I cannot believe that…

I cannot believe that Ontario would seriously consider this proposal.

The Haudenosaunee Confederacy Council issued a cease-and-desist order two years ago to stop Nestlé from taking the water. By requesting the permit and making plans to continue the water removal from the region, BlueTriton is ignoring Indigenous sovereignty.

Dozens of First Nations communities across Canada have not had access to safe drinking water for a year or more, yet BlueTriton proposes to pump clean water from Indigenous lands and bottle it for profit for *10 years*.

The UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, to which Canada has agreed, gives the obligation to consult and cooperate in good faith with the indigenous peoples concerned through their own representative institutions in order to *obtain their free and informed consent* prior to the approval of any project affecting their lands or territories and other resources, particularly in connection with the development, utilization or exploitation of mineral, **water** or other resources.

This water is not ours to give away, and we have a moral obligation to ensure First Nations communities have access to clean water before allowing for-profit companies to extract such a fundamental Commons' resource.