Question Period Note: Water Operator Salaries

• Water operators are key to ensuring communities have access to clean drinking water and reliable infrastructure.

• As part of Budget 2019, the Government of Canada invested $605.6 million over four years, with $184.9 million per year ongoing, to support the operations and maintenance of First Nations’ community water and wastewater assets.

• On December 2, 2020, an additional $1.5 billion was announced, which includes $616.3 million over six years, and $114.1 million ongoing, to increase the support provided for operations and maintenance of water and wastewater infrastructure on reserves.

• Increased operations and maintenance funding will enable First Nations to better retain qualified water operators in their communities, including through improved salaries, according to First Nations priorities.

Indigenous Services Canada is working in full partnership with First Nation communities, including with First Nations technical advisors and leaders, to support sustainable First Nations-led approaches to ensure that on-reserve water systems are safe. This includes Technical Services Advisory Group in Alberta (TSAG), the Ontario First Nations Technical Services Corporation (OFNTSC), the Atlantic Policy Congress, and technical service delivery Hubs pilot projects in Ontario. Indigenous Services Canada also works directly with First Nations to assist communities in monitoring drinking water quality in all water systems, which includes providing advice and guidance about drinking water safety and wastewater disposal, and reviewing infrastructure project proposals from a public health perspective.

Budget 2016 included $141.7 million over five years in new funding to the Department to improve drinking water monitoring and testing on reserve. In addition, Budget 2017 provided $49 million over 3 years to address advisories as part of the expanded scope which added 24 long-term drinking water advisories to the Government’s commitment. Budget 2018 committed an additional $172.6 million over three years to support initiatives to accelerate, where possible, the pace of construction and renovation of affected water systems, support repairs to high-risk water systems and assist efforts to recruit, train and retain water operators. These funds will also support efforts to establish innovative First Nations-led service delivery models. Budget 2019 commits an additional $739 million over five years, beginning in 2019-20, with $184.9 million per year ongoing. This investment will support ongoing efforts to eliminate and prevent long-term drinking water advisories by funding urgent repairs to vulnerable water systems and the operation and maintenance of water systems so that First Nations communities can effectively operate and maintain their public drinking water systems.

Over $1.5 billion in additional investments were announced on November 30, 2020 to help meet the Government’s commitment to clean drinking water in First Nations communities, including increased support for operations and maintenance of water and wastewater infrastructure on reserves, funding for water and wastewater infrastructure construction, repairs and other initiatives, and funding to continue work to lift all long-term drinking water advisories on public systems on reserves as soon as possible. Funding includes: $616.3 million over six years, and $114.1 million per year ongoing thereafter, to increase the support provided for operations and maintenance of water and wastewater infrastructure on reserves; $553.4 million to continue funding water and wastewater infrastructure on reserve to prevent future drinking water advisories from occurring; and $309.8 million to support and accelerate on-going work to lift all long-term drinking water advisories on public systems on reserves by helping to respond to project delays including those due to COVID-19.

In addition, Budget 2021 committed $4.3 billion over four years to support infrastructure projects in First Nations, Inuit and Métis Nation communities, and $1.7 billion over five years, with $388.9 million ongoing, to cover the cost of operations and maintenance costs of community infrastructure in First Nations communities on reserve.

As of December 31, 2020, more than $1.82 billion of targeted funding has been invested to support 694 water and wastewater projects, of which 393 are now complete and 301 are ongoing. These projects will serve 463,000 people in 581 First Nation communities.

It should be noted that drinking water advisories are issued to protect the public from drinking water that is potentially unsafe, or confirmed to be unsafe, based on water quality testing. Drinking water advisories are issued by First Nations in their communities and off-reserve by provincial, territorial or municipal governments.

Communities may also choose to issue a drinking water advisory as a precautionary measure, such as when there are emergency repairs in the water distribution system or if a community does not have a trained Water System Operator or Community-Based Drinking Water Quality Monitor in place. Some drinking water advisories are short-term to advise residents of a temporary water quality issue on a specific water system (e.g.: equipment failure).

The government is working closely with First Nations by providing sustainable investments, expanding delivery systems, building capacity of and retaining local water operators, as well as supporting regular monitoring and testing on all drinking water systems to prevent short-term and re-occurring advisories.

If pressed on investments in operations and maintenance:

• Responsibility for safe drinking water on reserves is shared between First Nation communities and the Government of Canada.

• First Nations are responsible for the daily operation and maintenance of their water and wastewater systems, and decide how operations and maintenance funding is used in the community, including determining operator salaries.

• The additional funds announced on December 2, 2020 mean that 100 per cent of water and wastewater operations and maintenance costs, up from 80 per cent, will be covered based on the operations and maintenance funding formula.

• Specifically, the funding will allow First Nations to improve water operator salaries and so better retain qualified operators in their communities, train new operators to build water maintenance capacity, improve or maintain asset condition ratings, and ensure longer lifecycles for water assets.

If pressed on operator salary:

• It is widely understood that retention can be directly linked to salary levels.

• The Department does not track the amount of funding spent directly on operator salaries. First Nations as owners and operators of their water and wastewater systems are responsible for determining salary levels of their water system operators.

• The increase in operations and maintenance funding will enable First Nations to support improved operator retention.

If pressed on training and certification of water operators:

• ISC knows that regular and proper maintenance is essential to ensuring access to well-functioning water systems.

• Budgets since 2016 dedicated funds to First Nation communities for long-term stable funding, including funds to train operators of water and wastewater systems, with the goal of skill retention in their communities.

• Annually, ISC spends approximately $15 million to support First Nations water and wastewater operator training, including funding the Circuit Rider Training Program.

• ISC is working closely with First Nation communities to ensure they have the resources they need to operate water systems to ensure everyone