Improving First Nations water security through governance

Abstract

Many First Nations communities lack access to safe drinking water. In this article, we examine an under‐appreciated tool for improving First Nations water security – governance – and develop a framework for guiding the design and analysis of First Nations water governance models. In particular, we argue that three key ideas from the public administration literature – financial resources, regulation, and formalization – should be integrated with Indigenous insights and philosophies that are specific to each First Nations community. We illustrate how this might work by focusing on the insights, traditions, and philosophies of an Anishinaabek community in southern Ontario.

Moving towards Effective First Nations’ Source Water Protection: Barriers, Opportunities, and a Framework

“…Closely tied to inadequate funding are capacity issues, including technical and also human resource capacity, which can impact a community's ability to conduct water protection planning (e.g., inability to pay a program lead long-term) and also to carry out important technical implementation activities [5,35,36]. Several elements of the existing SWP options for First Nations, such as the representation of First Nations as stakeholders when they should be addressed on a government to government basis and the goal to protect water in specific zones only, are problematic because they do not respect the cultural perspectives and inherent rights of First Nations [5].…”

“…This list is by no means exhaustive; other scholars are documenting recent developments related to Indigenous water governance, offering new ways to move forward, and sharing the many ways in which Indigenous people are asserting their inherent rights to water across the country (e.g., [30,32,36]).…”

Overcoming barriers to Indigenous‐local water sharing agreements in Canada

“…First Nations communities have historically been underfunded by the federal government (Alcantara et al, 2020; Black & McBean, 2017a; 2017b; White et al, 2012), which has made it challenging for many of them to properly maintain critical infrastructure related to water (Black & McBean, 2017a; 253; White et al, 2012; 16). For example, from 2003‐2004, First Nations received $7,200 per capita in federal funding, which was about half of what non‐First Nations people received (Gerson, 2013).…”

“…The municipality would bill each individual household an amount equal to the metered consumption per billing period multiplied by the agreed‐upon water rate. Individual billing requires installing new infrastructure (e.g., water meters) to monitor and record individual water use, which many First Nations communities currently lack (Alcantara et al, 2020; 161). The federal government has full discretion over the amount of funding provided to First Nations and how it must be used (Government of Canada, 2017; 11).…”

“…Skeptics of these agreements cite concerns relating to the capacity of some First Nations communities to implement and monitor these agreements successfully (Heckathorn & Maser, 1987; Lubell et al, 2002). They point to significant legal, institutional and cultural differences between First Nations communities and municipalities in terms of how water is managed, regarded and valued (Longboat, 2013; McGregor, 2014) and they worry that signing a water sharing agreement may undermine efforts at Indigenous nation‐building (Alcantara et al, 2020). Instead, many community leaders are focused on other, more pressing issues related to First Nations water security, such as the lack of adequate infrastructure, effective water regulations, and sustainable funding from the federal government to properly support communities to maintain, protect, and cultivate their political, social‐cultural, and economic relationships with water (Arsenault et al, 2018; Longboat, 2013; McGregor, 2008).…”