VANCOUVER—The elected leader of a remote First Nation in B.C. which has been under a boil-water order for 18 years says he’s confident his community will eventually find a solution to its drinking water woes — regardless of which party is elected federally this year.

Chief Jimmy Lulua’s comments to the Star came a day after Canada’s new Indigenous Services minister boasted Ottawa has made “progress” on the First Nations drinking water crisis to mark World Water Day on Friday.

But for some residents of the nine B.C. bands under decades-long boil water or “do not consume” advisories, the self-congratulations ring hollow as they still wait for clean water.

“I think they’re trying, I’ll give them that, and they say they’re spending lots of money on water systems — they are still trying to connect us into all one system — but it hasn’t met our standards,” Lulua said in an interview Saturday. “Big corporations and governments think that one size fits all.

“I train horses. At the end of the day every horse is different; you have to have lots of tools and deal with every type. Putting water systems into all the Indigenous communities is not like downtown Vancouver where it will work for any building.”

Minister Seamus O’Regan issued a statement Friday proclaiming that “everyone should have access to safe, clean, and reliable drinking water” and that his Liberal government has “made progress” in lifting 81 long-term advisories.

As of Feb. 28, nine First Nations remained under drinking water advisories in British Columbia. Four are under “do not consume” orders, which are imposed when a pollutant “cannot be removed from the water by boiling.” Five others face less stringent boil-water notices due to a potential biological contaminant.

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Xeni Gwet’in First Nation, part of the Cariboo region’s Tsilhqot’in National Government, is one of those affected. The community of 252 residents has been under a boil-water advisory since October 2001.

Many residents of the community, however, don’t even have running water in their houses and collect water by hand in local creeks.

“In our beliefs, we’re mandated to protect our land and water,” Lulua told the Star. “As Tsilhqot’in people, we call ourselves the river people. The water to us is not just something we drink; it’s our identity.”

For most First Nations, including his, water is considered sacred. On March 15, he and other community members held a ceremony on the frozen crust atop Teztan Biny, known in English as Frog Lake.

“When we do any ceremony, we always ask for strength and guidance from our ancestors,” he recalled. “We sought permission of our ancestors to create awareness, for other people to see the importance of water, too.”

The Tsilhqot’in people have for decades fought to protect their water supply, including a years-long battle against Taseko mines’ proposal to create a mine tailings pond in the area of Teztan Biny. That plan was twice halted by the previous Conservative government of Stephen Harper.

On Friday, Lulua and leaders from the other five Tsilhqot’in National Government communities drummed on the courthouse steps in Vancouver as they once again went to court, this time to stop Taseko from drilling activities at the site in their territories — which the Vancouver-based mining firm believes is the world’s seventh-largest copper and gold deposits.

“The government of British Columbia has the authority to approve resource development work even in the face of Aboriginal opposition,” said Taseko’s CEO Russell Hallbauer in a statement last August. “… There is no duty or obligation to secure Aboriginal support for the work being proposed.”

On Friday, Tsilhqot’in National Government applied for an injunction against Taseko’s work in the B.C. Court of Appeals, which will decide in the coming week.

“The B.C. government allowed (Taseko) to keep their investors and millionaires all happy,” Lulua said. “Teztan Biny is one of our strongest spiritual areas. They don’t see it holistically.

“We’re educating government to see the bigger picture; when your mind is fogged with money, you can’t see the picture clearly.”

Members of Xeni Gwet’in have another reason to believe in the importance of water: the entire community has been under a boil-water advisory for 18 years because of what Ottawa deemed a high risk of sewage contamination, according to documents reviewed by the Star.

Their two water systems have been deemed undrinkable for so long that most residents the Star met drink it anyway, explaining that generations of their people have always consumed their land’s water.

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“Nobody’s got sick,” explained Charlene Quilt, a Xeni Gwet’in member who draws her water from a marsh by her house. “It’s clean.”

According to the First Nations Health Authority — which manages the list of waterless communities, unlike other parts of Canada where the federal government does — the purpose of drinking water advisories “are preventive measures that protect people from drinking water that could be contaminated.”

The number of First Nations without clean drinking water in the province has decreased year-over-year, but persistent challenges remain especially when they are remote or cannot retain water system managers, according to the FNHA in an earlier interview.

Boil-water advisories are a crucial precaution when safety can’t be guaranteed; water contamination can be fatal, as was learned in Walkerton, Ont. in 2000.

“There is a real risk depending on the system and source of contamination,” said FNHA’s environmental public health manager Linda Pillsworth in an earlier interview. “Similar to Walkerton, if somebody does drink the water they could get sick. And it’s a part concern for bacteria because E. coli can be deadly.”

Last year, there were 14 bands under long-term drinking water advisories. When the Liberals took office, B.C. had nearly double that number, 25 reserves.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau issued a 2015 election promise that “all long-term drinking water advisories to be lifted by March 2021” for First Nations across the country.

Despite a looming federal election, which must be held before Oct. 21, on Friday, O’Regan reiterated that promise despite “important work still ahead” to resolve the crisis that has left dozens of bands in what Chief Lulua called “Third World conditions” in a country as rich as Canada.

“Hundreds of water and wastewater projects have been completed or are underway,” O’Regan said. “Work is underway to lift each of the remaining 59 long-term drinking water advisories currently in effect.”

Trudeau appointed O’Regan as minister of Indigenous services after Jane Philpott resigned from that position, citing the removal of her cabinet-mate Jody Wilson-Raybould as Attorney General in January, allegedly over her refusal to drop corruption charges against Quebec engineering giant SNC-Lavalin.

Still under strict “do not consume” orders are Alexis Creek, Blueberry River, Lytton, Stellat’en and Wet’suwet’en nations. Meanwhile, others such as Bonaparte, Comox, Semiahmoo, and Ucluelet nations must boil their water before being able to safely drink it.

Bonaparte and Semiahmoo First Nations have both been under advisories since 2005 and 2006, respectively. Xeni Gwet’in is the longest under a water notice in B.C. The Liberals’ promise to fix the water crisis by 2021 could be interrupted by the next federal election, but Lulua is confident.

“Soon we’ll have water,” he said. “Regardless of who gets into power, we deal with government-to-government — Canada to Tsilhqot’in.”

Despite his nation’s landmark 2014 victory in the Supreme Court of Canada — whose judges agreed Tsilhqot’in had never ceded the title to a massive swathe of traditional territories not contained in reserve lands — ex-BC Liberal premier Christy Clark approved Taseko Mines resuming “investigative” work on the Teztan Biny area on her final day in office before the B.C. NDP took power in a minority government.

Taseko Mines, however, said its exploratory work there will help “address many of the concerns expressed by the local Aboriginal group, the Tsilhqot’in First Nation.”

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