Aboriginal Affairs may help Ontario First Nation with upfront water costs – Toronto Star
Apr 22 2015
Marten Falls First Nation, under a boil-water advisory since 2005, says Aboriginal Affairs is open to advancing the community funds to cover the cost of bottled water so they don’t have to wait for reimbursement.
OTTAWA—An aboriginal community without its own source of safe drinking water may soon get a little help from the federal government to cover the upfront cost of flying bottled water to the northern Ontario reserve.
Marten Falls First Nation, a fly-in reserve about 500 kilometres northeast of Thunder Bay, Ont., has relied on plastic bottles of water since Health Canada placed the community under a boil-water advisory nearly a decade ago.
Aboriginal Affairs and Northern Development Canada has been covering the cost of purchasing and shipping bottled water from Thunder Bay, which the Star reported in February has cost more than $2 million since 2005.
