Long-term drinking water advisory lifted on Black Lake First Nation
For the first time in nearly eight years, clean drinking water is flowing through the taps of Black Lake Denesuline First Nation.
The community of about 1,300 people in Saskatchewan’s far north recently had its drinking water advisory lifted, meaning clean water is flowing to “190 homes and community buildings, including the school, band office and firehall,” according to a social media post from Indigenous Services Canada (ISC).
The advisory lifted on Jan. 23, according to ISC’s website.
That leaves six First Nations in Saskatchewan with long-term drinking water advisories.
The upgrades to the community’s water treatment plant cost roughly $11 million, addressing the long-term drinking water advisory first declared in April 2013, Indigenous Services Minister Marc Miller said.
Saskatoon / 650 CKOM
Jan 27, 2021 9:26 AM
FSIN Senator Theresa Stevenson started Chili for Children in the 1980s, a program in Regina to feed school children. Stevenson died Monday at the age of 93. (Cowessess First Nation/Facebook)
Condolences are being expressed for two prominent First Nation leaders in Saskatchewan.
FSIN Senator Theresa Stevenson and Prince Albert Grand Council Senator Ron Michel died on Monday.
“It is with great sadness that the family of Senator Theresa Stevenson announced that she had passed away,” Dutch Lerat, Vice Chief of the Federation of Sovereign Indigenous Nations, said in a statement on Tuesday.
“She will be missed by the many people who loved her dearly and by the thousands of lives she touched with her charity work and selflessness. She was married to the late Bob Stevenson and she leaves behind a legacy that has left our world a better place.”
Michel was well-known as a strong advocate for northern Saskatchewan.
He served as chief of the Peter Ballantyne Cree Nation for 20 years and went on to serve as the Prince Albert Grand Council Grand Chief (PAGC) for 12 years. There are some leaders who simply command respect, not only because they display a determined, fierce and confident attitude in their cause, but because they display this vision of determination, fierceness and confidence that is driven by compassion and a deep love for the people, read a statement from the current PAGC executive. Senator Michel was one of those leaders.
Michel was also a strong advocate for First Nations children. At a youth suicide conference in 2016, he spoke out about a then-recent wave of suicides in the north.