Twenty-eight years – that’s how long Neskantaga First Nation has been under a boil water advisory – 10,317 days to be exact. “It’s a sad situation,” says Christopher Moonias, the chief of the First Nation located roughly 450 km north of Thunder Bay.
Despite the ongoing work and testing at the water treatment plant, things don’t look good says Moonias, who believes his nation, already under the longest boil water advisory in Canadian history, will hit the 30-year mark. Already, an entire generation has grown up not trusting the water from their taps.
“There’s been significant trauma associated with it. Post-traumatic stress disorder,” says Moonias on the latest episode of Face to Face. “I’ll give you an example of my daughter, she just turned 26 yesterday and she lives in Thunder Bay. She works here and she can’t bring herself to drink water from the tap, she has to have bottled water.
“That’s what she grew up knowing, the water from the tap is not good no matter where you go. That’s the trauma associated with having a long-standing boil water advisory.”
For the rest of this article: https://www.aptnnews.ca/facetoface/chief-expects-his-first-nation-will-hit-30-years-under-boil-water-advisory/#.ZFGktmxaoWQ.twitter