By Laura Bowman and Tennile Sunday
On June 16, 2026, Bill C-37, An Act respecting water, source water, drinking water, wastewater and related infrastructure on First Nation lands (The First Nations Clean Water Act), was re-introduced. A bill of the same name had its first reading in the House of Commons in December of 2023, with amendments in 2024, but died on the order paper when the Carney government prorogued Parliament in January of 2025.
The original Bill (C-61) was introduced to fulfill a class action settlement associated with the Federal Court and Manitoba King’s Bench decisions in Tataskweyak.
After it was introduced, the progress of the Bill was mired with delays, with some provinces, including Alberta and Ontario, arguing that portions of the source water protection provisions – which would allow federal source water protection off-reserve – were beyond the jurisdiction of the federal government.
December 5, 2025, the Federal Court in Shamattawa, held that Canada owes fiduciary and common law duties of care to First Nations to take reasonable measures to provide them with safe access to drinking water. This class action was certified in 2023. Canada has appealed the 2025 decision.
Unfortunately, the reintroduced Bill removed several important measures to protect First Nations’ drinking water and failed to address some of its predecessor’s key shortcomings.
The ownership of water and the affirmation of the constitutionally protected right to self-government remain in the Bill. So do minimum standards for water quantity and quality. The Bill also maintains the former language providing that all decisions must be “guided by” free, prior and informed consent.
The amendments include:
- removal of reference to upholding the rights of First Nations in the s. 3
- removal of strong human rights language in s. 3.
- removal of reference to First Nations jurisdiction over source water that is not adjacent to reserves; and
- removal of some of the consultation, consent, and collaboration requirements for the development of regulations.
The amendments appear to be an attempt to further limit First Nations’ ability to regulate off-reserve conduct that could contaminate drinking water. Now, even where a First Nation has an agreement with a province or territory, its jurisdiction is limited to zones adjacent to First Nation lands. This will undoubtedly limit the effectiveness of the Bill. Amendments also replace strong language requiring co-development of regulations with First Nations with the ambiguous condition that regulations merely reflect” co-development.
The rights clause in s. 3 has also been amended to replace recognition and affirmation of the human right to clean and safe drinking water with “the progressive realization” of human rights to safe drinking water on First Nations lands.
First Nations have underlined the need for access to clean drinking water to be recognized as a human right and the previous Bill was amended to include this strong position. “Progressive realization” is language that weakens the stance previously taken on human rights.
Section 41, “Tabling of a special report,” has been added to require the Minister to table to Parliament a copy of every special report received from corporations under s. 39(2)(c) of the Act.
These amendments represent a likely attempt to placate the provinces, who argued that First Nations do not have jurisdiction to regulate source water off-reserve.
Some previously addressed shortcomings are also not improved. For example, the new Bill does not make source protection mandatory, and still makes source protection contingent on agreements with territorial and provincial governments. The adequate supply or flow of water is also not completely addressed, such as needs for development.
As is often the case in such legislation, the Bill does not provide adequate funding. It also removes the requirement for Canada to engage in “meaningful” consultations and cooperation around funding, leaving the threshold for the consultation obligation unaddressed
