Researchers from the University of Manitoba have worked with the First Nations Health and Social Secretariat of Manitoba and other partners on research projects related to drinking water and sanitation as a human right.
Projects
Colonialism and drinking water (history)
Advocating for Clean Water in First Nations (social science)
H2O program for water and sanitation security in First Nations (science and engineering)
Sapotaweyak Cree Nation youth water project (health)
Research results
Update for Assembly of Manitoba Chiefs (2016)
Health and social context:
- Melanie O’Gorman, “Mental and physical health impacts of water/sanitation infrastructure in First Nations communities in Canada: An analysis of the Regional Health Survey,” World Development 145 (2021)
- Katelin Neufeld, Laura Funk, Katherine Starzyk, Michelle Gorea, Lisette Dansereau “Barriers to and Strategies for Engaging Non-Indigenous Canadians in First Nations Water Rights,” International Indigenous Policy Journal (2019)
- Katelin Neufeld, Danielle Gaucher, Katherine Starzyk and Gregory Boese, “How feeling connected to one’s own community can increase support for addressing injustice impacting outgroup communities,” Group Processes and Intergroup Relations, (2018): 1-19.
- “Water infrastructure and well-being among First Nations, Métis and Inuit individuals in Canada: what does the data tell us?”, Environmental Science and Pollution Research 25 (2018)
- Photovoice
- From research to action (ongoing)
Legal strategies: (video)
- Karen Busby, “Exercising the Human Right to Water and Sanitation,” Water Canada, Feb. 2017.
- Karen Busby, “‘Providing Essential Services of Reasonable Quality to All Canadians’: Understanding Section 36(1)(c) of the Constitution Act, 1982,” Review of Constitutional Studies 20(2) (2016): 191-212.
- Karen Busby, “Troubling Waters: Recent Developments in Canada on International Law and the Right to Water and Sanitation” (2016) 5:1 Canadian Journal of Human Rights 1.
- Aimée Craft, Giving and receiving life from Anishinaabe Nibi Inaakonigewin (our water law) research (2016 book chapter)
- Anishinaabe Nibi Inaakonigewin (water law) report by Aimée Craft (see video)
- Legal principles
- “Canada’s Complicity in Water Discrimination on Reserves: The Case for a Complaint under the Canadian Human Rights Act,” (student paper, 2017)
- “Safe Drinking Water for First Nations Act: Recommendations on Amendments to Respond to First Nations Concerns,” (student paper, 2017)
Science:
- Detection of fecal bacteria and antibiotic resistance genes in drinking water collected from three First Nations communities in Manitoba, Canada (2019)
- First Nations wastewater treatment systems in Canada: Challenges and opportunities (2018)
- Bacteria in drinking water sources of a First Nation reserve in Canada (2017)
- Detection of Antibiotic Resistance Genes in Source and Drinking Water Samples from a First Nation Community in Canada (2016)
Events
2018 H2O water research conference (summary)
Clean water litigation workshop (2015)
Anishinaabe water gatherings (2013-2017)
Seminar series on First Nations and the Right to Water
Research planning symposium (2012)
Media coverage:
This First Nation produces clean water. So why are so many residents afraid to drink it? (2019)
Shoal Lake 40 paying for our water for a century (2016)
Water alarmingly tainted even on reserves with good treatment plants (2016)
Water distribution systems failing (2016)
Antibiotic resistant bacteria found in Manitoba First Nations water (2016)
New research supports urgent need for Aboriginal drinking water progress (2015)
New water rights report taps Elder testimony (CBC, 2014)
Quenching a thirst, UM Today (2013)
Radio interview with Centre for Human Rights manager Helen Fallding. (2012)
See the Cherishing Water 
acebook page.