\u201cMy conversations with leadership and the chiefs that have spoken to me understand that we are trying to pass a bill that is going to be protected and stand the test of time,\u201d the minister said at a press conference on Parliament Hill on June 16.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m not trying to put a bill forward that is going to be challenged,\u201d she said. \u201cI\u2019m trying to put a bill forward that partners, provinces and territories feel can advance, that they can work with us.\u201d<\/p>\n
![\"Minister](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/CP-Gull-Masty-Dec-2025-Colby-WEB.jpg\"\/)
Minister of Indigenous Services Mandy Gull-Masty has denied the federal government caved to pressures from the Ontario government in creating Bill C-37, saying the bill was generated after consultation with First Nations leaders. Photo: Spencer Colby \/ The Canadian Press<\/p>\n
The Chiefs of Ontario, however, say<\/a> First Nations were not consulted in the process. The group is \u201ccautiously optimistic\u201d but remains concerned about the approach to this issue by the government of Prime Minister Mark Carney.<\/p>\n \u201cUnlike previous legislative efforts, which were developed through meaningful dialogue and partnerships with First Nations Knowledge Keepers [and] technicians, Bill C-37 was introduced without broad or meaningful input from First Nations,\u201d Linda Debassige, Anishnabek Nation Grand Council Chief, and a member of the Chiefs of Ontario leadership council, said in a Tuesday press conference in Rama, Ont.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cOur letters of advocacy have been met with a deafening silence, to be honest. We do not have access to parliamentary privileged dialogue or cabinet discussions in relation to this.\u201d<\/p>\n It\u2019s been over a year since the Liberal Party promised in their election platform<\/a> to \u201cimmediately introduce and pass legislation affirming that First Nations have a human right to clean drinking water.\u201d In the last six months, two First Nations in northern Ontario have declared severely worsening water crises due to failed infrastructure; one of the communities, Kashechewan, remains entirely evacuated.<\/p>\n The bill released this week states that the quality of water on First Nations lands must at minimum meet either federal guidelines for Canadian drinking water quality<\/a> and for wastewater<\/a>, or the standards in place in the province or territory where the lands are located. It\u2019s backed by $4.6 billion for First Nations communities to build, operate and maintain water and wastewater systems, according to the press release<\/a>, which adds to the $9.4 billion committed to these projects over the past decade.<\/p>\n The minister will still have to come out with regulations for a \u201cprotection zone,\u201d which the bill leaves undefined. The use of these zones would hand First Nations jurisdiction over water sources adjacent to their lands \u2014 that is, if the nation and the federal and provincial governments have all agreed on the rules in force.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cWe have to acknowledge that [water] is not stagnant, it moves around,\u201d Gull-Masty said. \u201cFor water that is adjacent or flowing in and out, I think that the important part of the work that we\u2019re undertaking is that partners and territories understand that they also have a role to play.\u201d<\/p>\n In addition to defining \u201cprotection zones,\u201d the bill empowers the minister to come out with regulations on a dozen different aspects of water services, including source water protections, training and certification, occupational health and safety, monitoring and inspections, emergency planning, permitting and more. The government can even design regulations to govern the disclosure of information.<\/p>\n But the bill doesn\u2019t commit to the same kind of rights language that the Liberals promised in their platform. Instead, it declares that the government\u2019s policy is to \u201cfurther the progressive realization, for individuals on First Nation lands, of the human right to safe drinking water as protected by the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights.\u201d That covenant is a multilateral treaty adopted by the United Nations that came into force in the 1970s.<\/p>\n \u201cTo me, [this] is insane,\u201d Debassige told reporters. \u201cIt\u2019s been a progressive realization for many of our nations for decades.\u201d<\/p>\n Debassige has been working on First Nations water issues for more than a decade and has been involved in negotiations over previous federal bills on the matter. She said that by excluding language like \u201cin collaboration with First Nations\u201d in Gull-Masty\u2019s new legislation, the Carney government is \u201chiding from their obligations.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cWe must remember that most of the drafters of Bill C-37 have never spent time in our community,\u201d she said, citing the speedy passage of the federal Bill C-5<\/a> and the provincial Bill 5<\/a>, both of which aim to \u201cfast-track\u201d infrastructure and mining approvals and construction. \u201cAnd we\u2019ve seen the pushback on the previous iteration of this bill. And now we see the results of that weakening of our inherent rights to pave way for economic development.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cI think it\u2019s a deflection of responsibility, a fear of provinces, a fear of nation-building projects not coming through because our nations want to protect water.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n The bill comes as tensions grow over these issues between the federal government, provincial governments and First Nations.\u00a0<\/p>\n Some chiefs, particularly in Treaty 8 territory, which spans northern B.C., Alberta and parts of Saskatchewan and the Northwest Territories, asked<\/a> the federal government to rethink its approach. Sturgeon Lake Cree Nation\u2019s chief said the bill didn\u2019t meaningfully incorporate inherent and Treaty Rights to water while Mikisew Cree First Nation\u2019s chief said that bill didn\u2019t do enough to deal with the potential release of oilsands wastewater into rivers.<\/p>\n Last July, the environment ministers from Ontario and Alberta asked<\/a> the federal government to \u201crefrain\u201d from introducing a new First Nations water bill, claiming it would \u201cundermine competitiveness, delay project development and disproportionately harm specific provinces and territories without any quantifiable benefits to the natural environment.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n Ontario\u2019s Environment Minister Todd McCarthy apologized<\/a> for any \u201cconfusion\u201d the request may have caused First Nations. But First Nations have not been convinced by the apology. The Ontario government has skirted meaningful consultation<\/a> with First Nations in its push to open the Ring of Fire region in northern Ontario, with significant implications for water use and sources, and broadly speed up mining approvals and development<\/a>. It has also signalled its own plans to make broad changes to provincial clean water rules<\/a>.<\/p>\n As Canada and Ontario rush to expedite major projects, including in the mining sector, First Nations have long been asking for the same expediency to pass laws to protect drinking water before shovels hit the ground. With a few days left before MPs are scheduled to rise for the summer, this bill is unlikely to become law before the fall.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cI wish one of Canada\u2019s major projects were to provide us clean drinking water,\u201d Knowledge Keeper Sally Gaikezheyongai said, as she offered a prayer to begin the Tuesday press conference by the Chiefs of Ontario. \u201cI ask the Creator to make sure that happens hopefully within my lifetime.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n Why does Canada need a law to protect access to clean drinking water on First Nations?\u00a0<\/p>\n Indigenous Services Canada reports<\/a> that there are 36 Indigenous communities that have been under orders for more than a year to boil their drinking water for one minute. Most of these communities are in Ontario. The longest-standing boil water advisory is for Neskantaga First Nation in northern Ontario, just south of the Ring of Fire region. It hasn\u2019t had clean drinking water since 1995. (The federal count is not comprehensive, as some jurisdictions, such as B.C., track their own boil-water advisories in Indigenous communities.)<\/p>\n Prime Minister Justin Trudeau promised to end all these boil-water advisories by March 31, 2021, but did not succeed. Post-colonization, and as stated in the Indian Act, the federal government has a fiduciary obligation to ensure safe, potable drinking water for First Nations. Instead, there is a regulatory black hole for and chronic underinvestment in on-reserve water and wastewater services.<\/p>\n A month before Trudeau\u2019s deadline, a government audit found<\/a> that Indigenous Services Canada \u201cdid not provide the support necessary to ensure that First Nations communities have ongoing access to safe drinking water,\u201d thus prolonging boil water advisories.\u00a0<\/p>\n The impacts of these failures are severe, including preventable illnesses, costly reliance on bottled water and long-term evacuations.\u00a0<\/p>\n Kashechewan First Nation, a community of 2,000 residents, has been entirely evacuated since January due to a catastrophic sewage pump failure. There is still no access to safe drinking water on their reserve.\u00a0<\/p>\n Dive deeper on this topic<\/p>\n In May, Pikangikum First Nation declared<\/a> a second state of emergency, a year after the original declaration, due to collapsing water and wastewater systems. The community\u2019s only water treatment plant is operating beyond capacity, even as more than 300 homes remain without direct water service. The community\u2019s reservoir is also at critically low levels and is losing water at a rate roughly four times greater than it can be filled.<\/p>\n As a result, the nearly 4,000 on-reserve residents are dealing with daily water rationing and forced evening shutdowns. As wildfire season looms, Pikangikum is now suing the federal government.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s so important that we take action as a country, as First Nations leadership, to ensure that there are no more Kashechewans, that there are no more Pikangikums,\u201d Grand Chief Alvin Fiddler of Nishnawbe Aski Nation, told reporters.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s unacceptable that this is a reality that many of our communities are being put in: to try to negotiate on big, major nation-building projects while they\u2019re trying to make sure that their children and their youth can have access to water to drink.\u201d<\/p>\n Why is the federal law to protect clean drinking water on First Nations so delayed?<\/p>\n There have been different iterations of this legislation, Kathleen Padulo, director of environment for the Chiefs of Ontario, told The Narwhal in a conversation before Bill C-37 was released, but none have proved durable.<\/p>\n Since the 1970s, the federal government has been promising to provide Indigenous communities with water and wastewater systems equal to those enjoyed by most Canadians, but no matter which party is in power, it has continuously fallen short of that goal.\u00a0<\/p>\n In 2013, the Stephen Harper government passed the Safe Drinking Water for First Nations Act<\/a>. This law created a regulatory regime to govern water infrastructure on First Nations lands, but without any financial backing or centring Indigenous decision-making or rights. It also didn\u2019t protect the sources of water flowing onto First Nation lands.<\/p>\n \u201cIt had no teeth, and it was really watered down,\u201d Paduro said. \u201cIt was a piece of paper just floating around for years.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n As a result, this law was met with widespread disapproval from First Nations. Several, including Neskantaga, launched a class action lawsuit in 2019, claiming \u201cCanada has been negligent, breached its fiduciary duties, breached the honour of the Crown and breached various rights under the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms.\u201d<\/p>\n Ottawa settled that lawsuit in 2021, agreeing to provide $1.8 billion in compensation and spend $6 billion on water infrastructure over nine years. The federal government also promised to repeal and replace the Conservative law.\u00a0<\/p>\n![\"Anishinabek](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/CP175951934.jpg\"\/)
Grand Chief Linda Debassige of Anishinabek Nation said the new water bill was developed without meaningful dialogue or input from First Nations. \u201dOur letters of advocacy have been met with a deafening silence.\u201d Photo: Spencer Colby \/ The Canadian Press <\/p>\n![\"Aerial](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/CasaDiMedia-RingofFire-edit2.jpg\"\/)
Areas like northern Ontario\u2019s Ring of Fire region, which are facing a push for fast-tracked resource development, represent crucial sources of water for local First Nations. Photo: Christopher Katsarov Luna \/ The Canadian Press<\/p>\n![\"Cache](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/Ontario-NipissingFN-WildRiceHarvest_VanessaTignanelli-12.jpg\"\/)
Federal governments have been making promises to offer adequate water infrastructure to First Nations for decades, but have continued to fall short on this commitment. Photo: Vanessa Tignanelli \/ The Narwhal<\/p>\n