For Aboriginal people, those events reinforced long-standing and widespread concerns regarding the quality of drinking water on reserves.3 This paper briefly describes the roles and responsibilities of the federal and the provincial and territorial governments and First Nations communities with respect to the delivery of drinking water. [...] This issue of accountability came to the fore during the Kasheshewan crisis when, in an unusual move, the Ontario minister of Aboriginal Affairs, rather than the federal minister of Indian Affairs and Northern Development, ordered the community’s evacuation.8 In its 2006 report, the Expert Panel on Safe Drinking Water for First Nations suggested the following: The current situation can be describe [...] According to government documents, the plan of action follows the multi-barrier approach adopted by the FNWMS, but places “added emphasis and action on expanding upon the key points that would have the most impact on reducing the risk ranking of water systems in First Nations communities.”15 Key components of the plan of action include these: • The implementation of the Protocol for Safe Drinking [...] Core issues relating to the provision of safe drinking water include the high costs of equipment for and construction and maintenance of facilities in remote locations; limited local capacity and ability to retain qualified operators; the absence of a regulatory framework; the lack of resources to properly fund system operation and maintenance; and the lack of clarity regarding roles and responsib [...] The Expert Panel on Safe Drinking Water for First Nations found that for “many communities, finding the funds to cover the portion of O&M not provided by INAC is a serious problem.”25 According to a report prepared by the Polaris Institute, in collaboration with the Assembly of First Nations, one of the principal reasons that water treatment systems on reserves are inadequate relates to the financ
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