Struggle for safe water: respecting human rights in a developed country

As international bodies, governments, researchers or citizens’ organizations debate the best policies and practices to tackle the pandemic, the respect of human rights, particularly of indigenous people, needs to be addressed. If the problem has drawn attention, it has been largely in the Asian, African or Latin American space. What of the developed countries? This paper deals with the fundamental right to water during Covid-19, by examining the case of the First Nations people in Canada. It reviews their access to this fundamental right, particularly in the context of the current health crisis that has highlighted the importance of preventive measures like washing hands frequently to control the spread of the virus. It then examines the international and national legal frameworks in which this right is enshrined, and considers Canada’s compliance of its human rights obligations. At the heart of this paper lies the question of how a health crisis exposes the dramatic consequence of non-respect of fundamental human rights.