Opposition parties weigh in on Liberals’ First Nations Clean Water Act.
The chief of the First Nation with the longest ongoing water issue in the country says he’ll remain skeptical of the federal government’s clean water act until he sees something concrete happen.
Neskantaga First Nation Chief Gary Quisess’s community in northern Ontario has been under a boil water advisory since the mid-1990s.
He said he will remain skeptical until the federal government actually meets its water commitments to First Nations.
“I’m not too optimistic with the announcement,” Quisess said, “Because I heard that before when Trudeau was prime minister, now it’s Carney. Seems like they’re just using the same tactic.”
Prime Minister Mark Carney is the 5th prime minister since Neskantaga declared a water emergency.
The Carney government’s new First Nations Clean Water Act continues to generate reaction from opposition parties, who say the government was slow to introduce the bill.
“They missed two deadlines on this legislation,” Conservative MP Billy Morin [Edmonton-Northwest] said outside the House of Commons. “It’s the second last day before the summer break and it shows how much of a priority that this legislation wasn’t to First Nations leaders at the end of the day.”
He then went on to say Liberal governments have been breaking promises to First Nations on water infrastructure for more than a decade.
“Eleven years ago, this Liberal government said that they would get rid of boil water advisories within six years,” Morin said. “Now it’s 2026 and they still have 38 to go and there’s still more rising or fluctuating at the end of the day. So, they never keep their word and their promises.”
The Liberals under former prime minister Justin Trudeau initially released First Nations clean water legislation called Bill C-61 in late 2023.
But the bill died on the order paper when Trudeau stepped down as prime minister and Parliament was prorogued in January 2025.
A number of critics agree the new legislation is substantially weaker than the previous bill, including Winnipeg NDP MP Leah Gazan.
She said the previous legislation had a much firmer recognition of First Nations access to clean water as a human right.
“Treating a human right as optional – I’d like to remind the Liberal government this is not an optional right,” she said. “This is a right that’s established in international law.”
Gazan added C-37 doesn’t sufficiently protect source water that flows into First Nations.
“The definitions they use for First Nations lands in terms of their jurisdiction over water which explicitly states does not include Aboriginal title claimed by First Nations or have been confirmed by the courts,” she said. “This is completely unacceptable that they are limiting jurisdiction of source water just on reserve.”
However, Michael Rosenberg, who is a lawyer for 260 First Nations who achieved a 2021 class-action settlement that led to the current legislation, said C-37 is a strong bill that builds on previous commitments.
“The commitments that the federal government made as a matter of contract would become law if this bill is ultimately passed,” he said. “That’s another powerful indication that the federal government isn’t looking to shirk its responsibilities but rather is looking to fill its commitments.”
Parliament is now in recess, and work on the bill won’t start until the fall.
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Neskantaga chief not 'optimistic’ about new water legislation
By Fraser Needham
Assembly of First Nations (AFN) National Chief Cindy Woodhouse Nepinak slammed the federal government’s proposed legislation regarding clean drinking water for First Nations in her opening remarks at the AFN annual general assembly on July 14.
OTTAWA - First Nations leaders and an opposition MP are denouncing the Carney government’s new proposed clean water legislation, which drops wording in a previous version that would have explicitly recognized First Nations’ right to clean drinking water.
There were impassioned speeches from First Nation chiefs, councillors, community members and activists as the focus on day one of the AFN’s annual general assembly turned to federal clean drinking water legislation.