Canada: First Nations chief wants UN to investigate right to water violation

Geordie Rae from St.Theresa Point First Nation dumps a slop pail full of sewage in a dump outside his home. Winnipeg Free Press

Leaders of First Nations (indigenous peoples) from northern Manitoba want the United Nations to investigate the violations of rights imposed by the lack of water.

Manitoba Keewatinowi Okimakanak Grand Chief David Harper told a Senate committee hearing Tuesday [15 February 2011] the lack of running water in more than 1,000 homes in northern Manitoba is a violation of the United Nations Declaration of the Rights of Indigenous People.

Living in “Third World conditions”, families in the Island Lake region of Manitoba “have less water every day than people in refugee camps”.

Many people in the Island Lake region get by on 10 litres per day, usually lugged by family members in pails from local water pipes. Additional water comes in untreated from lakes and rivers that have tested positive for contaminants including E. coli.

Canada – Researchers emphasize handwashing in schools to prevent spread of illness

Jan 27, 2011 – TORONTO – A teacher demonstrating the importance of handwashing can go a long way toward keeping students healthy by instilling good habits, says the author of a study on preventing school-based gastrointestinal outbreaks.

Prof. Marilyn Lee, who teaches in Ryerson University’s School of Occupational and Public Health, says that lack of handwashing and improper food handling are two of the major reasons for the spread of the uncomfortable symptoms associated with gastrointestinal upsets.

In the confined space of a classroom, gastrointestinal illnesses can spread quickly, Lee said in an interview Thursday from Guelph, Ont.

Lee is the lead author of A Review of Gastrointestinal Outbreaks in Schools: Effective Infection Control Interventions. The study, in the December 2010 issue of the Journal of School Health, deals with food preparation in schools from kindergarten through university/college.

Canadians are not practicing what they preach when it comes to hygiene

TORONTO, Oct. 8 /CNW/ – An international survey on hygiene practices has shown that for the third consecutive year, Canada tops the charts when it comes to knowing the importance of infection prevention. Nine out of 10 Canadians (90%)(1) believe “washing hands regularly” is the most effective way to help protect against catching the flu – more than any other country surveyed and well ahead of Germany who ranked second in this area with 66 per cent. That being said, there is a gap between knowing and doing. Canadians know how to protect themselves and stay healthy, but are not following through with action. Only four in ten (37%)(2) Canadians claim their children always wash their hands before eating and a similar amount said that they did so ‘most’ of the time (44%) (…)

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Canada: Talking Toilet Taking to the Streets

This will likely draw some attention in downtown St.John’s today. There will be a walking and talking toilet on Water Street between 11am and 1pm. Local Oxfam spokesperson Daniel Miller says it’s all about raising awareness of sanitation issues.  (…)

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Canada: Toilet Festival Starts Today

August 11, 2008.      The St. John’s Toilet festival gets underway today. It’s a week of events organized by Oxfam and dedicated to raising awareness about water and sanitation issues in developing countries. (…)

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Oxfam Canada

Canada – Fight Global Poverty by Investing in Sanitation and Water

OTTAWA, March 20 /CNW Telbec/ – On the eve of World Water Day (March 22), a coalition of Canadian organizations concerned about the global sanitation
crisis is calling on the Canadian government to make investment in sanitation
and water a foreign aid priority. In an open letter sent to Minister of
International Cooperation Beverley Oda, Sanitation & Water Action Network
(SWAN) Canada called for increased investment in sanitation as a way to save
lives, strengthen economies, and fight poverty around the globe.

Read More – Newswire

Canada – Some residents ‘flush’ with savings

Are you flushing money down the drain every time nature calls?

You may be if you are not one of the 200 Cochranites that have replaced their old toilets with a low-flow alternative.

Estimates are that close to half of all homes in Cochrane have toilets that use 13 to 20 litres or more per flush.

If your home was built before 1992, you may still have the old 13 — 24 litre per flush toilets. Those old toilets are wasting water and costing you money.

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