WINNIPEG — The same remote northern Manitoba reserves that were sent body bags during the H1N1 flu outbreak say Ottawa has come up with a similarly “archaic and degrading” solution to their lack of running water — 1,000 slop pails.
The Island Lake Tribal Council says it asked Indian Affairs to help address the water crisis on its four remote reserves northeast of Lake Winnipeg. At least half of the homes on the reserves, which together have a population of 10,000, don’t have running water
Chief David McDougall of the St. Theresa Point First Nation said Thursday what they got was a shipment of 800 water containers and 1,000 slop pails — knee-high black buckets with lids, intended to be used as toilets. Each of the four communities also got a sewage truck, but they don’t have the resources or fuel to run it, he said.
“Three years ago when there was an outbreak of H1N1, Health Canada supplied body bags to our communities, which was very offensive and insensitive,” said McDougall, who lost his niece in the outbreak.
“Now Indian and Northern Affairs Canada is supplying slop pails as a solution. This is not acceptable to our people.”
The council had recommended several solutions with a price-tag totalling $8 million. They included outdoor, communal toilets in the short-term and an engineering study to determine how to service the reserves.
Instead, McDougall said Ottawa expects 15 people in one house to share a slop pail rather than ensure the communities have running water.
Not only is that archaic and degrading, it’s dangerous, McDougall said.
“Use of slop pails as toilets contributes to health risk for families,” he said. “The health of our children will be at greater threat. In the summer months, flies will be attracted to the waste and eventually contaminate food.”
Jeff Solmundson, spokesperson for Indian Affairs, said the department met with the chiefs in December and agreed to send out some immediate supplies — including slop pails — while the winter ice roads were still open.
“The trucks and supplies — which were (worth) about $1 million — that we sent up were not the first or the last thing we’re doing to address this problem. It’s one step,” he said. “We’re still working with them on longer term solutions.”
Indian Affairs has spent $41 million on water and wastewater for the Island Lake communities since 2006, he said. But Solmundson couldn’t say whether it was common for Indian Affairs to supply the reserves with slop pails and wasn’t sure when more homes will be hooked up with running water.
“It’s not feasible to have 100 per cent of homes hooked up,” he said. “You’re on the Canadian Shield and things can be spread out.”
But Chief Alex McDougall of Wasagamack First Nation said people on his reserve are living in Third-World conditions.
“The majority of our people have to haul water,” he said. Running water “is a basic right in Canada. For our community, it’s a daily struggle.”
“We’re frustrated,” added Chief Dino Flett, of Garden Hill First Nation. “We’re fighting for our people.”
The Island Lake community was particularly hard-hit by the H1N1 flu outbreak. At the time, chiefs blamed the community’s poor living conditions, including overcrowded housing and a lack of running water.
Health Canada shipped dozens of body bags to those remote reserves, along with hand sanitizer and other medical supplies. Many interpreted the bags as a grim prediction from Ottawa.