Maude Barlow calls on federal government to achieve full realization of the human right to water
Friday, July 15th, 2011


Maude’s trip to New Brunswick to speak to the Assembly of First Nations was widely covered in newspapers and on radios across Canada. Most coverage included this central message:

The Council of Canadians is calling on First Nations not to allow the federal government to shirk its responsibility to provide safe drinking water.

The United Nations has recognized water and sanitation as a human right, said Maude Barlow, the council’s national chairwoman, in a presentation Thursday to the Assembly of First Nations.

Barlow said that means Ottawa is obligated under international law to come up with a plan to fulfil that right, and yet dozens of First Nations communities continue to go without clean water.

“The federal government is in violation of this new international recognition,” said Barlow, a former senior adviser on water with the UN General Assembly.

“They have obligations to fulfil and we must not let them off the hook.”