9. Water and other issues 1977-81

Yellowquill and Kinistin First Nation were both Saulteaux reserves. Yellowquill was much bigger, with about 800 people and Kinistin was small with about 150 people. Kinistin was more open to outsiders, and although most spoke Saulteaux, there were a good number that were bilingual and could talk English to me.

I was just remembering that Kinistin used to load up their school buses around this time of year (late summer) and they would travel to Tabor, AB and area to pick sugar beets. If I was out visiting during this time, there were very few people left at home. I don’t know how this custom started or how long it carried on? Maybe they did it to earn some money for school starting? Although I think sometimes they were late coming back because of the sugar beet crop, and the kids would start school late.

There is lots of talk today about water issues in many First Nations communities. One of the responsibilities of the CHR, was to take yearly water samples. They had sample jars, and they were to go to each well and put some water in the jar, and then send it in to somewhere (maybe a government agency or lab?). As I did not have a CHR at Yellowquill, the Regional Environmental Health Officer used to come from the head office in Regina and help me to collect the necessary samples.

Yellowquill had very poor water, and I’m not sure why. There was lots of water around, with sloughs and the nearby Nut Lake. The fellow would come out and we would go from well to well collecting samples. I think he had some information about the various wells. Some were very deep, and he explained to me that the deeper the well, the worse the water due to minerals and hardness. Many people did not even use the wells, as the water did not taste good and was very hard.

Some people at Yellowquill had horse and buggy as transport (there weren’t many cars in the late 70s in this area). I would see a rig with horses and a flatbed behind, with a barrel. I seen the driver take the horses right into the water and turn around and fill the barrel of water from the slough.

We did test the sloughs as well, and often the water was better quality in its contents. The problem is that a slough is open water and can easily be contaminated, so one cannot ensure that it is clean and safe. The wells provide that safety, as they are a closed system, and dirt and/or insects or rodents can’t get into it.

I don’t recall all the details of this, but I think there was at least one well at Yellowquill that was not fit for even animals to drink, like horses or cattle! I also remember a follow-up that I had to do after a young girl died. Maybe they did an autopsy, I don’t recall? I forget how old the girl was, but nearly a baby or toddler.

She had gotten E. coli, the report stated from water. I think that some water was used for formula, and it was not from a clean source. I went to see the family and talked to them about their water. I don’t remember much about that, but I do remember the shock of getting the Infant Death report and some paperwork that I had to fill out. We think of this happening in some other country, a poor country, a developing country. But no, this is Canada.

I remember talking to people about boiling their water for 10 minutes, but I’m not sure that anyone did it. I never did personally. Today, it’s very easy to buy bottles of water of all sizes, but there weren’t too many options in those days.

I also recall helping to collect the water samples at Kinistin. I think the guy liked coming out from Regina, so he would stay over and we would go out and do Yellowquill one day and Kinistin the next. I think the CHR was able to show us all the wells. They didn’t have the same poor water quality as Yellowquill, but I think people still used slough water or open water around on the reserve.

One year, there were ‘army worms’ or some kind of worms that invaded Kinistin. They were numerous, and they stripped the trees of any leaves entirely! You could see where they had been, as they would move en masse and the devastation behind them was obvious. Even the road would be a seething black carpet, full of these worms. My government vehicle would slip and slide on the road, from the mess of driving on the worms.

One of the wells did not have a pump on top of it. Frances, the CHR, took us to this well. It had a metal cap, like they would put on top of the metal pipe that was drilled into the ground. Before we took the lid off of the well, she pointed to the nearby house. It was the sunny side of the house, and the entire wall was black with worms. There were a few worms on the lid, but we brushed them off and removed the lid. There was a bucket with a rope, and we were able to lower it down and get a sample.

Water is an ongoing issue and has been for many years. The government can’t seem to figure out how to resolve the situation. When we moved to Gordon’s First Nation, water was critical there too. We couldn’t drink water from the tap, so we used to go to town and get water from a well with a hand pump there. We used to have a big container for drinking water in the house that we could refill. We used to say that the water in the shower, ‘came out in chunks’, it was so hard! We experimented with a lot of different shampoos and conditioners to see if there were better options that suited our water. We had to throw out coffee makers after a year or two, as the water would clog them up (even the good water!) and they would get slower and slower as they dripped.

I had a washer and dryer when we moved to the reserve. I couldn’t hook up the washer because we didn’t have enough water. One of my biggest, most terrible tasks, was taking clothes to town (or Regina) to the laundromat. The one in Punnichy was worse. The machines were old, and sometimes didn’t work very well. Also, no one was supervising the area. So, I used to take a cloth so that I could wipe out the machines before I used them. There was often grass or mud or other bits and pieces of stuff in the machine. Regina was better, as the place where we went had an attendant to give out change and to clean out the machines after each use. But, going to Regina meant a big trip, and doing laundry took at least one hour.

When I was working at the Okimaw Ohci Healing Lodge, located on Nekaneet First Nation, I was surprised to find that they had good water! I don’t drink coffee, and I am a huge water drinker, have been all my life. So, I was able to drink the water at the Lodge. We had a water machine that had water on one side and ice on the other side. So, I drank many glasses of ice water during my 10 years there.

The original Elders involved in the development of the Lodge, Mary Louis from BC, and Liza Mosher from Ontario, used water in their ceremonies. In the original planning of the Lodge, there was to be a source of water for pure water to be used in ceremony. A well had been dug next to the Elders Lodge. I repeatedly asked the maintenance crew to get the well going. Although they didn’t say anything, I felt reluctance on their part, and they didn’t try very hard with the well. The hand pump was stiff, and I think I tried, but couldn’t even move it. After I asked them many times to get it working; they finally came to me saying that it was not working and was unable to be repaired. This was quite indicative of the Lodge, and that many activities linked to healing were not seen as a priority, and in fact, were often avoided at all costs!

A common refrain that is heard today, is ‘Water is Life’. Water has become a big issue over the past few years. And truly, water is so important. During the Sundance ceremony, the dancers are fasting. Depending upon their commitment, they may not eat or drink for up to four days. When I go to Sundance, I have not made a commitment to dance. But, usually on Sunday, I will fast along with others. And when the dancing is done, people are welcomed into the Lodge to take their first drink and to touch the centre pole, the Tree of Life. I love that part.

There’s nothing better than a drink of water on a hot day, or after you have fasted for part of a day or a whole day or two days or four days! That first slip over the tongue is so soothing, so necessary! It is one of the basics in life that we cannot live without.