PIKANGIKUM — Water issues in Pikangikum First Nation are the same now as 39 years ago, Chief Paddy Peters said Monday.
“I was elected into office (for) my first term as chief when I was 30 years old,” he said in an interview via Zoom.
“And what we're going through right now … those (issues) were on the table when I began as chief, when I was 30 years old.
“Today I'm 69 years old. I was re-elected into office in January of this new year, and the same issues are still on the table.
“And, you know, I thought everything would be all worked out (by now).
“I was out of office for over 10 years. I was re-elected and now I have to come back to the same situation.”
Less than 30 of the 520-plus homes in the community of roughly 3,300 have running tap water and indoor toilets, according to the First Nation.
Peters said his household is among those that must do without.
Pikangikum families “have been waiting on the government to provide us these services,” he said. “And how much longer do we have to wait?”
The fly-in First Nation north of Red Lake has declared a state of emergency and is asking the Federal Court to order Ottawa to fix its domestic water and wastewater infrastructure.
It also seeks an order for the government to pay more than $2 billion in damages to Pikangikum.
The court is also being asked to order the federal government to ensure adequate fire prevention infrastructure on the reserve. Peters said Pikangikum has one fire truck and none of the reserve’s fire hydrants works because of weak water supply.
Pikangium’s statement of claim asks the court to declare Canada in breach of treaty obligations and international law by failing to ensure adequate access to potable water and its failures in sewage disposal and fire prevention infrastructure on the reserve.
The federal government “has violated the rights of Pikangikum under sections 7 and 15 of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms,” according to the statement of claim.
Section 7 guarantees “the right to life, liberty and security of the person.” Section 15 guarantees the right to equal protection and equal benefit of the law.
The statement of claim asks the court to order the government to build or repair water and sewage systems and fire prevention infrastructure on the reserve immediately.
Pikangikum has been under its current drinking water advisory since February 2024 and has seen other ones from October 2000 to July 2002, and from October 2005 to September 2019.
States of emergency over water were declared in 2000, 2011 and 2015, according to the First Nation.
