MKO

There was no shortage of water outside as 155 Mennonites and Aboriginals gathered at Bethel Mennonite Church, Winnipeg, on a snowy Jan. 14 evening to discuss water issues on northern Manitoba reserves. After a series of articles in the Winnipeg Free Press highlighted Third World living conditions on First Nations reserves in the Island Lakes region, Mennonite Central Committee Manitoba organized the consultation, Just Water: Challenges in the Island Lake Communities, to explore “whether or how to respond to the water crisis in the Island Lake aboriginal communities.”