“The Safe drinking water for First Nations Act (the Act) was passed in June 2013 and came into effect on November 1, 2013” (Government of Canada, 2017). This act allows the Government of Canada, in partnership with First Nations, to come up with federal regulations to ensure; access to safe, clean, and reliable drinking water, effective treatment of wastewater, and protection of sources of drinking water on First Nations land. Although First Nations communities lack these legal regulations, many Indigenous communities to this day have gone without proper clean-drinking water as a woman put it, it is like “living in Third-world conditions in a First-world country”.

“During the 2015 election campaign, Justin Trudeau promised to eliminate all long-term water advisories on First Nations by March 2021” (Jane Gerster, Krista Hessey, 2019) despite the fact that according to non-profit organization The Council of Canadians, some 100 First Nations are under water advisories. Over the past five years that Justin Trudeau has been prime minister, 105 (long term advisories) have gone down to 56 but data does not include B.C. or the territories and yet First Nations people will not “be guaranteed, long-term access to clean drinking water” (Jane Gerster, Krista Hessey, 2019). There has been little information on how long the end to water advisories will be if they will completely end at all and considering all the Canadian governments failed promises through history, it is difficult to ensure how long there will be clean water on reserves.