An Indigenous community in northern Ontario marked Sunday the 10,000th day since a boil water advisory was issued.
On February 1, 1995, a boil water advisory went into effect in the Neskantaga First Nation, a community of just under 400 people located on an isolated territory nearly 400 km, as the crow flies, north from Thunder Bay.
This is the oldest boil water advisory still in effect in Canada.
For 27 and a half years, the situation has never been able to be corrected for good in the community, which even had to be evacuated twice in 2019 and 2020 due to its water supply problems.
The problem “is real and is happening today in our community,” said Neskantaga Chief Wayne Moonias.
Reaching the milestone of 10,000 days of boil water advisory has so many impacts. We have lost so much dignity and loss of confidence with this issue.”
In 2016 work was undertaken to modernize the community’s drinking water treatment plant.
According to Indigenous Services Canada, these were completed in 2020, but more work needs to be completed before the boil water advisory can be lifted for good.
“There is still work to be done to finalize the construction of the new water treatment system as well as to fill the technical and operational gaps”, always indicates the ministry on its page devoted to the problem in Neskantaga.
Chief Moonias hopes good news will eventually come to his community.
“Every day we are on the verge of a complete shutdown. We hope that what we are doing to correct the root problems will benefit our community in the near future and for generations to come.”