First Nation wants Ottawa to help clean up plastic waste left behind by 27-year boil water advisory

A remote northern Ontario First Nation wants Ottawa to help it find an environmentally responsible way to dispose of the thousands of empty water bottles that have piled up over 27 years under a long-term drinking water advisory.

Neskantaga, a fly-in Oji-Cree community with approximately 300 members located about 450 kilometresnorth of Thunder Bay, Ont., marked a grim milestone on Tuesday the longest drinking water advisory of any First Nation.

"It shouldn't be like that in a countrylike Canada," Chief Wayne Moonias said.

Like many other First Nations, Neskantaga does not have waste pickup or recycling. Most of its garbage, including plastic, is incinerated or ends upin adump.

Ottawa sends weekly water shipments to the communitybut doesn't bring back all the used plastic bottles.

Mooniassaid that with its lack of potable water, crumblinginfrastructure and high rate ofsuicide, Neskantagahas too much on its plate right now to deal with plastic waste.

"It's a concern for our community because we all know that we need to do something to protect the environment," he said.

"The community cannot do it alone because the community is spending their efforts and energies on trying to address the well-being of our community."

In the last federal budget, Ottawa set aside $560 million over seven years for solid waste management projects in First Nations. But there is still no federal plan to address plastic waste in communities.

Some First Nations, including Neskantaga, are calling for that to change.

They say they want Ottawa to work with them to curb plastic waste in First Nations, especially plastic waste generatedby drinking water advisories.

'We need to do better'

"We are hurting our land by dumping all this plastic when we could be doing something about it," said Charla Moonias, a 24-year-old Neskantaga member who grew up on bottled water.

"We need to do better for our future generations."

She said she would like to see workers hired to sort out recyclingand ship plastic waste out on aircraft or winter ice roads.

WATCH | Neskantaga First Nation asksfor help with its plastic problem:

Neskantaga First Nation has no clean drinking water and an overflow of plastic bottles

3 years ago

Duration 2:01

A lack of clean drinking water has left Neskantaga First Nation in northern Ontario with an abundance of plastic water bottles in their landfill. The community is calling on the federal government to assist with their disposal.

Bearskin Lake First Nation, a fly-in community of roughly 400 peoplelocated 600 kilometres north of Thunder Bay, also wants to change the way it handles plastic waste created by more than two decades of a drinking water advisory.

"There's no such thing as recycling up herein the community," Chief Lefty Kamenawatamin said.

Indigenous Services Canada has a First Nations Waste Management Initiative to help develop sustainable waste management systems. The department told CBC News it has spent $384,000 since 2019 to support a community-led solid waste management planning project for Neskantaga for storingand handling plastics.

In 2021, it also gave $137,000 to Matawa Tribal Council to fund a full-time solid waste coordinator position to help all Matawa First Nations, including Neskantaga and Bearskin Lake, with waste management strategies.

Alternatives and prevention needed, professor says

But plastic recyclingdoesn't have a good track record, saidassociate professor Shirley Thompson of the Natural Resources Institute at the University of Manitoba in Winnipeg.

"We have to see alternatives and prevention," Thompson said.

Thompson said the burden of reducing plastic wasteshould fall on retail stores operating in northern and remote communities, including Neskantaga.

They could start deposit-return programs for people to return water bottles for a small refund, she said.

"Having a federal regulation that requires itwill result in better follow-up," Thompson said.

For far too long, Thompson said, Ottawa has pushed waste management in First Nations down the priority list.

She researched waste management in more than a dozen First Nations and found that many have landfills that are not at a safe distance from roads or rivers, which can put them at risk of contamination.

She also said First Nations communities, including Neskantaga, often burntheir garbage, generatingtoxic chemical waste.

"This is a necessary evil in the fact that they don't have money for covering up the landfill on a regular basis," she said.

"This is a result of policy. There is not sufficient funding for waste."

Environmental Defence Canada is also calling on Ottawa to end the long-term boil water advisories that cause mounting plastic waste.

"The federal government needs to throw in all of their efforts and resources that they can behind addressing this issue," said Michelle Woodhouse, program manager for freshwater protectionand the Great Lakes at Environmental Defence Canada.

No word on when Neskantaga's advisory will be lifted

The ultimate solution for Neskantaga would be to lift its boil water advisory.Chief Moonias said he can't offera timeline for ending it.

Indigenous Services Canada spent $20.9 million to update the community's water treatment plant and another $4.1 million for related wastewater system upgrades. The water treatment system upgrade is complete.

But there is still some work to do to address problems such as leaks, and to makesure the upgrade works with the aging distribution system.

A 14-day performance test was scheduled for Jan. 10but was pushed back due to the pandemic.

Mooniassaid he hopes it will begin in the next month or so.

"The faith and trust in the system is very low right now," Moonias said. "Our community has suffered far too long."