Issue link: https://takingitglobal.uberflip.com/i/1433180
Lesson One: Mumilaaq Qaqqaq 92 SIDE A DEBATE INFORMATION SHEET: Your team will debate that Northern Communities/Reserves need funding to help them access clean drinking water. There is some information and resources provided below about this topic. Basic Human Rights: https://www.unwater.org/water-facts/human-rights/ According to the United Nations, access to potable water and sanitation are human rights. "Lack of access to safe, su- cient and aordable water, sanitation and hygiene facilities has a devastating eect on the health, dignity and prosperity of billions of people, and has significant consequences for the realization of other human rights." (United Nations, 2010) The Water Crisis: https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/auditor-general-reports-2021-1.5927572 The water crisis is the issue of no clean drinking water in Northern and Indigenous communities in Canada. You know how kids can swim in their pools, have water balloon fights and enjoy a glass of homemade iced tea? Well the children who are stuck in water crisis zones can't. Since the tap water in, for example, Ontario First Nation of Attawapiskat isn't safe at all. It has high levels of a chemical byproduct produced by the chlorination process in the community's ailing water plant that needs millions of dollars in repairs. The government does not see this as a top priority. Safe Water for Indigenous Peoples: https://canadians.org/fn-water Water security can be defined as "sustainable access on a watershed basis to adequate quantities of water, of acceptable quality, to ensure human and ecosystem health". This definition sets baseline requirements for water resources manage- ment in a watershed on a continuous basis; there must be access to adequate quantities of acceptable quality of water for both humans and the environment. Shoal Lake 40 First Nation https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Arnqpnm70Ng The citizens of Winnipeg, Manitoba receive their clean potable water from Shoal Lake. Did you know that the lake and community that Winnipeg gets its water from Shoal Lake 40 First Nation. A reserve that is under a boil water advisory. This means they do not have clean potable drinking water. Even though the residents live on the lake where Winnipeggers get their clean water from. Indigenous Water Governance: http://decolonizingwater.ca/ Indigenous peoples view water as a living entity to which we have a sacred responsibility to take care of and respect. After all, water is what gives us life. This viewpoint frequently conflicts with Western/Settler views of water as a "resource" that can be owned, managed, and exploited. Organizations like Decolonizing Water wish to create self-sustaining water and ecological monitoring programs that will enhance protection of water resources and fulfill the promise of Indigenous water self-governance.