{"id":106139,"date":"2026-06-24T08:27:20","date_gmt":"2026-06-24T12:27:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/?p=106139"},"modified":"2026-06-24T08:27:20","modified_gmt":"2026-06-24T12:27:20","slug":"its-all-words-first-nation-says-feds-havent-fulfilled-8b-water-settlement","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/index.php\/2026\/06\/24\/its-all-words-first-nation-says-feds-havent-fulfilled-8b-water-settlement\/","title":{"rendered":"&#8216;It&#8217;s all words&#8217;: First Nation says feds haven&#8217;t fulfilled $8B water settlement"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>By Maya Ekman, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, NWOnewswatch.com NESKANTAGA \u2013 Five years after an $8 billion clean water settlement the First Nation with the longest standing drinking water advisory in the country says they haven\u2019t seen a cent. \u201cFor Neskantaga, it\u2019s very troubling; things are not moving. Words, it\u2019s all words, and we want action where we can have clean drinking water,\u201d said Gary Quisess, chief of Neskantaga First Nation, now in their 31st year without safe water. \u201cWe\u2019ve lost life in these 31 years. I don\u2019t know how many lives we\u2019ve lost over a water treatment plant.\u201d Last week, the federal government put forth the First Nations Clean Water Act along with the \u201clargest funding commitment ever made for First Nations,\u201d to target long-term drinking water advisories. Quisess says&#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%2F24%2Fits-all-words-first-nation-says-feds-havent-fulfilled-8b-water-settlement%2F\">Log in here<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>By Maya Ekman, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, NWOnewswatch.com NESKANTAGA \u2013 Five years after an $8 billion clean water settlement the First Nation with the longest standing drinking water advisory in the country says they haven\u2019t seen a cent. \u201cFor Neskantaga, it\u2019s very troubling; things are not moving. Words, it\u2019s all words, and we want action where we can have clean drinking water,\u201d said Gary Quisess, chief of Neskantaga First Nation, now in their 31st year without safe water. \u201cWe\u2019ve lost life in these 31 years. I don\u2019t know how many lives we\u2019ve lost over a water treatment plant.\u201d Last week, the federal government put forth the First Nations Clean Water Act along with the \u201clargest funding commitment ever made for First Nations,\u201d to target long-term drinking water advisories. Quisess says... <\/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%2F24%2Fits-all-words-first-nation-says-feds-havent-fulfilled-8b-water-settlement%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-106139","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 v27.9 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>&#039;It&#039;s all words&#039;: First Nation says feds haven&#039;t fulfilled $8B water settlement - 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\/24\/its-all-words-first-nation-says-feds-havent-fulfilled-8b-water-settlement\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"&#039;It&#039;s all words&#039;: First Nation says feds haven&#039;t fulfilled $8B water settlement - The Turtle Island News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"By Maya Ekman, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, NWOnewswatch.com NESKANTAGA \u2013 Five years after an $8 billion clean water settlement the First Nation with the longest standing drinking water advisory in the country says they haven\u2019t seen a cent. \u201cFor Neskantaga, it\u2019s very troubling; things are not moving. Words, it\u2019s all words, and we want action where we can have clean drinking water,\u201d said Gary Quisess, chief of Neskantaga First Nation, now in their 31st year without safe water. \u201cWe\u2019ve lost life in these 31 years. I don\u2019t know how many lives we\u2019ve lost over a water treatment plant.\u201d Last week, the federal government put forth the First Nations Clean Water Act along with the \u201clargest funding commitment ever made for First Nations,\u201d to target long-term drinking water advisories. Quisess says\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/index.php\/2026\/06\/24\/its-all-words-first-nation-says-feds-havent-fulfilled-8b-water-settlement\/\" \/>\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=\"2026-06-24T12:27:20+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\\\/24\\\/its-all-words-first-nation-says-feds-havent-fulfilled-8b-water-settlement\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theturtleislandnews.com\\\/index.php\\\/2026\\\/06\\\/24\\\/its-all-words-first-nation-says-feds-havent-fulfilled-8b-water-settlement\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Lynda Powless\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theturtleislandnews.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/7b188fd7503577895ef8b306988cd458\"},\"headline\":\"&#8216;It&#8217;s all words&#8217;: First Nation says feds haven&#8217;t fulfilled $8B water settlement\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-06-24T12:27:20+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theturtleislandnews.com\\\/index.php\\\/2026\\\/06\\\/24\\\/its-all-words-first-nation-says-feds-havent-fulfilled-8b-water-settlement\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":750,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theturtleislandnews.com\\\/#organization\"},\"articleSection\":[\"National News\",\"ticker\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-CA\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theturtleislandnews.com\\\/index.php\\\/2026\\\/06\\\/24\\\/its-all-words-first-nation-says-feds-havent-fulfilled-8b-water-settlement\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theturtleislandnews.com\\\/index.php\\\/2026\\\/06\\\/24\\\/its-all-words-first-nation-says-feds-havent-fulfilled-8b-water-settlement\\\/\",\"name\":\"'It's all words': First Nation says feds haven't fulfilled $8B water settlement - 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