Description
Denying the Source: The Crisis of First Nations Water Rights is a slim, 99-page book about the issues surrounding First Nations water rights written by Merrell-Ann Phare, a lawyer and Executive Director of the Centre for Indigenous Environmental Resources, a national First Nation environmental organization. First Nations are facing some of the worst water crises in Canada and throughout North America. Their widespread lack of access to safe drinking water receives ongoing national media attention, yet progress addressing the causes of the problem is painfully slow. First Nations have had little say in how their waters are, or are not, protected. They have been excluded from many important decisions, as provinces operate under the view that they own the water resources within provincial boundaries, and the federal government takes a hands-off approach. The demands for access to waters that First Nations depend upon are intense and growing. Oil and gas, mining, ranching, farming and hydro-development all require enormous quantities of water, and each brings its own set of negative impacts to the rivers, lakes and groundwater sources that are critical to First Nations. Climate change threatens to make matters even worse. Over the last 30 years, the courts have clarified that First Nations have numerous rights to land and resources, including the right to be involved in decision-making. She argues that the solutions lie with bilateral agreements such as the Navajo 2009 example.