Mr Trudeau, will your children bathe tonight?

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ESPECIALLY in Attawapiskat,

where they have had polluted, 

undrinkable water for years.

***

As our elected officials go home

after work tonight,

from the halls of power in Ottawa,

as their children bathe before bed,

may they spare a thought

to our fellow citizens in the north,

who have no clean water to drink,

no clean water in which 

to bathe their babies.

What we in larger centres 

would not put up with

for a week,

our  neighbours to the north

have lived with for years.

The water itself

is ashamed of this.

It is the carrier of life and health,

and does not recognize itself

in these murky depths.

***

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A state of emergency has been declared in Attawapiskat. Levels of contaminants  in the village's water system (carcinogenic over long usage) have increased.

Young Water Protector Autumn Peltier recently traveled to this northern community, where they have had a boil water advisory for YEARS. This was heightened to a Do Not Drink advisory. Nothing has been done to address the problem of undrinkable water.  

And now the population of just under two thousand have been told they may not even BATHE or wash their vegetables in the water. There are TWO taps in the entire village where people, including elders, must go to carry buckets of filtered water back to their home. 

This is clearly unacceptable. Autumn said, quite rightly, "I was called to action as Chief Water Commissioner to come and visit Attawapiskat, a northern community that is in a clean water crisis. What I heard and experienced is very sad.....Why is it that my people in indigenous communities have to continue to live in third world conditions?"

Good question, Autumn. Mr. Trudeau? Any answers?