Minister planning to table First Nations water bill despite provincial opposition
By Canadian Press on July 4, 2025.
OTTAWA — The federal minister of Indigenous services says her government plans to reintroduce legislation to ensure First Nations’ rights to clean drinking water — despite calls from Alberta and Ontario for it to scrap the bill altogether.
Environment ministers from Alberta and Ontario sent a letter to their federal counterpart calling on Prime Minister Mark Carney’s government to abandon legislation they see as undermining competitiveness and delaying project development.
One of the bills they singled out is C-61, legislation introduced in the last Parliament that sought to ensure First Nations have clean drinking water and are able to protect fresh water sources on their territories.
That bill faced a lengthy committee process but was not passed into law before Parliament was prorogued.
In an emailed statement, a spokesperson for Indigenous Services Minister Mandy Gull-Masty says everyone in Canada should have access to clean water and the government intends to bring the bill back in the fall.
Livi McElrea says provinces and territories share responsibility for reconciliation with Indigenous Peoples and the federal government is calling on all jurisdictions “to support this critical legislation.”
This report by The Canadian Press was first published July 4, 2025.
Alessia Passafiume, The Canadian Press
11-10
Minister Rebecca Schulz in Alberta and Minister Todd J. McCarthy openly and shamefully display their colonial mentality and disregard for basic human rights in calling on the federal government to abandon Bill C-61 in order to deny First Nations peoples access to clean drinking water together with ensuring First Nations are able to protect fresh water sources on their own territories.
The ministers display little understanding of First Nations Sovereignty, the meaning of Treaty, the meaning of Free Prior and Informed Consent, together with a basic scientific understanding of how clean, unpolluted water is essential to all life forms.
Deplorable.