As Ontario’s community union, CUPE Ontario knows that public water and wastewater services are essential to community health. That’s why over the past year CUPE Ontario has continued to work with our labour and community allies to secure clean and safe public water services for all.
Public drinking water and wastewater services are human rights. But these rights are currently denied to many Ontarians. Contaminated water and a lack of adequate sanitation on Ontario’s northern First Nations reserves are jeopardizing the health and well-being of thousands of indigenous people. And across the province, multinational corporations are trying to privatize our water through public-private partnerships, contracting out and extracting water to sell at profit.
CUPE Ontario has long worked with the Council of Canadians to ban the use of bottled water in school boards and municipalities. Recently, we have been proud to support the Wellington Water Watchers in the fight to stop Nestle from privatizing water in our communities. With our Aboriginal Council, we have also played an active role in the campaign to get the government to clean up the mercury-tainted water in Grassy Narrows First Nation.
These campaigns have produced tangible results. In the fall, the Ontario government announced its intention to place a moratorium on new water extraction permits. The federal government has also signaled that it will work with provincial authorities to clean up the river in Grassy Narrows.
CUPE Ontario will continue to work with our partners to ensure that the Liberals follow through with these promises, and to hold them to account if they don’t. But there is much more to do. On this World Water Day, we pledge to redouble our efforts to stop water privatization and to secure safe public water and wastewater services for all Ontarians.
