First Nation under a boil-water advisory for 19 years declares state of emergency

A remote First Nation in northwestern Ontario that has been under a boil-water advisory for 19 years has declared a state of emergency over recent contamination within its water supply.

Marten Falls First Nation’s chief and council issued the emergency declaration on Monday following a sewage spill on Friday.

The community’s wastewater lift system is broken and raw sewage is spewing into a creek that goes directly into the Albany River, said Chief Bruce Achneepineskum.

“It’s outdated, it’s too small for the community and we’ve had [an] engineering report done on our wastewater system, highlighting that this has to be changed,” Achneepineskum said of the lift system, which was built nearly 30 years ago.

The First Nation cannot use the water for cooking or drinking. Community members have been complaining of rashes on their bodies, though the cause has not been officially linked to the sewage spill, he said.

Marten Falls, an Anishinaabe community where fewer than 400 people live, is about 400 kilometres northeast of Thunder Bay. The community declared a state of emergency in September 2021 after its water treatment plant failed.

A boil-water advisory was first issued for the Marten Falls Public Water System in July 2005. It became long term in July 2006. A new water treatment system was commissioned in June 2019, according to Indigenous Services Canada’s (ISC) website.

“ISC is working with the community to address additional concerns about meeting the community’s current and future safe drinking water needs. A project is underway to address issues with the raw water intake, scheduled to be complete in fall 2024,” the department says on a webpage last updated in October.

The plan was for the First Nation to lift the boil-water advisory once that work was done, but there are still concerns with the community’s water supply.

In 2022, ISC stopped funding the provision of bottled water in the community, Achneepineskum said.

“We continue to fly in bottled water at our own cost,” he said. “I don’t know why [ISC] cut off our funding for water.”

ISC responds to concerns

Eric Head, a spokesperson for ISC, provided an emailed statement to CBC News on Wednesday evening. 

“We are actively working on solutions with Marten Falls First Nation to make sure community members have access to clean drinking water. This includes getting the pump in the wastewater treatment facility fixed to provide immediate repairs to the wastewater system and to ensure this never happens again,” Head said.

“We recognize that there is more work to do to improve access to water in communities such as Marten Falls First Nation. Canada also recognizes the need for transformational change.”

He then pointed to the federal government’s First Nations Clean Water Act, “which creates the tools First Nations need to ensure clean drinking water for generations,” Head said.

Marten Falls has three key asks for “the responsible authorities,” the community said in a statement issued Monday:

1. Immediate implementation of wastewater report recommendations, including the replacement of the lift station and construction of a larger facility.
2. Restoration of bottled water funding to relieve financial pressure on the community.
3. Long-term solutions to ensure sustainable access to clean and safe water.

Achneepineksum told CBC News on Tuesday that he was arranging a meeting with the federal government to discuss his concerns.