Elders to release preliminary report on Anishinaabe water laws

Elders working together to rebuild Anishinaabe laws about water will release a preliminary report at the University of Manitoba June 25.

Indigenous lawyer Aimée Craft, who joins Robson Hall as an assistant professor in July, has been helping the Elders pull together stories that convey their traditional laws about protecting water.

“Our research is really our stories,” Elder Niizhoosake Copenace said. “I’m doing this for my children and grandchildren. I’d like to leave a legacy for them.”

The report will be released at a water rights conference that will also feature the work of students and professors from the sciences and social sciences who are committed to implementing the human right to drinking water. First Nations partners will offer feedback at the conference on research plans and early results.

The opening presentation by Craft and the Elders is open to the media.

When: 9:30 to 10:15 a.m., Wed. June 25
Where: Moot Court A, Robson Hall, 224 Dysart Rd., Fort Garry campus, University of Manitoba.

Craft’s report will be available online by June 25 via chrr.info/water-rights

The full conference agenda is at create-h2o.ca/Node/976/

Reporters interested in other conference sessions may be able to make special arrangements to attend those sessions or to speak to the researchers outside the conference.

More information on the H2O training program for science and engineering students: create-h2o.ca

More information on related social science research: chrr.info/water-rights/406-the-right-to-clean-water-in-first-nations-the-most-precious-gift

Residents of more than 90 First Nations across Canada cannot drink their tap water because it is contaminated. Thousands of First Nations homes have no running water, mainly in Manitoba and northwestern Ontario.

For more information, please contact Helen Fallding, manager of the Centre for Human Rights Research, University of Manitoba, at 204-474-6156 or cell 204-918-4329 or fallding@umanitoba.ca.