25 YEARS OF BROKEN PROMISES

Liberals Won’t Keep Promise To End Long-Term Boil-Water Advisories On First Nations By March 2021

It is also the current condition and the situation faced by the people of Neskantaga, the First Nation community in Ontario that has been under a boil-water advisory for 25 years.

© Provided by HuffPost Canada Indigenous Services Minister Marc Miller holds a news conference in Ottawa on Dec. 2, 2020.

Indigenous Services Minister Marc Miller says he takes responsibility for the fact that the Liberal government will fail in its election promise to lift all long-term drinking water advisories in First Nations by March 2021.

“Today we’re making ourselves accountable. We’re making future governments accountable,” Miller said Wednesday at an Ottawa press conference.

“And while there have been many reasons for the delay, I want to state as clearly as possible… ultimately, I bear the responsibility for this, and I have the responsibility and the duty to get this done.”

It was a key promise Prime Minister Justin Trudeau made on his path to power during the 2015 election campaign.

Miller confirmed the Liberal government will not meet its March 2021 deadline despite 97 long-term boil-water advisories having been lifted in partnership with Indigenous communities since 2016. Fifty-nine advisories remain in place in 41 communities.

Miller said an additional $1.5 billion investment this year to tackle the problem, spelled out in this week’s fall economic statement, will “accelerate work” to ensure every First Nation reserve has safe and clean water. The funding is in addition to $2.1 billion the government has already committed to the project since 2016.

At an earlier technical briefing, representatives from Indigenous Services Canada told reporters they expect 22 long-term advisories in 10 communities — nine in Ontario, one in Saskatchewan — to still be in place after March.

But Miller expressed optimism that an additional 20 advisories could be lifted by the end of this month, and, if all goes well, the number of remaining advisories could be down to 12 by the spring.

While he would not announce a second deadline, Miller said he aims to provide projected completion dates in the coming months.

The target was ambitious “from the get-go,” Miller said, adding that Indigenous communities don’t want an “Ottawa-imposed deadline,” but rather a long-term commitment to tackle the systemic problems preventing reliable access to clean water

Imagine having to boil the water that you’re about to consume, every time you reach for a glass of water. Imagine doing this every day of your life, multiple times per day, for over 17 years,” he said, noting that was the reality for members of the Lac Seul First Nation in northern Ontario until a new water plant was completed and opened last February.

“It is also the current condition and the situation faced by the people of Neskantaga, in their case for 25 years,” he said of the First Nation community in Ontario that has been under a boil-water advisory for 25 years. Its residents were evacuated from their homes in October after an oil sheen was discovered in its reservoir.

Miller defended Trudeau for imposing the timeline in the first place and for not having been upfront sooner that the promise wouldn’t be kept.

“As a Canadian, the prime minister did what would be expected of any leadership and said, ‘we want to get this done,’” Miller said of his party’s 2015 campaign promise.

The spring deadline was a “rallying cry for something that is much more profound,” he said, in order to focus attention on the under-investment in essential services in some Indigenous communities.

Trudeau “deserves a lot of credit for saying that,” Miller said.

The minister noted that the mandate letter he received from Trudeau when he joined cabinet last year made it clear that it was among his top priorities to eliminate all long-term drinking water advisories on reserve.

“It is my responsibility to get it done,” he said.

This article originally appeared on HuffPost Canada.