Dear Santa:

As an old boomer lady, I do not need or want anything for myself anymore. But, I do have a very special request and since no one else seems to be listening perhaps you could pull some strings and get the job done. I’m appalled, frustrated and angry that after all the studies and promises made over the last few years, our indigenous communities are still without clean drinking water and that is an absolutely disgraceful situation. It is beyond my comprehension why on earth this problem has not been rectified by now. I spent most of my career working for a major international construction company. We could build domed stadiums, hospitals, office and retail complexes and certainly water treatment plants in less time than it takes to conduct a study.

It can’t be that complicated. A water treatment plant can be designed and built in less than a year. Money should not be an issue. Justin Trudeau is throwing cash around these days like a drunken sailor. I read recently in the newspaper about an unscrupulous family scamming the CERB program for more than eleven million dollars. How can that happen while our northern communities cannot access clean drinking water? Some communities have been relying on bottled water for twenty-five years while the government delivers hollow promises and no results. Shameful. Absolutely shameful.

As a fellow Canadian (in fact, our indigenous people were the first Canadians), it’s hard to know what we can do. Access to clean drinking water is a basic human right. Should we contact our Member of Parliament? How effective would that be after all these years of knowing about the problem and doing nothing? They seem to be useless. I know you have a particularly challenging job this year Santa, but if you could forego a few X-Boxes and iPads to privileged families and divert resources to providing clean drinking water to indigenous communities where it’s needed, I would seriously consider becoming a believer. Thank you.