PUSLINCH – The Wellington Water Watchers’ (WWW) new billboard puts Indigenous action at the forefront of the fight against water taking for bottled water.
The new billboard on Gordon Street near the water bottling plant purchased from Nestlé Waters Canada by Ice River Springs includes a message from the Haudenosaunee Confederacy Council: “Stop the illegal removal of our waters.”
Arlene Slocombe, WWW executive director, explained that they have developed a relationship with Makasa Looking Horse, a McMaster University Honours Indigenous Studies student from Six Nations of the Grand River.
WWW supported Six Nations youth in a protest last year where Nestlé was given a cease and desist letter that stated: “Pursuant to the Haldimand Proclamation and the 1701 Nanfan Treaty, Nestlé sits on Haudenosaunee territory upon which it is carrying out illegal activity in removing aquifer waters from under our territory. We hold ancestral title to these lands, territories and waters.”
“They helped and supported me when I went and delivered the cease and desist letter on behalf of the confederacy,” Looking Horse said. “I think they’re a good example of what allyship looks like in these situations of supporting Indigenous movements and protests.”
Slocombe said being an ally with Indigenous Peoples makes WWW’s mission stronger.
“We feel strongly that when their voices are in the lead and we’re supporting their voices then we are all in a better relationship with our local waters and our advocacy around water,” Slocombe said.
Slocombe said she thinks learning from a new perspective on water governance in historically Indigenous land is a good way to provoke thought from their supporters.
“We’re really starting to ask those questions of all of us and our supporters,” Slocombe said. “How do we get into the right relationship around water policy? How do we take in a bigger, broader worldview and ultimately, who are the decision makers?”
The billboard also promotes a podcast series by Looking Horse called Ohneganos: Let’s Talk Water, which is focused on issues affecting Indigenous people and highlight the experiences of Six Nations and other First Nations. Looking Horse said the podcast looks at water and how it is interconnected with everything in the world.
She said this view on water is why having an Indigenous perspective is important to highlight in the fight against water taking for bottled water.
“It’s our way of life, it’s in our great law, it’s in our creation story,” Looking Horse said. “We’ve been fighting for 500 years for our water on our land, so it should be at the forefront.”
Looking Horse said she doesn’t see anything different with Ice River Springs buying out Nestlé Waters Canada.
“This doesn’t change anything,” she said. “They’re still stealing water and they’re still the same exact thing. We’re still continuing to fight like we have.”
In her view, Nestlé Waters Canada owes reparations to Six Nations for the water taken from aquifers.
“They have taken so much water throughout the years so they still owe for all of that,” she said. “They owe money from all the water they took.”
