Mohawk community given boil-water advisory by Canadian government
The Mohawk community of Tyendinaga feels that their children are becoming sick due to pollution and contamination dumped into their groundwater system. Every Sunday, Shawn Brant lines up with other community members to collect water from community pump for his family. The Ministry of Environment issued an advisory to the community nearly six years ago to boil all water before consumption, leaving the citizens of Tyendinaga to rely on a single communal pump for clean water.
Tyendinaga is one of hundreds of native communities in Canada with an issue of buried contaminated waste poisoning ground water, and Shawn Brant claims that it is fully documented in environmental archives. When I visited Shawn Brant at his home by the Bay of Quinte on Mohawk Territory, he spoke of many issues facing the Mohawk community, and many other native communities across Canada, the most prominent being the lack of access to clean drinking water.
“I do not consider myself to be an environmentalist per se, [but] I do consider myself to be a responsible, honorable Mohawk man who complies with the laws and the constitution of Mohawk people,” said Shawn Brant. “This includes the stewardship of all things: the people, the land and the law.” Although he doesn’t see himself as an environmental activist, Shawn Brant shares one common trait with many environmentalists – he is not afraid to suffer for what he believes is right. “In the past 20 years I have been arrested two hundred and fifty times,” Shawn Brant said. “I [have] had to stay in jail at least twenty five times.”
Shawn Brant feels that living without the basic amenities, like clean drinking water, is indicative of great indignities that face the Mohawk population. “As a Mohawk I am bound to the protection of Mohawk people. We have been on boil water advisory…for over five and a half years. [For] those five and a half years, we [have] had to go to a park and fill up our water buckets for the week.” As far as Shawn Brant is concerned, serving jail time to bring basic necessities to his neighbours, friends, and family is the least he can do.
“Here on Tyendinaga, we have a land fill that is polluting our community. We have five kids with cancer, one who passed away last year – [a] fourteen month old, two months ago that got diagnosed with stage four lung and liver cancer,” Shawn Brant said. He believes that Canada has a responsibility to its younger generations, and that we now need leaders who will listen to those who care, and who want to make a change to prevent such tragedies.
The people of Tyendinaga have been voicing their concerns for clean drinking water for many years, though there has yet to be government response, and the issue continues to grow as children continue to suffer. However, this issue is not unique to the Tyendinaga Mohawk community, Shawn Brant said, and natives across Canada struggle daily to find clean water resources.
This issue is particularly troubling, as it hits very close to home. Tyendinaga is right next to Belleville, and isn’t far from Peterborough. It is not across an ocean, or even across a border. There are Canadian citizens living a half an hour from this university who have been without clean drinking water for over five years. With all of the focus on international and global aid, it is easy to forget that there are people in need right outside our own front doors. Shawn Brant begs that we educate ourselves on the needs of our neighbours, and asks that anyone looking to support this urgent issue – not only for the Mohawk people of Tyendinaga, but for people in need across Canada – to contact their local MP or MPP.