Piapot First Nation demands MP apologize, retract 'baseless' water plant burning remark

A Cree First Nation wants a member of Parliament to apologize for saying First Nations in Saskatchewan have burned down water treatment plants over Liberal government inaction.

The water treatment plant in Piapot First Nation, about 45 kilometres northeast of Regina, burned in 2018 but repeated investigations identified the blaze's cause as a propane leak, not arson, community leadership said in a statement Friday.

They are denouncing Saskatoon-Grasswood Conservative MP Kevin Waugh's insinuations of intentional damage as a misleading insult that perpetuates racist stereotypes.

«These statements from the MP are not only without merit, but deeply disrespectful to the people of Piapot First Nation and all First Nations committed to the stewardship of our lands and resources,» said Chief Mark Fox in the media release.

«We call for a formal apology and retraction of these baseless claims.»

Fox added that such claims shift focus away from the actual issues First Nations face with infrastructure and resource management, issues that «should not be overshadowed by such ill-advised and misinformed political rhetoric.»

A water treatment plant also burned in Carry the Kettle Nakoda Nation in 2019, where the cause was reported as undetermined.

MPs debated the Trudeau government's proposed First Nations Clean Water Act, Bill C-61, at second reading in the House of Commons in Ottawa on Feb. 5, when Waugh made the contested remark.

Indigenous Services Minister Patty Hajdu had accused the Harper Conservative government of ignoring and underfunding on-reserve water systems for nearly a decade. Waugh was the first Conservative to speak in response.

«In my province of Saskatchewan, I have seen reserves burn down water treatment plants because this