Decolonizing Indigenous Drinking Water Challenges and Implications: Focusing on Indigenous Water Governance and Sovereignty

4.1. Water Crisis and Destruction of Indigenous-Gendered Governance Structures

Reclaiming Indigenous women’s leadership roles is critical to maintaining Indigenous People’s sovereignty and self-determination. An important outcome that emerged from the sharing circle was that, traditionally, women played leadership roles within Indigenous communities, including protecting Water. Community members reported Indigenous women are life-givers. Following this, Indigenous women have sacred connections with the Land and the Water. They are the protectors of Water and holders of traditional knowledge and culture. Indigenous women play a significant role in protecting the Land and Water. Commenting on Indigenous women’s leadership roles in Water protection, one of the Elders said,

I really think our People, especially the women, have to take the lead in Water decision-making because the women have a lot to do with Mother Earth. The women are the ones who more or less take care of Mother Earth and Water. More women should come to the understanding that this is very important in our livelihood. And not only that but having a connection to the Land helps us to secure our children and unborn generations. In that line of thinking. Also, there are different rights that women carry in order to look after the Land. They come with gifts that help our community so that we can continue to live a good life and walk a good life. That is why I feel that more People in our community, especially our women, should start understanding and having that awareness to make things right (Co-researcher 2, Indigenous Woman Elder).

We found restoring Indigenous women’s leadership role over the governance and control of Water using their sacred Water ontologies can help maintain the cultural practices that support their sovereignty. The community members reported that the current Water crises within Indigenous communities further highlight how settler colonialism destroyed Indigenous governance structures and marginalized Indigenous women. The destruction of traditional gendered governance structures has huge implications for Indigenous People’s sovereignty and self-determination. As one of the Elders observed,

co-researcher 2 spoke about women taking the lead; it will still not make a difference because they no longer think of us as the life-givers. That is their way of thinking. Now, you are just one of the People; the ladies are not the leaders anymore. We try to care for our families and keep getting pushed down daily. How do we make a difference if we are constantly being pushed down the next step, or controlled? That is why our government is controlling us, and now we have to depend on them for everything. Because we are so used to it: even back then, we still did things for ourselves (Co-researcher 1, Indigenous Woman Elder).

Rebuilding Indigenous-gendered governance systems is key to addressing the Water crises within Indigenous communities. Part of the reason why previous efforts, including legal frameworks, have failed in solving the Water crises within Indigenous communities is the lack of recognition for Indigenous-gendered governance frameworks. For the new Bill-C61 to succeed, it must focus on rebuilding Indigenous-gendered Water governance systems. Indigenous women’s leadership over Water can help enhance access to safe drinking Water and restore important cultural practices, including hunting, fishing, trapping, and medicine picking.

The destruction of Indigenous governance systems is further compounded by the Canadian government’s failure to respect Indigenous Peoples’ sovereignty and self-determination. The current patriarchal Water governance regimes imposed on Indigenous communities do not do much to advance Indigenous self-determination. The Elder echoed this by stating that,

We [women] are all supposed to be the caregivers, the life-givers that way, but they don’t care. Get back there where you belong with your peers. It is very hard when you are dealing with our government, that top man that is supposed to be higher up, but I don’t think he is higher up because the only one that is higher up is the creator, not some man. I get discouraged; I always think about this, and I get so mad. I always think we shouldn’t be told what to do. We should be given because we are here; the creator put us here. And Mother Earth, to look after our children and grand babies, all those that are important to us. We are to look after their nourishment, to make them grow up to be respectable children, and we expect the government to treat and give us all those things that we were always told by our great grandfather (Co-researcher 1, Indigenous Woman Elder).

The current Water crises invite the Canadian government to make meaningful efforts toward achieving Indigenous sovereignty and self-determination; this is crucial if reconciliation with Indigenous Peoples is to be achieved. Indigenous governance structures must be respected.

4.2. Water Crisis and Health Implications

The Water crises within Indigenous communities have implications for their health and wellness. The lack of access to safe drinking Water further compounds the health inequities remote Indigenous communities face. Following this, centering Indigenous sovereignty in Water governance allows for addressing these health inequities since Indigenous sovereignty addresses social equity and justice. Commenting on some of the health risks associated with unsafe Water, an Elder said,

When we wash our vegetables, we use water. We have E. coli on the plants that we eat, salads, and even our fruits that are on top of them because they won’t wash them (Co-researcher 1, Indigenous Woman Elder).

We found even traditional water sources were polluted and posed a health risk to the community. The community members reported these natural sources of drinking Water, including sloughs and springs, were easily accessible. However, Land use activities including chemical runoff from farms have polluted these Water sources. According to a community member,

In addition to the Water in the sloughs, is it going to cause cancer? For example, coming down here I realized there were chemicals being applied. We rent out our Lands to the farmers. All that is polluting our Water sources. We have pig farms on either side of our reserve. When they drain out their farms, it goes directly into our valley (Co-researcher 4, Indigenous Knowledge Keeper).

We cannot build Indigenous Water resiliency without returning traditional Water sources to safer levels. Reclaiming Indigenous sovereignty and jurisdiction over Water is critical to addressing some of the health issues emerging from unsafe drinking Water. Polluted sloughs/wetlands can have severe health impacts as these also serve as sources of drinking Water for wildlife. This can, therefore, impact hunting and food sovereignty within the community. As we indicated, cultural practices, such as hunting, trapping, fishing, and medicine picking, are critical to the community’s self-determination. As one of the Elders concluded,

we need to understand what we can do to save whatever Water that we have: our sacred Water. So that we can save that and look at the causes and effects and damages. The Water left; how do we preserve that? We have local farmers pumping in all kinds of insecticides and all that. We don’t want that; we see it in our wildlife already. Our traditional foods are affected by that, and so is our health. Long ago, we didn’t have diabetes because we lived off the Land. We knew which wildlife we could eat that made our bodies healthy. And now, we are afraid to eat things that our bodies require (Co-researcher 7, Indigenous Woman Elder).

To address the health risks emerging from the Water crises, the Elders emphasized the need to care for Mother Earth. A much broader approach, encompassing Land use activities must be adopted to end the Water crises within Indigenous communities. When Water governance is centered on Indigenous sovereignty, it allows for adopting a holistic approach to protecting Water. It was reported Land use activities, including agricultural activities, will have to be re-examined within the community. Against this background, an Elder noted,

I don’t even know if we can go back to our ways a long time ago. When we used to drink our Water out of the sloughs and whatever. They are now contaminated by farms and pesticides. We don’t even know what kind of chemicals they are using to spray. We hear People say the fish has mercury in it; where did the mercury come from; you know? Even sewage was going into our Water (Co-researcher 1, Indigenous Woman Elder).

Acknowledging it will take different stakeholders to address the Water crises within their community, the Elders and knowledge keepers emphasized adopting a collective effort to address their Water crises. We found the community, government, farmers, and other stakeholders must work together to enhance access to safe drinking Water. Legal reforms in Water governance must adopt holistic and comprehensive solutions to address the Water crises. Commenting on the urgency of the collective effort, the Elder once again stated,

I can’t see a solution unless we all work together with the government and all the People that are so concerned about what is happening to Mother Earth. Now, I can see it is kind of a bit too late because I can see all the damage has already been done; how do we make it better if we keep adding more things to Mother Earth? Destroying her, destroying our Water, and killing our fish (Co-researcher 1, Indigenous Woman Elder).

Following this, another knowledge keeper noted, “I think too Indigenous People have to be able to communicate with the ones who are causing the damaging effects on their ecological systems” (Co-researcher 6, Knowledge Keeper).

Previous efforts to solve the Water crises in remote Indigenous communities like the Star Blanket Cree Nation have not worked because they did not bring all stakeholders together. The centering of Indigenous sovereignty and self-determination in Water governance is critical to rebuilding trust between Indigenous communities and the Canadian government. Trust is critical to ending the current Water crises within Indigenous communities. The continuous marginalization of Indigenous sovereignty and self-determination in Water governance will not help build trust with Indigenous People. Again, the politicization of Water governance leads to delays in responding to Indigenous Water needs. These delays impact the holistic health of community members. Commenting on this, an Elder stated,

Even our Water treatment plant now wants the best, but we don’t get the best. We just get what is available and even with that, we have to beg for it. We have to beg for our money. Sometimes we don’t get it. The government says we have good drinking Water but we don’t. Maybe they do not use First Nations (Co-researcher 1, Indigenous Woman Elder).

Some community members observed even the treated Water provided within their community was still contaminated. This further created mistrust that the community was given substandard Water treatment plants. The mistrust has resulted in community members not wanting to let go of old habits of buying Water. To create trust, the Elder observed,

Give us good drinking Water; don’t give us something that is just gonna be there to shut us up: that is the way I look at it. We are getting a new Water treatment, oh right on: you have good Water but that is not all you still have; like (Co-researcher 3) said, she still has that habit of buying Water because we are so scared: you can’t drink tap Water. It is contaminated and all that (Co-researcher 1, Indigenous Woman Elder).

In Trust, a second Elder stated,

Then again when we look back, how bad the government made us look. Like giving us drugs: we abused them the same as when they are giving us drinking Water; is it safe? Is it the same as drugs; is it safe? The same drinking Water is like taking the same drugs (Co-researcher 4, Indigenous Woman Elder).

We also found Indigenous People drawing on their sacred Water ontologies to protect Water, creating the space for self-determination. To center Indigenous sovereignty and self-determination in Water governance also calls for reconnecting with culture. Important cultural practices promote Indigenous sovereignty, including Language, ceremonies, hunting, trapping, fishing, and medicine picking. Regarding Water, Indigenous cultures respected and viewed Water as sacred. Water is a part of the community’s way of life and culture. There was a deep understanding within these cultures that Water and other gifts from Mother Earth must be protected and used in a good way, and within this culture were also laid the teachings of living well with community members by respecting the Elders and all. From the community, we observed one cannot live well with Water if one does not live well with community members; the two are intertwined. This Wahkohtowin principle informed the utilization of the gifts from Mother Earth, understanding that we must use these gifts sustainably so as not to harm our relatives, including nonhuman relatives. The community members reported these cultural practices are critical to their health and wellness. Unfortunately, residential schools have separated community members from this important culture. Following this, centering Indigenous sovereignty and self-determination in Water governance will create the space to reconnect community members with their culture, including Language- and Land-based practices. According to one of the Elders,

You know, talking about how we lived back in the day. How we respected what was given to us, what Mother Earth had to nourish us like our Water, food, vegetables, and how we see things grow. We want that, we want to see it flourish and become abundant so that we can live that healthy lifestyle. But nowadays, because of the way our residential schools or days schools or whatever. How do we grow from that? Because we were taught when we were growing up to be good. But with the residential school, we learned how to be mean and disrespectful to each other. How our Language was bad, that it was the devil’s Language they used to say. When you talk about our natural resources like our Water and how we live here, they try to take that away and say that is not the way we should live. We should live the way they wanted us to live. Some of us have come to the realization that we can’t live the life I was told to live. I have to go back to live in a humble way, respectable Wahkohtowin. All those things that our teachings were made of. When you are talking about clean drinking Water, we want clean drinking Water, we want to clean Mother Earth. We don’t want her destroyed by man-made things. Because that is how we destroy our own livelihood (Co-researcher 1, Indigenous Woman Elder).

Situating Indigenous sovereignty and self-determination in Water governance allows for a broader rethinking of Water governance and a focus on sustainability in general. Indigenous-led Water governance and holistic Indigenous worldviews are crucial in addressing the current Water crises within Indigenous communities.

Again, we observed that Indigenous sovereignty and self-determination were critical to returning the community’s drinking Water to safer levels. Reconnecting Indigenous Peoples with their culture, including Language, and relationship to Land and Water, is crucial to maintaining sovereignty and self-determination. We cannot continue to impose Water governance on Indigenous communities without recognizing their Water epistemologies. As nations, Indigenous communities have continuously advocated for Indigenous-led Water governance to be upheld. These would allow Indigenous People to have jurisdiction over their Water. This can enhance their sovereignty and self-determination. Indigenous communities know that the current Water regimes cannot advance their sovereignty and self-determination. Acknowledging the challenges with current Water governance regimes within the community, an Elder concluded.

We can no longer go back to those old days when you can just walk up to a slough and get a pail of clean drinking Water and take it home so others can drink from it (Co-researcher 1, Indigenous Woman Elder).

It emerged that promoting Indigenous sovereignty and self-determination in Water governance will lead to creating hope and reawakening communities. The Canadian government’s continuous failure to honour its treaty promises has made community members less critical of whatever is provided to the community, including Water. As an Elder went on to observe,

I don’t know, I don’t remember, and we are so caught up and our minds get tired: our brains get tired of thinking so much of the good things and the bad things that we don’t care anymore. Like we don’t care what kind of Water we are drinking. Some of us do but other ones say we don’t care. Is there something that is given to us? What have they given to us? We don’t know whether it is safe. It is like a can of pop and Water and I think someone will take pop because it is sweet. But for the body, I will take the Water. They give us what they want to give us. To keep us quiet. Our Water treatment plant, we will upgrade the Water treatment plant so you can have good drinking Water. Because this and that goes into the Water and we drink it. We don’t know how much chlorine is in there, how much whatever they put in there. Anyway, let’s get your Water cleaned, but if your Water comes out smelling or discoloured, like Co-researcher 3 said. Be satisfied we gave you that, the government again, take it or leave it (Co-researcher 1, Indigenous Woman Elder).

Indigenous sovereignty will place Water back under Indigenous Peoples’ jurisdiction. Hence allowing Indigenous communities to take charge of their Water. This means communities will have a voice in what chemicals are used to treat the water within their communities. Drawing on their traditional knowledge to protect Water, Indigenous people create the pace for self-determination by helping maintain important cultural practices like Language.

4.4. Water Governance Implications for Sovereignty and Self-Determination

Indigenous sovereignty and self-determination border on Indigenous Peoples’ survival. Water governance must go beyond supply to focus on protecting the Land and Mother Earth. Given that sacred Indigenous Water epistemologies do not inform current Water governance regimes, Water governance structures within Indigenous communities have taken a narrow approach focusing on supply and failed to protect Mother Earth and the Land. As a result, this adversely affects Indigenous Peoples’ sovereignty and self-determination. As we found, Indigenous communities have autonomy over the governance and control of Water by drawing on their traditional knowledge, resource management, and cultural practice; observing Water protocols and Language, living well with Water, and restoring Indigenous women’s leadership in Water governance, among others, can promote self-determination. Ending drinking Water advisories must be closely linked to protecting Indigenous communities from Land-use activities that continue to pollute their Lands, like agricultural runoffs. We cannot protect Water resources if we do not protect the Land. For example, Indigenous People depend directly on the Land for their traditional food and medicine. Following this, if the Land is polluted, their food sources become unsafe, and this impacts their food sovereignty. Indigenous-led Water governance systems take a broader and more holistic approach to protecting the Land as a whole. Indigenous People know their sovereignty and self-determination are intertwined with living sustainably with Mother Earth. To enhance their sovereignty and self-determination, the community members reported we must urgently rethink Water governance to focus on looking after Mother Earth. Following this, one of the Elders said,

Now, I can see it is kind of a bit too late because I can see all the damage has already been done. How do we make it better if we keep adding more things to Mother Earth? Destroying her, destroying our Water, and killing our fish. The Water was so scarce a couple of years back there, even our food source: there was nothing there to survive. People are destroying Mother Earth with fires; all these add to when we take Mother Earth into our bodies that destroys everything. We have to look after Mother Earth. They are gonna do everything, non-First Nations People gonna destroy the Water (Co-researcher 1, Indigenous Woman Elder).

Centering Indigenous sovereignty and self-determination in Water governance allows for a broader view of protecting Water and Mother Earth. To protect and manage Water, we must focus on protecting Mother Earth and the Land. Evidence from the sharing circle shows community members would want Water governance to take a more comprehensive approach than is currently done. Centering Indigenous Water ontologies in Water governance provides the space to adopt a more holistic approach. Another important reason we must situate Indigenous sovereignty in Water governance is that it allows for recognizing holistic Indigenous epistemologies of Water. We observed Indigenous Peoples’ Ways of Knowing and Doing to inform their sovereignty and self-determination. Indigenous Water epistemologies are critical to protecting and living well with Water. These epistemologies view Water as sacred and used in ceremonies. We found the failure to center Water governance around Indigenous sovereignty has led to mistrust that the Water crises can ever be solved within their communities. One of the Elders observed,

Water is sacred; we use those in ceremonies. We use those to nourish our bodies, to keep us surviving. You know we can fight the government; we can fight the big boss, but we are not gonna win because they are still gonna destroy us. Look at the food prices: that were predicted, that was prophesied by the old People. That food is gonna be gone and scarce. I can see it now. If you don’t see it, your children will see it, they used to say. That is why our old People used to say look after our Mother Earth. I remember we used to have enough Water to drink; we didn’t need to worry about what was in it. We got accustomed to it and, all of a sudden, you can’t drink that Water. It is very scary, and I don’t think it is gonna get any better. We were on a boiled Water advisory for years. We are still on it; we don’t even know if it is gonna go away. That is my story, and I am sticking to it (Co-researcher 1, Indigenous Woman Elder).

We observed that focusing on Water supply alone in current Water governance systems will not enhance access to safe drinking water within Indigenous communities. We must equally incorporate the holistic Indigenous principles of environmental sustainability that focus on protecting all the ecosystems within remote Indigenous communities.

Commenting further on the challenges with Western Water governance systems, one of the Elders observed,

I was just telling my partner here about our research. We have a big lake on our reserve. There’s a tap that opens where the next community and their whole subdivision have access to our Star Blanket Water. Now, there was an agreement in place where the next community is supposed to give us payment regarding using our Water. I think that agreement is being followed, but on a more cultural or traditional side. Water is for everyone and so we’re kind of stuck in between. How do we conserve the Water that’s ours and share it with other people who need it just as much as we do. So, we’re caught up in that whole area. You know that Water doesn’t really belong to us but the creator, it belongs to everybody who needs to use it. So, you know, we get caught up in the whole policy thing. We can’t really put a government policy into the Water. That’s natural and it’s a natural resource for all human beings, all plant life, all animal life, and so it’s very hard to put that into policy when you have this belief system (Co-researcher 5, Indigenous Woman Elder).

Indigenous sovereignty and self-determination are strongly connected to the Land and Water. Understanding this, Indigenous cultures highlight the need to live sustainably with Mother Earth. Therefore, we cannot solve the current Water crises within Indigenous communities without addressing the Land-use activities that threaten their Water sources.