After 14 Years, First Nations Community Has Access to Safe Drinking Water

(L-R) Bob Nault, MP for Kenora, Lorraine Crane, the chief of Slate Falls, and Jane Philpott, Canada's minister of Indigenous services, make a toast with cups filled with water from a new water treatment facility built to serve members of the Slate Falls First Nations community. Courtesy of the office of Bob Nault

Members of a northern Ontario First Nations community that was under long-term boil-water advisories for 14 years can now access safe drinking tap water thanks to a new water treatment plant.

The Slate Falls First Nation, located approximately 550 kilometres north of Thunder Bay, had been under 11 drinking water advisories since 2004. The ribbon-cutting ceremony for the plant, which was built with a $11.6 million investment by the federal government, was held yesterday.