{"id":105932,"date":"2026-06-17T16:52:32","date_gmt":"2026-06-17T20:52:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/?p=105932"},"modified":"2026-06-17T16:52:32","modified_gmt":"2026-06-17T20:52:32","slug":"lawyers-say-language-change-in-first-nations-water-bill-looks-to-shield-government","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/index.php\/2026\/06\/17\/lawyers-say-language-change-in-first-nations-water-bill-looks-to-shield-government\/","title":{"rendered":"Lawyers say language change in First Nations water bill looks to shield government"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>By Alessia Passafiume Two lawyers say the blurring of language on the right of First Nations to clean drinking water in a new bill serves as a shield for the federal government as it argues against that right in court. Indigenous Services Minister Mandy Gull-Masty introduced the legislation on Tuesday. The bill seeks to ensure First Nations have access to clean drinking water on-reserve and the ability to protect source water on their territories if they enter into tripartite agreements with the federal and provincial governments. Bill C-37 states that the federal government will \u201cfurther the progressive realization, for individuals on First Nation lands, of the human right to safe drinking water, as protected by the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights.\u201d A previous bill introduced by the&#8230; <\/p>\n<div class=\"pmpro\">\n<div class=\"pmpro_card pmpro_content_message\">\n<div class=\"pmpro_card_content\">This content is for Yearly Subscription, Yearly Subscription &#8211; Corporate, Print Subscription Only, Canada Print and Online, and USA Print and Online members only.<br \/><a href=\"http:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/wp-login.php?action=register\">Register<\/a><\/div>\n<div class=\"pmpro_card_actions pmpro_font-medium\">Already a member? <a href=\"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/wp-login.php?redirect_to=https%3A%2F%2Ftheturtleislandnews.com%2Findex.php%2F2026%2F06%2F17%2Flawyers-say-language-change-in-first-nations-water-bill-looks-to-shield-government%2F\">Log in here<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>By Alessia Passafiume Two lawyers say the blurring of language on the right of First Nations to clean drinking water in a new bill serves as a shield for the federal government as it argues against that right in court. Indigenous Services Minister Mandy Gull-Masty introduced the legislation on Tuesday. The bill seeks to ensure First Nations have access to clean drinking water on-reserve and the ability to protect source water on their territories if they enter into tripartite agreements with the federal and provincial governments. Bill C-37 states that the federal government will \u201cfurther the progressive realization, for individuals on First Nation lands, of the human right to safe drinking water, as protected by the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights.\u201d A previous bill introduced by the... <\/p>\n<div class=\"pmpro\"><div class=\"pmpro_card pmpro_content_message\"><div class=\"pmpro_card_content\">This content is for Yearly Subscription, Yearly Subscription - Corporate, Print Subscription Only, Canada Print and Online, and USA Print and Online members only.<br \/><a href=\"http:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/wp-login.php?action=register\">Register<\/a><\/div><div class=\"pmpro_card_actions pmpro_font-medium\">Already a member? <a href=\"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/wp-login.php?redirect_to=https%3A%2F%2Ftheturtleislandnews.com%2Findex.php%2F2026%2F06%2F17%2Flawyers-say-language-change-in-first-nations-water-bill-looks-to-shield-government%2F\">Log in here<\/a><\/div><\/div><\/div>","protected":false},"author":101363,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"pmpro_default_level":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[8,13],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-105932","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-national-news","category-ticker","pmpro-level-required","pmpro-level-3","pmpro-level-2","pmpro-level-5","pmpro-level-4","pmpro-level-6","pmpro-level-7","pmpro-level-8","pmpro-no-access"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.8 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Lawyers say language change in First Nations water bill looks to shield government - The Turtle Island News<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/index.php\/2026\/06\/17\/lawyers-say-language-change-in-first-nations-water-bill-looks-to-shield-government\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Lawyers say language change in First Nations water bill looks to shield government - The Turtle Island News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"By Alessia Passafiume Two lawyers say the blurring of language on the right of First Nations to clean drinking water in a new bill serves as a shield for the federal government as it argues against that right in court. Indigenous Services Minister Mandy Gull-Masty introduced the legislation on Tuesday. The bill seeks to ensure First Nations have access to clean drinking water on-reserve and the ability to protect source water on their territories if they enter into tripartite agreements with the federal and provincial governments. Bill C-37 states that the federal government will \u201cfurther the progressive realization, for individuals on First Nation lands, of the human right to safe drinking water, as protected by the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights.\u201d A previous bill introduced by the\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/index.php\/2026\/06\/17\/lawyers-say-language-change-in-first-nations-water-bill-looks-to-shield-government\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"The Turtle Island News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/TurtleIslandNews\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-06-17T20:52:32+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/01\/facebooklogo.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"725\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"483\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Lynda Powless\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@newsattheturtle\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@newsattheturtle\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Lynda Powless\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theturtleislandnews.com\\\/index.php\\\/2026\\\/06\\\/17\\\/lawyers-say-language-change-in-first-nations-water-bill-looks-to-shield-government\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theturtleislandnews.com\\\/index.php\\\/2026\\\/06\\\/17\\\/lawyers-say-language-change-in-first-nations-water-bill-looks-to-shield-government\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Lynda Powless\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theturtleislandnews.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/7b188fd7503577895ef8b306988cd458\"},\"headline\":\"Lawyers say language change in First Nations water bill looks to shield government\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-06-17T20:52:32+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theturtleislandnews.com\\\/index.php\\\/2026\\\/06\\\/17\\\/lawyers-say-language-change-in-first-nations-water-bill-looks-to-shield-government\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":854,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theturtleislandnews.com\\\/#organization\"},\"articleSection\":[\"National News\",\"ticker\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-CA\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theturtleislandnews.com\\\/index.php\\\/2026\\\/06\\\/17\\\/lawyers-say-language-change-in-first-nations-water-bill-looks-to-shield-government\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theturtleislandnews.com\\\/index.php\\\/2026\\\/06\\\/17\\\/lawyers-say-language-change-in-first-nations-water-bill-looks-to-shield-government\\\/\",\"name\":\"Lawyers say language change in First Nations water bill looks to shield government - 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