Liberals are playing legal hardball with First Nations over drinking water – Investigative Journalism Bureau
May 19, 2026
Prime Minister Mark Carney’s Liberal government is playing legal hardball with First Nations fighting for clean drinking water — and First Nations are fighting back.
Interviews and hundreds of pages of court documents reviewed by the IJB reveal this marked shift primarily on three fronts.
In Alberta, Canada pulled the plug on settlement talks involving four nations. In Ontario, it is using a legal tactic against another that appears to contradict its own guidelines for government lawyers. And nationally, it is appealing a summary judgment that handed First Nations a victory late last year, arguing the federal court judge erred in finding Canada owes First Nations a duty of care on drinking water.
