Expert Panel Report on Safe Drinking Water for First Nations

On Dec. 7, 2006, the Minister of Indian Affairs and Northern Development released a report submitted to him by a panel of experts on safe drinking water for First Nations.

The expert panel members were three highly experienced and qualified individuals, including:

Chairperson, Harry Swain, Director of the Canadian Institute for Climate Studies;
Stan Louttit, Grand Chief of the Mushkegowuk Council;
Dr. Steve Hrudey, professor of Environmental Health Sciences at the University of Alberta.

The report outlines five options available to the Government for the establishment of a regulatory framework for safe drinking water in First Nation communities.

The panel’s mandate was to review examples of regulatory frameworks and regimes from other jurisdictions, to collect suggestions from stakeholders through public hearings and written submissions, to submit a comparative analysis of all options for a regulatory framework, and to outline issues that would need to be addressed to implement each option.

The panel defined the objective of providing safe drinking water as "the goal of reducing drinking water risks to a level that a reasonable and informed person would not worry about." To do this, the panel recommended a framework that regulates source water protection, effective treatment of drinking water, and secure distribution to consumers.

It identified five options for a regulatory regime:

Existing provincial regimes could be used as "laws of general application" although these were deemed to be too uncertain.
Regulations passed by Orders in Council under existing federal statutes, although the panel members believe this option may not provide "an adequate platform for comprehensive regulation".
A new federal statute setting out uniform federal standards and requirements.
A new federal statute referencing existing provincial regulatory regimes.
The development of a basis of customary law by First Nations that would then be enshrined in a new federal statute.

A comparative analysis focuses on the three options that point to a federal statute. The panel indicated that a single regime with uniform federal standards is the strongest option.

The panel also calls for more financial resources to be provided, and for the Government to consider the establishment of an arm’s-length board or water commission that would be responsible for regulation, enforcement and accountability within the new regulatory framework.

The panel conducted public hearings across the country in the summer of 2006 and heard from more than 110 presenters. These included 39 First Nations, 31 First Nations organizations, three federal departments, many provincial and territorial ministries, private sector organizations and non-government organizations.

The two-volume report is before federal Ministers and the Assembly of First Nations for consideration and review.