{"id":68825,"date":"2025-08-15T12:14:07","date_gmt":"2025-08-15T12:14:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/68825\/"},"modified":"2025-08-15T12:14:07","modified_gmt":"2025-08-15T12:14:07","slug":"these-entrepreneurs-are-using-their-canned-water-to-improve-access-to-safe-drinking-water-for-indigenous-communities","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/68825\/","title":{"rendered":"These entrepreneurs are using their canned water to improve access to safe drinking water for Indigenous communities"},"content":{"rendered":"

Open this photo in gallery:<\/a><\/p>\n

FN Clean Water co-founder Tyson Wesley, pictured here with former Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, saw a business opportunity in the market for bottled water\u2014but he also has a personal connection to the need for safe drinking water in Indigenous communities.Supplied<\/p>\n

Part of Tyson Wesley and Natasha Commanda\u2019s inspiration for FN Clean Water, a company that sells fresh spring water from the Eastern Ontario Highlands, was purely business. One-fifth of the water Canadians drink comes in bottles, according to the most recent data from Statistics Canada<\/a> \u2014 but none of the companies that sell this water are Indigenous-owned or -operated. <\/p>\n

\u201cThe ability to buy water is everywhere, it\u2019s so accessible. But there\u2019s not really an Indigenous presence in that marketplace,\u201d Mr. Wesley says. \u201cSo, we decided to start a water company but do it a little differently by using cans that are recyclable.\u201d<\/p>\n

But FN Clean Water, which launched in 2022, was also personal. Wesley is Cree and grew up in Kashechewan First Nation, an isolated community in Northern Ontario on the west coast of James Bay. He has clear memories of what it was like to live without access to clean water. <\/p>\n

In 2003, the community had been placed under a boil-water advisory, and two years later, then Ontario Minister of Aboriginal Affairs David Ramsay ordered almost 1,000 residents of the Kashechewan reserve to evacuate because their drinking water had elevated levels of E. coli. Mr. Wesley remembers the water that came out of the taps changing colour, and that people who bathing with that water were left with lesions and other skin issues. <\/p>\n

\u201cWe had a water crisis for quite a while before the government really reacted to the situation that we were in,\u201d he says. \u201cIt was a really dramatic experience not being able to drink water from your tap and it\u2019s still an ongoing issue. I look at my cousin right now, who\u2019s close to his mid 20s, and he doesn\u2019t drink water out of the tap, even in cities. It takes quite a while to break out of that psychological habit.\u201d<\/p>\n

His is one of many Indigenous communities who have had to adapt to living with unsafe, undrinkable and unusable water. Despite Canada having a bounty of freshwater reserves \u2013 the country ranks third in the world \u2013 over 600 First Nations<\/a> communities have had to live without safe drinking water, a violation of the United Nations recognized rights to safe drinking water and sanitation. <\/p>\n

\u201cCanadians take water for granted everywhere they go in the country, it\u2019s such a convenience. Our goal of gaining a presence in the retail market is to tell a different story, to educate Canadians about First Nations issues,\u201d Wesley says. That\u2019s why the tagline on every can of FN Clean Water is, Everyone Deserves It.<\/p>\n

Open this photo in gallery:<\/a><\/p>\n

FN Clean Water sells fresh spring water sourced from the edge of the Canadian Shield and sold in recyclable cans.Supplied<\/p>\n

While he and Commanda are broadening the reach of their brand, which can currently be found in several Ottawa-area locations including the Indigenous-owned Beandigen Cafe and the boutique at the National Art Gallery, they have also partnered with Water First to support the charitable organization\u2019s efforts to bring clean drinking water in sustainable and long-term way to Indigenous communities. <\/p>\n

Water First works in partnership with Indigenous communities and offers education and training for water treatment, long-term resource management and school programming to show students pathways to careers in water science. Because the organization\u2019s work is community led, it\u2019s important for donor partners to align with the priorities and needs of the communities Water First works with. <\/p>\n

\u201cOur team connects with businesses to learn more about their work and interests and ensure that our goals and priorities align,\u201d says Sarah Jayne Kendall, director of community engagement for the not-for-profit. \u201cWater First is the second component to our story. Our partners, participants and communities are the first. We have a responsibility to ensure that we do this appropriately, So being as clear as possible about how supporters can directly impact this shared work is critical to how we operate as an organization.\u201d<\/p>\n

FN Clean Water dedicates a portion of its annual proceeds to the organization. To date, Wesley and Commanda\u2019s start-up has been able to donate $1,000 to Water First. <\/p>\n

\u201cI think educating people on Water First is also our intent,\u201d he says. \u201cWe\u2019re a for-profit company. But when people email us to say, \u2018Hey, can we donate money to your company?\u2019 we try to redirect them to Water First.\u201d<\/p>\n

This form of funding is an effective way to support a charity. In fact, Kendall says the organization appreciates the support in all its forms. <\/p>\n

\u201cSome [donors] offer a portion of their proceeds. Some have teamed up on social media campaigns with us. Others have made multi-year grants to support programming in the future. We rely on all of this,\u201d she says. \u201cIt\u2019s all creative, it\u2019s all innovative, and it ends up reaching people in different ways. From my perspective, it always goes back to raising awareness. Without that awareness, we\u2019re not going to raise the funds. And it\u2019s critical to raise that awareness, because this is an ongoing crisis in Canada.\u201d<\/p>\n

One in a regular series of stories. To read more, visit our\u202fIndigenous Enterprises<\/a>\u202fsection. If you have suggestions for future stories, reach out to\u202fIE@globeandmail.com<\/a>. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Open this photo in gallery: FN Clean Water co-founder Tyson Wesley, pictured here with former Prime Minister Justin…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":68826,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[15],"tags":[25872,14370,84,35913,4203,1397,35911,35908,35909,35910,35915,5699,15145,35912,56,54,55,35914],"class_list":{"0":"post-68825","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-entrepreneurship","8":"tag-adveditorial","9":"tag-appwebview","10":"tag-business","11":"tag-cree","12":"tag-entrepreneurship","13":"tag-environment","14":"tag-fn-clean-water","15":"tag-indigenous","16":"tag-indigenousenterprises","17":"tag-ordid3737321246te","18":"tag-safe-drinking-water","19":"tag-sustainability","20":"tag-sustainable","21":"tag-tyson-wesley","22":"tag-uk","23":"tag-united-kingdom","24":"tag-unitedkingdom","25":"tag-water-first"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/68825","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=68825"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/68825\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/68826"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=68825"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=68825"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=68825"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}