OTTAWA – POLITICS – The longest boil water advisory in Canada at twenty-five years and counting was raised by Kenora MP Eric Melillo during Question Period in the House of Commons.
Kenora MP Eric Melillo and Conservative Leader Erin O’Toole are calling for action on the Neskantaga water crisis.
In Question Period on Friday, MP Melillo used his first question to bring attention to the crisis, which he called “a public health emergency – and one that could have been prevented if action had been taken sooner.”
Melillo called on the government to expedite its timeline to provide clean drinking water to all Indigenous communities.
“The government has shown that they can spend billions of dollars to address a crisis within a very short timeframe – so when will they finally eliminate all long-term drinking water advisories on reserve?” Melillo asked.
Melillo says the current state of affairs is unacceptable: “Indigenous communities have been forgotten for far too long, and I will not stop fighting until every Indigenous community has clean and safe drinking water.”
In the House of Commons on Monday, Conservative Leader Erin O’Toole criticized the government’s inaction.
“As winter begins to set in in Northwestern Ontario, the people of Neskantaga have been forced to flee their homes – this after living with boil water advisories for 25 years,” O’Toole said, noting that Prime Minister Justin Trudeau recently “walked back a promise to end all boil water advisories on Indigenous reserves.”
“How many more walk-backs will there be from this Prime Minister?” O’Toole asked, adding, “To show that he cares, will he get it done?”
