{"id":119754,"date":"2018-10-08T12:00:32","date_gmt":"2018-10-08T11:00:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/?p=119754"},"modified":"2018-10-15T11:53:50","modified_gmt":"2018-10-15T10:53:50","slug":"while-nestle-extracts-millions-of-litres-from-their-land-indigenous-residents-have-no-drinking-water","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/2018\/10\/while-nestle-extracts-millions-of-litres-from-their-land-indigenous-residents-have-no-drinking-water\/","title":{"rendered":"While Nestl\u00e9 Extracts Millions of Litres from Their Land, Indigenous Residents Have No Drinking Water"},"content":{"rendered":"

Just 90 minutes from Toronto, residents of a First Nations community try to improve the water situation as the beverage company extracts from their land.<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Iokarenhtha Thomas, a mother of five. \u2018That\u2019s just the reality of living on reserve,\u2019 she said of the lack of water. \u2018You grow up being treated unfairly.\u2019
Photograph: Jennifer Roberts for the Guardian<\/p><\/div>\n

4 Oct 2018 – <\/em>The mysterious rash on the arm of six-year-old Theron wouldn\u2019t heal. For almost a year, his mother, Iokarenhtha Thomas, who lives in the Six Nations of the Grand River indigenous reserve in Ontario, went to the local doctor for lotions for the boy. It worked, for a time. But the itchy red rash always returned. Thomas came to suspect the culprit behind the rash: water \u2013 or, rather, the lack of it.<\/p>\n

Thomas, a university student and mother of five, has lived without running tap water since the age of 16. Her children lack access to things commonplace elsewhere, like toilets, showers and baths. For washing and toilet usage, they use a bucket.<\/p>\n

It is a challenging existence, full of frustration, exhaustion and health problems, and reminiscent of life in some developing countries. But this is not the \u201cthird world\u201d. It is Canada<\/a>, which regularly ranks as one of the United Nations\u2019 top places in the world to live. Moreover, this Native community is located in prosperous southern Ontario, 90 minutes from Canada\u2019s largest and richest city, Toronto.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, while Thomas and her family do without water, the beverage company Nestl\u00e9 extracts<\/a> millions of litres of water daily from Six Nations treaty land.<\/p>\n

Twice a week, Thomas and her husband grab jugs<\/strong>, pails and whatever else they have in the house, and drive 8km to a public tap to fill up. The water isn\u2019t drinkable, however, so once a week they also drive 10km to the nearest town, Caledonia, to buy bottled water to drink.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Ken Greene boils water in his home at the Six Nations reserve in Ontario.
Photograph: Jennifer Roberts for the Guardian<\/p><\/div>\n

\u201cWhen my husband isn\u2019t here, it makes it difficult to do the dishes or anything because I don\u2019t have the strength to carry all the jugs of water,\u201d Thomas said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen I start to compare my life to someone who isn\u2019t living on reserve, I start feeling angry at the government,\u201d she said. \u201cBecause our people don\u2019t have running water. But that\u2019s just the reality of living on reserve. You grow up being treated unfairly.\u201d<\/p>\n

Each container of the store-bought bottled water weighs more than 40lb, so a little over a year ago, Thomas, a slight, willowy woman, began supplementing them with rainwater collected from her rooftop gutters. She would have continued had it not been for her son\u2019s rashes, later diagnosed as impetigo, which she believes came from bacteria on the roof\u2019s shingles. \u201cIt made me feel like a bad mother to know that he had all these skin issues from washing with [rain] water.\u201d<\/p>\n

That\u2019s just the reality of living on reserve. You grow up being treated unfairly<\/em><\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Ninety-one percent of the homes in this community aren\u2019t connected to the water treatment plant, says Michael Montour, director of public works for Six Nations. Some, like the Thomas home, have no water at all. Others have water in their taps, but it is too polluted to drink.<\/p>\n

The Six Nations are not the only First Nations community in Canada with a water crisis. There are currently 50 indigenous communities with long-term boil water advisories, which means an estimated 63,000 people haven\u2019t had drinkable water for at least a year \u2013 and some for decades. But this may underestimate the size of the problem, since some indigenous communities, such as Six Nations, have a functional water plant but no workable plumbing. The lack of water has been linked to health issues in indigenous communities including hepatitis A, gastroenteritis, giardia lamblia (\u201cbeaver fever\u201d), scabies, ringworm and acne.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhy do white people live with water and we don\u2019t?\u201d said Dawn Martin-Hill, a Six Nations local and professor of indigenous studies at McMaster University. \u201c<\/strong>They don\u2019t have to live like we live. There\u2019s a lot of environmental racism.\u201d<\/p>\n

It seems difficult to believe<\/strong> that anyone in Canada, a large, sparsely populated country home to 60% of the world\u2019s lakes and one-fifth of the world\u2019s fresh water, could be without clean water.<\/p>\n

Canada\u2019s bounty has made it an attractive destination for beverage brands such as Aquafina and Dasani, which pump and bottle the abundant freshwater. But the distribution is rarely according to need. Nestl\u00e9, the world\u2019s biggest bottler, is extracting up to 3.6m litres of water daily from nearby Six Nations treaty land.<\/p>\n

\u201cSix Nations did not approve [of Nestl\u00e9 pumping],\u201d Martin-Hill said. \u201cThey told Nestl\u00e9 that they wanted them to stop. Of course, they are still pumping as we speak.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Iokarenhtha Thomas holds her daughter Waehsa Thomas and the water she needs to bring into her home.
Photograph: Jennifer Roberts for the Guardian<\/p><\/div>\n

Nestl\u00e9 pumps springwater from the nearby Erin well, which sits on a tract of land given to the Six Nations under the 1701 Nanfan Treaty<\/a> and the 1784 Haldimand Tract, said Lonny Bomberry, Six Nations lands and resources director.<\/p>\n

The Six Nations \u2013 Mohawk, Cayuga, Onondaga, Oneida, Seneca and Tuscarora \u2013 sided with the British during the American revolution; as a reward they were given an area of approximately 3,845 sq km around the Grand River. Later, Ontario broke the treaty, reducing it to the current 194 sq km.<\/p>\n

The land\u2019s legacy may be 300 years old, but for Six Nations residents, it is alive and present. Many are outraged at Nestl\u00e9\u2019s practices, including JD Sault, a self-employed mother of two. Like the Thomases, she lacks drinking water in her home. She paid several thousand dollars for her house to be connected to a nearby well \u2013 then found the water too polluted to drink. There is probably sewage contamination from her neighbours\u2019 septic beds, she said. She worries about E coli<\/em> and other bacteria.<\/p>\n

\u201cNestl\u00e9 are taking out water for free, so why don\u2019t they dispense it to people?\u201d Sault said. \u201cIt\u2019s the indigenous resources they are taking. It\u2019s unreal what [Nestl\u00e9] are doing. It\u2019s unreal the way they operate.\u201d<\/p>\n

No one disputes the existence or legality of the Haldiman or Nanfan treaties. If anything, their legality is finally being taken seriously, thanks to a shift in the national political climate toward greater recognition of indigenous rights, including several wins in the supreme and lower courts.<\/p>\n

But the question of who owns Canadian water is as murky as the water on many First Nations lands. In theory, the provinces have owned the water since 1930, when the federal government delegated ownership with the Natural Resources Transfer Act. According to that act, the provinces have the right to sell their water to whomever they want, including companies like Nestl\u00e9.<\/p>\n

But water is also supposed to be regulated by the federal government, which is responsible for the natural environment and Canada\u2019s waterways. And, according to the Canadian constitution, the federal government has a \u201cduty to accommodate and consult\u201d First Nations and to make sure other parties do the same when extracting any natural resource, including water, from indigenous land.<\/p>\n

This legal ambiguity has allowed Nestl\u00e9 to move in and extract precious water on expired permits for next to nothing. Nestl\u00e9 pays the province of Ontario $503.71 (US$390.38) per million litres. But they pay the Six Nations nothing.<\/p>\n

In response, the Six Nations are suing the province, in a case before the superior court of Ontario.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are working hard on developing our relationships with local First Nations communities, and look forward to working together,\u201d Jennifer Kerr, director of corporate affairs for Nestl\u00e9 Waters Canada, wrote in an email to the Guardian.<\/p>\n

\u201cEverything has to do with the water,\u201d<\/strong> explained Ken Greene, 53, who lives with his wife in a one-bedroom trailer without running water. \u201cBecause it has to do with the land. Land needs water. We need water. We can\u2019t survive without it.\u201d<\/p>\n

The disputed Erin well is located in a drought-stricken area, explained Emma Lui, a water campaigner with the Council of Canadians, a progressive not-for-profit that works on environmental causes. The drought has dried the wetlands surrounding Greene\u2019s 10-acre property. It has also decimated the local populations of salmon, trout, pike and pickerel, Greene said.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Ken Greene gathers water for his home at the Six Nations reserve in Ontario.
Photograph: Jennifer Roberts for the Guardian<\/p><\/div>\n

Martin-Hill told me that indigenous leaders can do little to address the drought because they are caught in a legal trap. Drought and other environmental problems are supposed to be addressed during the granting of new water permits. That\u2019s when scientific and legal experts examine fish populations, vegetation and aquifer levels to decide how much well water can be safely extracted.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s not happening. There\u2019s been a moratorium on new permits since 2016 \u2013 yet, paradoxically, the Ontario government has also given companies the right to pump water on expired permits until 2019. (The permit for the Erin site expired in 2017.)<\/p>\n

Maka\u015ba Looking Horse, 21, a student in indigenous studies at McMaster University, has organized a community-wide march for this fall. She has also organized a boycott of Nestl\u00e9\u2019s products. \u201cIt\u2019s hard to boycott Nestl\u00e9 because they own so many companies that sell so many products,\u201d she said. \u201cIt\u2019s hard to pick and choose. You don\u2019t always know what\u2019s Nestl\u00e9 and what\u2019s not because they own so much.\u201d<\/p>\n

This is not the first time Nestl\u00e9 has found itself in such difficulties. In fact, numerous conflicts have surfaced related to their business model, according to Peter Gleick, co-founder and president emeritus of the Pacific Institute, a global water thinktank, and author of Bottled and Sold: The Story Behind Our Obsession with Bottled Water<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Many of Nestl\u00e9\u2019s competitors, such as Aquafina and Dasani, don\u2019t use spring water, but filter and treat tap water, Gleick said. But Nestl\u00e9 was founded in the 19th century on the idea that spring water might have incredible health benefits. Nestl\u00e9 bottles its brands \u2013 including Arrowhead, Poland Spring, Deer Park, Ozarka, Zephyrhills, Acqua Panna, San Pellegrino, Perrier, Vittel and Buxton \u2013 from deep aquifers and natural springs, which can take decades or longer to replenish.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Ken Greene gathers water for his home.
Photograph: Jennifer Roberts for the Guardian<\/p><\/div>\n

For the past century, demand for freshwater has grown twice as fast as population growth, explained Steven Solomon, author of Water: The Epic Struggle for Wealth, Power and Civilization<\/a>. The United Nations predicts that by 2025, 1.8 billion people will live with dire water shortages, and two-thirds of the world\u2019s population could be living under stressed water conditions. That means a race to find untapped springs.<\/p>\n

Anticipating shortages, companies like Nestl\u00e9 are trying to lock in as much of the world\u2019s water as possible, explained Solomon. Bottled water is the world\u2019s most popular drink, and its sales recently outstripped soft drinks, according to a study by Beverage Marketing Corp. The trend is expected to intensify. The higher temperatures predicted with climate change will lead to less water and more thirst. \u201cDemand is rising,\u201d Solomon said. \u201cThe curve is rising a lot. And they are trying to tie up supply.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThe fact that Nestl\u00e9 is commercializing these natural resources in a community that doesn\u2019t have access to reliable safe, affordable drinking water is a stunning example of the disparities we see around the world in access to safe water,\u201d Gleick said. \u201cThe rich can pay for water and the poor get shortchanged over and over again.\u201d<\/p>\n

The former CEO of Nestl\u00e9, Peter Brabeck-Letmathe, caused an international furor when he praised the commodification of water in a 2005 documentary, saying: \u201cOne perspective held by various NGOs \u2013 which I would call extreme \u2013 is that water should be declared a human right \u2026 The other view is that water is a grocery product. And just as every other product, it should have a market value.\u201d<\/p>\n

While the lack of water<\/strong> in indigenous communities has been carefully documented, the full impact on the health and mental wellbeing of indigenous residents has not.<\/p>\n

Eager for answers, McMaster University professor Martin-Hill is conducting a three-year interdisciplinary study examining the impact of contaminated water and lack of water on humans, as well as fish and wildlife. \u201cWe need to know what is going on. Because what is happening with our water is a systemic, institutional assault on indigenous people\u2019s lands and rights over those lands to protect and preserve them.\u201d<\/p>\n

Martin-Hill believes that the exorbitant suicide rate among First Nations youth \u2013 five to seven times that of other Canadians, according to the federal government \u2013 is directly related to the lack of drinkable water. For a Six Nations person, water is sacred and a symbol of life. But the lack also has metaphorical significance, as it becomes representative of the myriad ways that indigenous Canadians are treated as second-class citizens.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Larry Jamieson collects water. Photograph: Jennifer Roberts for the Guardian<\/p><\/div>\n

\u201cThe young people are upset, pissed and demoralized,\u201d Martin-Hill said. \u201cThere\u2019s a strong element of depression, sadness and hopelessness because it\u2019s been going on for so long. Young people don\u2019t see a future.\u201d<\/p>\n

At Six Nations, the water situation is improving, albeit slowly. In 2013, the community received a $41m grant to build a state-of-the-art water treatment plant. Unfortunately, the grant did not cover the cost of plumbing, so it serves only 9% of homes.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe had to take out a loan for $12m to come up with the final dollars needed,\u201d Chief Ava Hill said. \u201cIn addition, they have not provided sufficient operation and maintenance dollars for us to run the plant. The challenges of gaining money for infrastructure on reserves is that the federal government simply does not provide enough dollars even though they have the fiduciary responsibility to do so.\u201d<\/p>\n

With the election of Justin Trudeau, the tide seemed to shift somewhat. The prime minister promised to improve First Nations prosperity and solve the bad water issue on indigenous reserves by March 2021.<\/p>\n

While there has been some progress, there aren\u2019t sufficient funds. The Liberal government earmarked $1.8bn over five years to solve the water issue. But the real cost is estimated at $3.2bn, leaving the government more than $1bn short.<\/p>\n

For Thomas, the inequality between indigenous people\u2019s access to drinking water and everyone else didn\u2019t start with water, but far earlier, with land displacement and colonialism. For her, it is the latest example of an ongoing cultural genocide. When thinking about how she will survive another day without drinking water, she remembers how her family has survived in the past.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are taught to be resilient,\u201d she said. \u201cIt\u2019s not right, but it\u2019s just a reality. You have to tell yourself: \u2018This is just the way it is.\u2019 Otherwise you become angry and bitter.\u201d<\/p>\n

Go to Original \u2013 theguardian.com<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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