CBC The National June 2009

CBC The National June 2009 : The flu spread to other First Nations and does fear and panic. For help The Federal Government sent body bags and hand sanitizers-> prompted outrage

Legislator complains about the help they gave to the first nations and asks for supplies and expertise. In response the Federal government pledged $30 Million to retrofit homes.

Now in Garden Hill, about a third of the homes rely on a water truck. It fills up in a water treatment plant and delivers water to houses with new cisterns. That’s a water tank just outside or underneath their homes

They still have problems : pumps break, the lines freeze and the tanks runs out. And with only 2 water trucks servicing this entire community they can wait a few days, a few weeks, even up to a month to get a refill.

They are interviewing a man, Wallace, about the running water. He does not drink the water from the tanks because he said it’s sticky and he said it’s not drinkable or reliable. They runs out of water nearly every 2 weeks and waited around three to four days. He complains that when the water tank is empty, the sewage tank is full. He said the sewage comes out from the bathtub and it get smelly in the house.

Chief Dino Flett : the band doesn’t have enough money to maintain the flawed system they have. He guesses the government think they gave enough.

The government spend $1.8 billion to end boil water advisories and they said that they do not see an urgent need here and the water from the water treatment plant is already safe to drink.

Andrew Flett job is to make sure of it.

Only half of the people in garden hill take their water directly from the water treatment plant

There s like a film at the bottom of every tank. It’s full of bacteria. It causes diarrhea, eating problems, and all of that. Some people got sick a few years ago.

This is home.

In the video entitled “Living without safe and reliable drinking water on Manitoba First Nation”, the journalist, Connie Walker, present the topic of running water in Garden Hill First Nation in Manitoba, explaining that the community have some problems of reliable and drinkable water. First, they talk about the situation of the natives, then they talk about the location of the community. Secondly, now, in Garden Hill, they retrofit the house by adding running water. The running water is based on two trucks and a water tank. Now they have new problems with the plumbery. The water is not drinkable or reliable. Thirdly, the Chief complained about the flawed system and said that the Federal Government does not give enough money, but the Government does not see an urgent need there. In conclusion, in Manitoba First Nation, the community does have problem with running water and the Federal Government give some help but it’s still not enough to solve entirely the problem.

...