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Indigenous Water Governance

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Indigenous Water Governance

First Nations (a Canadian indigenous community), whose multifaceted sociocultural

practices consider water sacred, face the water crisis due to access to water of poor quality.

The situation emanates from colonial water governance practices in established laws,

established political boundaries, and water management decision processes dominated by

Western scientific viewpoints. The situation adversely impacts the ecological system when

viewed from a broad range regarding the ecological impact. Therefore, infusing the input of

indigenous communities such as First Nations will mitigate such adversity and lead to better

approaches to water management.

The First Nations Canadian indigenous community had multifaceted sociocultural

practices concerning water, honoring it as sacred, thereby exhibiting how water is central to

their way of life. According to Wilson and Inkster (2018), First Nations recognized and

continue to recognize water as the most life-sustaining gift on Mother Earth, creating an

interconnection among living things. The high value placed on water arises from its power to

sustain society, flowing through and within individuals as it replenishes First Nations society.

According to the Assembly of First Nations, the indigenous community recognized water as

the blood of Mother Earth, cleansing Mother Earth and all living things as a central element

for proper health. Water represented a sacred element teaching First Nations that individuals

have great strength within them to make significant transformations. Water provides the First

Nations the spiritual teaching that they flow into the Great Ocean at the end of their life

journey after their demise (“Honoring Water”). The First Nation appreciated water for

shaping the land and issuing bodies such as rivers, lakes, ice, and oceans that the community

adored as gifts, adoring them for being the home of many living things contributing to the

health and wellbeing of others who water is not their habitat. The subsistence ways of life of

the First Nations peoples extended back thousands of years illustrate the special relationship
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between the indigenous community and water. The traditional activities of the community

depended on water for fundamental issues like transportation, consumption, and purification.

Water informed the habitat for plants and animals gathered for use in medicines apart from

sustenance. Water was an essential element for the First Nations indigenous community

subject to its relevance to their multifaceted sociocultural practices. First Nations recognized

and continue to recognize the sacredness of water, honoring it due to its interconnectedness in

aspects of all life; however, the community faces a water crisis.

The First Nations Canadian indigenous community faces a water crisis in the lack of

access to clean water magnifying an atrocity considering the high value of water subject to

their multifaceted sociocultural practices concerning water. Arsenault et al. (2018) posit that

First Nations communities in Canada endure disproportionate effects facilitated by poor

water quality. Similarly, Cecco (2021) explores how First Nations lack drinking water despite

Canada being a rich country. The indigenous community lacks access to fresh water and

cannot make use of the water available to them due to the wariness of waterborne illnesses.

The community relies on shipments of bottled water for sustenance and worries about the

lack of change in the immediate future due to crumbling infrastructure. The lack of access to

clean water is emotionally and spiritually damaging for the indigenous people. They can view

water in their surroundings but cannot use it daily. Cecco (2021) reports the frustrations

experienced by the community's newly elected chief, who lived her whole life without a

guarantee of accessing clean water from taps with the mounting frustration forcing the chief

and other Indigenous leaders to launch national class-action lawsuits against the federal

government. The main contention with the government concerns the failure to provide clean

water, leading Indigenous communities to live a life similar to developing countries. Cecco

(2021) reports that the lack of access to clean water for the First Nations is a generational

issue, with administrations unwilling to guarantee access to clean water despite Canada being
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one of the most water-rich nations in the world. Administrations promise to end the scourge

of unsafe water for the First Nations communities in Canada yet still fall short. Cecco (2021)

reports the glaring issue of the logistic challenge of setting up water treatment infrastructure

to assist the indigenous communities citing disparate locations of multiple First Nations

communities as a concern. The troubles faced by First Nations in lack of access to clean

water date back to the colonial era, whereby colonial water governance practices harmed the

community.

The colonial government practices that harmed the First Nations Canadian indigenous

community included colonial-era laws, established political boundaries, and water

management decision-making dominated by Western scientific viewpoints. Firstly, the

colonial-era laws established policies that harmed the First Nations, negatively impacting the

Canadian indigenous community by creating an avenue for their water crisis. Bradford et al.

(2017) explore such law in the Indian Act, which was a significant part of the Canadian

Constitution enacted initially as the British North America Act (BNA), which issued the

federal government exclusive authority to legislate concerning "Indians and Lands Reserved

for Indians." Bradford et al. (2017) further state that the act recognized First Nations as

having a special status; however, there was fragmented governance due to the law taking

away the indigenous community's power over its resources. The law removed the First

Nations' autonomy over their resources, including water leading to the federal government

having express authority to make decisions on their behalf. The colonial-era laws that

removed the autonomy of the indigenous community, such as the Indian Act, continue to

dominate in Canada. Bradford et al. (2017) report frequent debates on the topic with

legislation becoming increasingly restrictive and controlling of First Nation people's lives

with the current state involving the federal government bearing ultimate authority despite

devolving governing authority to Chief and Council in First Nation communities. Therefore,
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the leadership of the First Nation communities cannot enact measures to guarantee the people

clean and healthy water for daily use and put up much-needed infrastructure to rectify the

water crisis the community faces.

Similarly, the colonial government practices in creating established political

boundaries hurt the First Nations community regarding water leading to the crisis in lack of

access to healthy water. According to Bradford et al. (2017), posits that relying on established

colonial political boundaries facilitates the duty of consultation in multiple cases; however,

the consultation does not reach the potentially affected people in water governance systems.

It alludes to the hierarchy of governance which was a significant part of the colonial system.

The overall leadership enacted measures that affected every level of the nation; however, the

system created a system whereby there was much consultation at high levels at the expense of

low levels, such as indigenous community leadership (Wilson, 2019). Furthermore, Cecco

(2021) reports that the indigenous communities lack a direct influence in managing their

problems. The federal government is responsible for fixing the water crisis they face due to

colonial-era practices. As a result, First Nations cannot manage their water treatment systems,

and relying on the colonial political boundaries facilitates the lack of consultation with the

leadership of the First Nations due to the low level in the hierarchy of governance and

accessibility issues detailed in disparate location (logistic concerns).

Lastly, the colonial government's practices in bringing Western ideologies that did not

align with Canadian indigenous people's beliefs hurt the First Nations community concerning

water management. Western scientific viewpoints dominated the water management decision

process, which did not factor in First Nations Canadian indigenous community views on the

sacredness and relevance of water. According to Wilson and Inkster (2018), settler

communities viewed water as a "resource" that needed management, ownership, and

exploitation leading to such ideals in water management decision processes. Bradford et al.
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(2017) provide an example of the decision by the Provincial Government of British Columbia

that led to the building of the W.A.C. Bennet Dam, which altered the flow of the Peace River

to generate power. The dam displays the Western principle of effectiveness in harnessing

energy at acceptable costs against governance, magnifying social and normative principles

derived from community-based law and social wellbeing. Such Western ideologies do not

align with the Canadian people's beliefs of respecting water and honoring it with the view of

its sacredness and impact in connecting every aspect of life. The Western ideologies that do

not align with the indigenous people's beliefs are predominant in the contemporary era

facilitating the water crisis for communities like First Nations by barring them from funding

and managing their water systems.

The harm with colonial practices origins extending to the water crisis endured by the

First Nations has a broader ecological impact in adversely impacting the ecosystem. The

reliance on Western ideologies that do not align with indigenous communities' beliefs

facilitates economic degradation. For example, such attributes facilitate approving a specific

pollution level with water bodies bearing the adversity. The provision is for industries to run

with production to specific levels as a significant target for the Canadian government. The

situation leads to an "acceptable cost" for running industries. However, water bodies bear the

expenses of such provisions through pollution and other environmental degradation that

causes negative impacts. It leads to adverse impacts on the ecosystem, with threatened

species facing a more realistic threat to their existence. According to Bakker et al. (2018),

human beings equally bear the adversity through compromised access to safe drinking water

leading to related livelihood and health issues. Therefore, the harm has a broader ecological

impact in adversely impacting the ecosystem, thereby necessitating an address.

Indigenous water governance could assist better approaches to stop the water crisis

and improve ecology subject to enacting proper standards that protect water. According to
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Wilson (2014), indigenous communities worldwide are leveraging their collective rights to

fight for opportunities in participating in water governance beyond their traditional territory

scale. If granted, communities such as First Nations can have the autonomy to decide how to

manage their natural resources, such as water. They would protect water resources through

adequate funding and enact proper standards that guarantee healthy water due to their high

value of water. They will restore traditional approaches to protecting the health of water and

share such ideologies with the world to emulate ("Honoring Water"). The indigenous

communities would protect the water bodies due to the direct relation to their subsistence way

of life. The net impact of a highly valued water system and proper management involving the

input of indigenous communities such as First Nations will resolve the water crisis they face

by facilitating healthy and safe water, leading to a positive impact from an ecological angle.

The indigenous people's input is the answer to the adverse ecological impact

facilitated by poor water management approaches. For example, the First Nations would

improve their water systems due to the high value of water in its sacred connotations for the

community and enact measures to mitigate the crisis they face in accessing poor water

quality. It shows how community-based policies have the potential to make the world a better

place.
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References

Arsenault, R., Diver, S., McGregor, D., Witham, A., & Bourassa, C. (2018). Shifting the

framework of Canadian water governance through Indigenous research methods:

Acknowledging the past with an eye on the future. Water, 10(1), 49.

Bakker, K., Simms, R., Joe, N., & Harris, L. (2018). Indigenous Peoples and Water

Governance in Canada: Regulatory Injustice and Prospects for Reform. In R. Boelens,

T. Perreault, & J. Vos (Eds.), Water Justice (pp. 193-209). Cambridge: Cambridge

University Press.

Bradford, L. E., Ovsenek, N., & Bharadwaj, L. A. (2017). Indigenizing water governance in

Canada. In Water policy and governance in Canada (pp. 269-298). Springer, Cham.

Cecco, L. (2021, Apr 30). Dozens of Canada’s First Nations lack drinking water:

‘Unacceptable in a country so rich.’ The Guardian,

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/apr/30/canada-first-nations-justin-trudeau-

drinking-water

“Honoring Water.” Assembly of First Nations, https://www.afn.ca/honoring-water/

Wilson, N. J. (2014). Indigenous water governance: Insights from the hydrosocial relations of

the Koyukon Athabascan village of Ruby, Alaska. Geoforum, 57, 1-11.

Wilson, N. J., & Inkster, J. (2018). Respecting water: Indigenous water governance,

ontologies, and the politics of kinship on the ground. Environment and Planning E:

Nature and Space, 1(4), 516-538.

Wilson, N. J. (2019). “Seeing Water Like a State?”: Indigenous water governance through

Yukon First Nation Self-Government Agreements. Geoforum, 104, 101-113.