whether or not we would penalize people who are taking legal action. I would say categorically no, we would not. We respect the right of indigenous groups to take the decisions that they need to take for their communities.
In terms of the water, the guidelines we have are based on science, and we want to work in lockstep with communities. If people feel that the water is unsafe, not only will we do the testing, but we will also work with our environmental health officers and look at what we can do.
If there are things happening in the community that require health interventions, it also becomes not just a water issue; it becomes the health supports for that community. We would continue to provide support based on science for the guidelines, but also, in recognition that something is happening, we want to work in partnership with the leadership to address that.
View Niki Ashton Profile
NDP (MB)
Well, I would urge you to do so. Something is happening, and the first nation has made it clear that going to court is not their number one choice. What they want is clean drinking water now. Let's be honest: Canada is able to deliver that. Political will is what we need to see.
I want to go back to the Auditor General and ask her about another first nation in our region, Shamattawa.
Shamattawa First Nation has had a long-term boil water advisory, a housing crisis and a tuberculosis outbreak, and was on the national news because of its devastating COVID-19 outbreak before Christmas. It was so serious that the military had to step in, in full force. Few communities in this country have had to bear the brunt of Canada's failures like Shamattawa First Nation.
Can you expand on how the housing crisis in particular affects a community's capacity to deliver safe drinking water and what needs to be done to get at these crises together?
Karen Hogan
View Karen Hogan Profile
Karen Hogan
2021-04-29 12:00
I guess what I would add to that really quickly is that we have studied all of these issues that many first nations face. When there is a housing crisis, there is overcrowding in homes and, as we've seen throughout the pandemic, that just makes situations worse.
The only thing I would say about drinking water is that the public systems are those that serve five houses or more. There are so many systems in first nations reserves that are operated by first nations or by the homeowner, and this is where training is so important, so that the communities can take care of drinking water in all their systems going forward, not just the public ones.
View Philip Lawrence Profile
CPC (ON)
Thank you very much.
My first question will be for the Auditor General. I just want to make sure that I understood something. I want to clarify it.
It seems 43% of the systems are at risk. Is that correct? Also, what exactly does “at risk” mean?
Karen Hogan
View Karen Hogan Profile
Karen Hogan
2021-04-29 12:02
The reference is to a process that Indigenous Services Canada has whereby they do an annual risk assessment of the state of a water system, and 43% of them have been rated as high or medium risk, meaning that they likely haven't had their maintenance done or they perhaps don't have trained operators.
There's a set of criteria that allows the department to rate the state of a system. Forty-three per cent of them have rated “high”, which is an indication that perhaps there will be water advisories. It's at least an indication that you need to pay attention to those systems because maintenance is likely not happening the way it should be happening.
View Philip Lawrence Profile
CPC (ON)
One thing that came across in the report to me, and maybe you can confirm this or correct me, is that it seemed that you were a little concerned that the government was focusing too much, perhaps, on getting short-term solutions, but not focusing on the long term, such as making sure there were enough operators, etc. Is that a correct thing to be pulling out from your report?
Karen Hogan
View Karen Hogan Profile
Karen Hogan
2021-04-29 12:03
We did highlight in the report that many of the long-term drinking water advisories that were lifted were lifted by interim measures. We did note, however, that some of those systems had long-term plans, but that they would not be in place until about 2024 or 2025. Just lifting an advisory doesn't mean you've fixed the underlying issue, and that's why it's not a cookie-cutter approach across communities. Each community needs to have its unique long-term sustainable solution, and we shouldn't just be focusing on lifting advisories, but on getting those long-term solutions in place.
View Philip Lawrence Profile
CPC (ON)
To be clear, I think this as well was pulled out in the other question, but I want to make sure I have it right. In 2015, 43% of the systems were high risk, and in 2020, there were also 43% that were high-risk systems. Is that correct, or do I have that incorrect?
Karen Hogan
View Karen Hogan Profile
Karen Hogan
2021-04-29 12:03
For high or medium risk, you have that correct at 43%.
View Philip Lawrence Profile
CPC (ON)
Okay.
I know everyone here, especially including the folks who are senior bureaucrats, want to make sure this is taken care of. One thing has bothered me a little bit. I saw a dissonance between your report and the reaction of Ms. Fox. You used the harshest language I've seen so far in any of your reports when you said “disheartened”. What degree of confidence do you have in the government eventually eliminating all drinking advisories, as I know everyone here desperately wants to have happen?
Karen Hogan
View Karen Hogan Profile
Karen Hogan
2021-04-29 12:04
I'll say that I'm disheartened for first nations communities because so many of us across the country take for granted that when this meeting's over, we're going to walk over to the tap to pour ourselves a glass of water, and so many communities can't do that. That's really what saddens me about all of this.
I can't give you assurances. I do think that's where the department needs to demonstrate, through their action plans and the updating of the funding formula, that they're going to work in collaboration with first nations communities to address this issue and not just, as I mentioned earlier, focus on lifting long-term or short-term drinking water advisories but on finding those long-term sustainable solutions and making sure that first nations have adequately trained operators and good long-term operating and maintenance funding.
Results: 61 - 75 of 262 | Page: 5 of 18

|<
<
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
>
>|
Export As: XML CSV RSS

For more data options, please see Open Data