Ryan Reynolds and Blake Lively, the Hollywood super-stars and philanthropists, are providing their assistance to Indigenous young adults in Canada to get the training required for operating water treatment plants and other steps to ensure clean and safe water for the masses.
The power couple has pledged half a million dollars to Water First Education & Training Inc., a Canadian charitable organization. The entity aims to train and upskill Indigenous young adults and youth in providing clean water to their communities by wielding water treatment plants and other strategies.
Inhabitants of First Nations communities usually depend on water treatment provisions to eradicate contaminated and poor water supply systems, in spite of Canada being a water-rich country.
Reynolds said in his statement
Access to clean drinking water is a basic human right. Canada is home to over 20 percent of the planet’s freshwater — an abundance that’s envied around the world. There’s absolutely no reason indigenous communities should not have access to safe, clean water
Canada’s home to 20% of earth’s freshwater. There’s no acceptable reason Indigenous communities don’t have access to clean, safe water.?Check out @waterfirstngo https://t.co/0N5Y6PUO9q
— Ryan Reynolds (@VancityReynolds) March 24, 2022
Water First is a Canada-based trust fund that was established back in 2009 as Tin Roof Global, which focuses on supplying the Indigenous communities with clean water through sustainable access that is safe. To do so they train young people and help them become environmental technicians and certified water operators. The charity was made in response to the imbalance in access to clean water in Canada. Throughout the country, 15% of the First Nation communities are now under an advisory of drinking water.
The actor admired Water First for helping in giving surety to the Indigenous communities that need sustainable and safe water supply that can get qualified, young, and local technicians to run and manage the treatment plants to keep a check and monitor the unsafe water.
Reynolds further added,
All the individuals involved, whether they are operating water systems or monitoring their local water bodies, are critical. We appreciate Water First’s focus on supporting young, Indigenous adults to become certified water operators and environmental technicians. These folks are helping to ensure sustainable access to safe, clean water locally, now and for the future. Blake and I are thrilled to support this important work
Water First works side by side with the federal government’s long-standing efforts that also have come up short in giving a guarantee of safe water supply for the Indigenous communities spread countrywide.
Spencer Welling from Wasauksing First Nation, an intern at Water First, spoke about it, he said in his statement:
I am doing this for myself, my family and community. It’s important to know how things are done and gives you a better appreciation for it. It’s a good career to have, which I’m sure would ease my parents’ minds knowing that. It also feels good knowing that my community will have a local water treatment operator at the plant for at least a couple decades
John Millar, the founder and executive director of Water First also gave a statement regarding the matter. He said:
From our first conversation with Ryan, his genuine interest in supporting education and training opportunities for young Indigenous adults and youth has been clear. Many Indigenous community partners are reaching out to Water First to explore options to strengthen local technical capacity in the water field. Ryan and Blake’s tremendous support will significantly increase Water First’s ability to offer hands-on skills training to more Indigenous youth and young adults from coast to coast to coast. We are proud to support the steps Indigenous communities are taking to address local water challenges independently and for the long term
Water First Education & Training Inc. shared a tweet pledging to celebrate the World Water Day 2022 by initiating a training program for young interns for the provision of safe drinking water in Canada.
This #WorldWaterDay we're celebrating the people that make water systems work, because #SafeWaterNeedsSkilledPeople.
Recently, a few of the interns in our Drinking Water Program shared their thoughts on what it means to them and their communities. ?https://t.co/S9tHJcAoCA pic.twitter.com/LYP5FAbi12
— Water First Education & Training Inc. (@waterfirstngo) March 22, 2022
There are many charities, like Water For People Canada, WE Charity, and Water Sommelier, apart from Water First Education & Training, which are dedicated to providing clean water to the Indigenous communities that are working in Canada and have done some magnificent work.
Chris Mack
