Still waiting: Canada must fulfill legal duty to reintroduce critical First Nations' drinking water legislation

By Laura Edwards.

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The federal government began its new sitting of Parliament on May 26, 2025, following the January prorogation and federal election that caused Bill C-61, the First Nations Clean Water Act, to die on the table. Canada has yet to re-introduce the legislation despite its legal obligation to do so under the First Nations Drinking Water Class Action Settlement and critical need for the legislation. 

Introduced on December 11, 2023, this Bill would have recognized the right of First Nations to self-governance over water on First Nations’ lands and established minimum standards for water quality and quantity.[1] Critically, the Bill would have recognized that First Nations have a human right to drinking water, a right which has yet to be enshrined in Canadian law.

The federal government has yet to reintroduce new drinking water legislation into parliament despite its legal obligation to do so and there has been no indication from the government on the timeline for reintroducing this critical legislation. The new Minister of Indigenous Services Canada, Mandy Gull-Masty, has not discussed the legislation publicly, and the priorities outlined in Prime Minister Carney’s single mandate to his cabinet do not directly speak to Canada’s relationship and outstanding obligations to Indigenous peoples, including the legislation. [2] The absence of action from the federal government on this issue continues to leave First Nations without formal recognition of their human right to clean drinking water and without guaranteed access to a sufficient supply of clean drinking water and the infrastructure needed to support it.

Clean drinking water is fundamental to life. Recognized by the United Nations as a human right, clean drinking water is widely accepted as a necessary determinant of health, a building block for economic development, and essential to the exercise of basic human rights.[3] For First Nations access to a sufficient supply of clean drinking water is not only critical to community health and economic development, but also cultural well-being, self-determination, and the meaningful exercise of Aboriginal and treaty rights.

Despite how fundamental clean drinking water is for healthy communities, First Nations have been chronically subjected to substandard drinking water on reserve lands.[4] One very public manifestation of these substandard drinking water conditions is the numerous long term drinking water advisories that have persisted on First Nations reserves for decades, despite Canada’s repeated promises to end these advisories and the Crown’s fiduciary obligation to provide First Nations with clean drinking water.

In Tataskweyak Cree Nation v Attorney General of Canada, 2021 FC 1415, several First Nations sued Canada in a large class action lawsuit over its failure to provide clean drinking water to First Nations lands. The lawsuit led to a landmark settlement in which Canada  agreed to provide $8 billion in compensation to First Nations and its members, and infrastructure. A key term of the settlement was that Canada would repeal the deeply flawed Safe Drinking Water for First Nations Act, SC 2013, c. 21 (“SDWFNA”) and create new drinking water in consultation with First Nations. [5]  While Canada fulfilled its obligation to repeal the SDWFNA, it has yet to pass any replacement legislation that would guarantee First Nations with access to a sufficient supply of safe drinking water.

The federal government has a legal obligation under the First Nations Drinking Water Settlement Agreement to re-introduce First Nations’ drinking water legislation in genuine consultation with First Nations. This obligation is not optional as it is a condition of a court-approved class action settlement. Beyond this, the Crown has a long-standing fiduciary duty to ensure that First Nations have access to clean, safe, and sufficient drinking water, something that the promised drinking water legislation would ensure.

The bottom line is Canada must act immediately to meet its legal and fiduciary obligations to First Nations and reintroduce the drinking water legislation. Every day of delay leaves First Nations facing water insecurity that harms health, violates human rights, and limits opportunity for economic development.

[1] Bill C-61, An Act respecting water, source water, drinking water, wastewater and related infrastructure on First Nation lands, 1st Sess, 44th Parl, 2023 [not enacted].

[2] Mark Carney, Mandate Letter, 21 May 2025, online: < https://www.pm.gc.ca/en/mandate-letters/2025/05/21/mandate-letter>.

[3] UNGA Res 64/292, The human right to water and sanitation, UNGAOR, 64th Sess, Supp No 49, UN Doc A/RES/64/292 (2010). See also United Nations “Human Rights to water and Sanitation” online: < =

[4] Office of the Auditor General of Canada, “Access to Safe Drinking Water in First Nations Communities – indigenous Services Canada”, 2021.

[5] First Nations Drinking Water Settlement Agreement, 2021, s. 9.03.