VICTORIA (CP) - The B.C. government will push the federal government to clean up water problems in First Nations communities, the province's aboriginal relations and reconciliation minister said Wednesday. A tiny aboriginal community on northern Vancouver Island has been drinking bottled water for years after its water system broke down nine years ago and has yet to be repaired, Tom Christensen said outside a cabinet meeting. Less than 50 members of the Kwicksutaineuk Band on Guilford Island, located about 450 kilometres north of Victoria, are living in mould-infested homes and drink only bottled water. The Assembly of First Nations declared the community a disaster area last year. Christensen said the quality of water and the homes people live in on some B.C. aboriginal reserves is shameful. The federal government is responsible for water quality and housing on reserves. "We're going to push the federal government to move as quickly as possible in addressing the water situation that exists on different reserves," Christensen said. "We're going to demand that they act." He said he will lobby for water and housing improvements for aboriginals when Canada's First Ministers meet in Kelowna later this month. The federal government recently evacuated members of the Kashechewan reserve in Northern Ontario because the community's water was tainted. |
