Short Story
Starting on World Water Day, March 22nd, the Council of Canadians launched our Water Drops program to educate and activate hundreds of teachers and thousands of students across Canada around the crisis of drinking water advisories in First Nations communities. Despite government promises to supply safe drinking water to all First Nations by 2021, there are still 26 communities with long-term drinking water advisories.
Even one drinking water advisory is one too many. Donate to this project to support the Council of Canadians in educating and mobilizing students, building relationships with First Nations communities with drinking water advisories, and connecting these two powerful groups of people to deliver a powerful message to the Prime Minister in June: safe drinking water for everyone now!
Safe water for First Nations – now!
Story
Even one community without safe drinking water is one too many.
Unfortunately, there are still 26 First Nations communities that don’t have access to clean drinking water, despite a nearly decade-old promise from the federal government to resolve all drinking water advisories in Indigenous communities.
For four years now, the Council of Canadians has been educating and activating students across the country about the human right to water through our Water Drops program. This year, starting on World Water Day, March 22nd, the Council shared teaching materials and our unique Water Drop colour pages with teachers to bring into their classrooms. Students are now learning about the internationally-recognized human right to water and the ongoing water crisis in many Indigenous communities, and are presented with an opportunity to make a statement about what they learn.
Now, the Council of Canadians is collecting these Water Drops back from teachers and students, and preparing to deliver them to the Prime Ministers Office. The PM needs to hear that thousands of students across the country want to see clean drinking water made available to everybody!
We’re working now to connect with First Nations communities living with drinking water advisories so we can learn more about what barriers are keeping them from accessing clean water, and how we can best advocate with them through our Water Drops program.
Once we’ve collected the Water Drops that students have drawn and written on, we’ll deliver them to the Prime Minister in June, right around National Indigenous Peoples Day (June 21). We’ll invite First Nations communities members to join in this Water Drops delivery so the demands of their communities can be heard directly in the halls of power.
All the funds received will be used to create and distribute materials, support travel for Indigenous community members, give honoraria to Indigenous knowledge keepers and community representatives, support the creative and impactful delivery of “Water Drops” to the Prime Minister, and to staff the project.
