Feds’ $1.5B compensation for unclean drinking water called unfair by Indigenous leaders

The settlement will compensate people living in First Nations communities that were subject to a drinking water advisory of at least one year between November 1995 and June 2021.

The federal government has set aside about $1.5 billion to compensate Indigenous people who have been without clean drinking water, the result of a class-action lawsuit initiated by First Nations communities.

But while the government called the settlement “historic,” people living under the country’s longest boil-water advisory called it unfair and frustrating at a news conference Thursday.

Chief Wayne Moonias of Neskantaga First Nation in Ontario said the 27-year-long advisory is “heartbreaking,” particularly for children who’ve never known clean water.

Community member Roy Moonias said he’s only entitled to claim six years of compensation even though he’s lived under the advisory since 1995.

“That is B.S.,” Moonias said. “Who made that call?”

He said the water treatment plant in Neskantaga is still incomplete, “and our people have lost hope in this project.”

“The government of Canada should be accountable for the wrongdoing of this community,” he said.

The settlement will compensate people living in communities that were subject to a drinking water advisory of at least one year between November 1995 and June 20, 2021.