Photo Courtesy of Flickr
By Helen Gloege ’23
Staff Writer
Autumn Peltier is a 17-year-old clean water advocate. She is Anishinaabe-kwe and comes from the Wikwemikong First Nation located on Manitoulin Island in northern Ontario, Canada. According to The Guardian, Peltier’s advocacy for water rights began at the age of eight when she attended a ceremony at the Serpent River Reservation, where signs in the bathrooms read, “do not drink the water” and “boil advisory in effect.” She later learned from her mother that the drinking water in this community had been contaminated for 24 years, The Guardian reported. As of March 2021, 58 outstanding water advisories affect 38 First Nations communities, according to the Canadian Wildlife Federation. According to The Canadian Encyclopedia, Peltier has since become the chief water commissioner for the Anishinabek Nation, following in the footsteps of her great-aunt Josephine Mandamin, and was appointed a water protector by the Assembly of First Nations. Peltier gained national and international attention at a meeting of the Assembly of First Nations in 2017, where she was chosen to present a traditional water bundle to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. She had a speech prepared to give to Trudeau, but decided to only tell him she was “not happy with the decisions you’ve made for my people.” In 2018, she addressed world leaders at the U.N. General Assembly on the issue of water protection. During this time, Peltier was nominated for the International Children’s Peace Prize for three successive years. This year, she was selected as a recipient of the National Conservation Award by the Canadian Wildlife Federation.