QUEEN’S PARK — Sol Mamakwa, MPP for Kiiwetinoong and NDP Indigenous Relations and Reconciliation critic, has written an open letter to Doug Ford urging him to step up and respond to the dire water crisis facing Neskantaga.
"For 25 years – an entire generation – Neskantaga has been without clean water, living under a boil water advisory. Then two weeks ago, dangerous hydrocarbons were found in the local water reservoir. Neskantaga went from having no clean water, to having no water at all – while also contending with the COVID-19 pandemic. The entire community was forced to evacuate," said Mamakwa in his letter to Ford.
Mamakwa says that the Ford government has a responsibility to honour treaties and respect Indigenous communities, starting with fixing Neskantaga's water.
"This abuse," Mamakwa added, "allows one standard of rights and living conditions for communities like Etobicoke North and next to no standard at all for First Nations communities like Neskantaga.