Summary
"The critical problem isn't money," the newly appointed minister told Windspeaker during a phone interview hours after the press conference. "The critical problem, according to the auditor general, is accountability. So that's step one. The other critical problem to the auditor general is the absence of standards, so we've dealt with that. I think you have to appreciate what we've done here. We've introduced the concept of what I call communities at risk. In the past there was no system of priorizing where communities fit into the overall framework. So if something bad happened, something bad happened. It seemed to be a surprise to people when it occurred."
"We've introduced a ranking system. Initially we've focused on the communities where there's a boil water advisory. And then we "overlay other factors on top of it, five specific factors of risk: the water source, the extent of operations and maintenance, the quality of the reporting, the quality of the operators that are in the place, the age of the system, those types of things. So when you overlay all those factors on top of each other and look at it scientifically, we say that there are 21 communities living with risk and we've made a priority of dealing with those," he said."This is very important. The First Nation and their elected governments are responsible for the construction, the operation and the maintenance of the water system. That is their responsibility. If First Nation citizens are not getting quality water, that has to be clear in terms of accountability," [Jim Prentice] said. "The department provides funding and it has to provide sufficient funding to help put these systems in place and it has to provide standards. So that's clear that that's what me department is doing and the money has been tied to the standards so that if you're going to receive money from this department, you're going to have to live up to these national standards. And the department of Health, who is also a partner in all of this, they are responsible for testing. So we've tried to be very clear in all of this."See the full content of this document
Extract
Feds Set Agenda for Clean Drinking Water
OTTAWA
Indian and Northern Affairs Canada says it's getting serious about the quality of drinking water in First Nation communities. The move comes early in the life of the new Conservative Party of Canada government.Indian Affairs Minister Jim Prentice and Assembly of First Nations (AFN) National Chief Phil Fontaine appeared together at a press conference on Marc...See the full content of this document
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