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    Denying the Source: The Crisis of First Nations Water Rights
    Denying the Source: The Crisis of First Nations Water Rights
    Denying the Source: The Crisis of First Nations Water Rights
    Ebook76 pages1 hour

    Denying the Source: The Crisis of First Nations Water Rights

    By Merrell-Ann Phare

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    About this ebook

    Provocative, passionate and populist, RMB Manifestos are short and concise non-fiction books of literary, critical, and cultural studies.

    First Nations are facing some of the worst water crises in Canada and throughout North America. Their widespread lack of access to safe drinking water receives ongoing national media attention, and yet progress addressing the causes of the problem is painfully slow. First Nations have had little say in how their waters are, or are not, protected. They have been excluded from many important decisions, as provinces operate under the view that they own the water resources within provincial boundaries, and the federal government takes a hands-off approach.

    The demands for access to waters that First Nations depend upon are intense and growing. Oil and gas, mining, ranching, farming and hydro-development all require enormous quantities of water, and each brings its own set of negative impacts to the rivers, lakes and groundwater sources that are critical to First Nations. Climate change threatens to make matters even worse.

    Over the last 30 years, the courts have clarified that First Nations have numerous rights to land and resources, including the right to be involved in decision-making. This book is a call to respect the water rights of First Nations, and through this create a new water ethic in Canada and beyond.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherRMB Rocky Mountain Books
    Release dateOct 6, 2009
    ISBN9781926855172
    Denying the Source: The Crisis of First Nations Water Rights
    Author

    Merrell-Ann Phare

    Merrell-Ann S. Phare is a member of the Forum for Leadership on Water (FLOW), which published “Changing the Flow: A Blueprint for Federal Action on Freshwater.” She is also a legal advisor to the Assembly of First Nations regarding water matters. Merrell-Ann serves on numerous advisory committees and consultation bodies on behalf of the Centre for Indigenous Environmental Resources (CIER), including the Expert Advisory Committee to the National Round Table on Environment and Economy (NRTEE), the Regulatory Advisory Committee of the Canadian Environmental Assessment Agency and recently finished two three-year terms on the Joint Public Advisory Committee (JPAC) of the NAFTA Commission for Environmental Cooperation. She was a member of the 2005 Lake Winnipeg Implementation Committee and the 2003 Manitoba Task Force on Emissions Trading and the Manitoba Economy. She has been a member of Canada’s delegation to the United Nations’ Commission on Sustainable Development, and represented the Assembly of First Nations on Canada’s delegation to the first meeting of the parties to the Kyoto Protocol. She is also a member of RBC’s Blue Water Advisory Panel, which advises the Royal Bank on water matters and, in particular, distribution of its $50-million Blue Water Fund.

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      Book preview

      Denying the Source - Merrell-Ann Phare

      In this publication Merrell-Ann Phare makes an important contribution to the discussion of Aboriginal rights…. Society ignores this issue and the arguments in this book at its peril.

      — Justice Murray Sinclair, Chairperson, Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada

      "Water is critical to the lives of all Canadians, and First Nations are no different. Yet, for too long we have been excluded from important discussions about the future of water in Canada and have been denied access to basic water security. We must protect water, and the ecosystems and peoples that depend upon it; First Nations, relying upon our water rights, should be front and centre in leading this charge. Denying the Source is an important and timely book urging us to begin this discussion … and we must, now."

      — Phil Fontaine, former National Chief, Assembly of First Nations

      This book clearly elucidates the crucial importance of indigenous peoples’ effective participation in decision-making processes, especially in matters related to the ownership, control and use of water found in their territories. The denial of indigenous peoples’ inherent water rights since colonization up to the present, as this book illustrates in the Canadian context, is a common experience of most indigenous peoples in various parts of the world. Merrell-Ann Phare documents how the water rights of First Nations are being violated and provides good examples of successful negotiations on water issues between indigenous peoples in Canada and the US and the respective governments which other indigenous peoples can learn from.

      — Victoria Tauli-Corpuz, (Kankana-ey Igorot, Philippines), Chair, UN Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues

      "Denying the Source calls Canadians to restore the water rights of First Peoples, not merely because it is the right and just thing to do, but because it is the best way to begin the process of renewing our relationship with the water that gives us life and defines the character of this land."

      — Trevor Herriot, author of Grass, Sky, Song; River in a Dry Land; and Jacob’s Wound

      "In Denying the Source, Merrell-Ann Phare adroitly summarizes the many complex legal and ethical questions that have resulted in the water crisis facing Canada’s First Nations. She proposes that only immediate action to develop a new water ethic involving Indigenous Peoples, our waterways and the watersheds that flow to them, will ensure our freshwater supplies for the future, a proposal with which I fully agree."

      — Dr. David Schindler, Killam Memorial Professor of Ecology, University of Alberta

      There are profound flaws in the foundation of water resources management legislation in Canada. At the heart of our problems is the long-standing failure to properly characterize the water and related rights of First Nations. In a manner both succinct and articulate, Merrell-Ann Phare explains why we will never achieve equity or sustainability unless these injustices are fairly addressed.

      —Robert W. Sandford, Chair, Canadian Partnership Initiative, United Nations Water for Life Decade and author of Restoring the Flow and Water, Weather and the Mountain West

      Denying the Source

      The Crisis of First Nations Water Rights

      Merrell-Ann S. Phare

      This is for all Indigenous Peoples,

      and for A.S. as always

      Contents

      A Note on Terminology

      Prologue: the Piikani, 2002

      Some Inconvenient Water Truths

      The History We Made

      The Death of Denial

      Water Rights

      Limits to Rights

      Beyond Rights

      Epilogue: the Navajo, 2009

      References and Related Reading

      Acknowledgements

      About the Author

      A Note on Terminology

      In my work, I use the term Indigenous Peoples almost exclusively, for two reasons. First, I want to acknowledge Indigenous Peoples as being Nations (however challenging that may be to define in the current context of Canada), and I wish to avoid the use of terms (such as Indian and other terms created in response to that term) that could imply a general agreement with the political, cultural and legal approach taken regarding Canada’s colonization. Indigenous Peoples is commonly used in other parts of the world but is not in widespread use in Canada. Here, the term Aboriginal Peoples is more common, partly as a result of Canada’s legal recognition for Aboriginal people (that is, Métis, First Nation, Inuit peoples) in Canada’s 1982 Constitution. When referring directly to a particular Indigenous Nation in Canada, I refer to that Nation or a community of that Nation by the name it calls itself (such as Piikani).

      Second, I avoid (unless directly relevant to the point being made) use of terms that inappropriately reflect the status, role and legitimate place of Indigenous Peoples in Canada as the original, but also co-founding, peoples of Canada; and terms such as Indian or Aboriginal (which reflect racist or legally narrow perspectives). I use Aboriginal when referring narrowly to, for example, statistics or laws regarding the three legally recognized groups in Canada (Métis, First

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