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When I visited my reserve, Moose Factory, for the first time since I was two, one of the first things I did was hike through the bushes to a secluded beach along the Moose River. I was later told that the first thing Sixties Scoop adoptees taken from their homelands do is find water. In many Indigenous cultures, water is sacred because it is where life begins, so it makes sense that those who have been displaced — like me — would be drawn to the source. 

It was the summer of 2022, and in the heat of the day, I walked to the Quick Stop gas station to get a slushie. The gentleman behind the counter told me that slushies were unavailable because the community was under a boil water advisory. Anything that required water, including making coffee and cooking food, was shut down until the advisory was lifted. 

When there is a boil water advisory, community members can buy bottled water in Cochrane, Ont., or other southern towns and bring it to the remote reserve by train. However, not everyone has the time or money for the privilege of transporting goods this way. Folks do their best to take care of their community, but accessing clean water this way is an enormous task that can’t always be dealt with individually. 

Moose Factory Island is a Moose Cree First Nation reserve in Northern Ontario on the southern tip of James Bay, home to about 2,500 people. If you have the money, you can reach it by helicopter or charter plane from more southern parts of the province in a few hours. But for most people travelling from further south than Timmins or Cochrane, it’s a two-day trip. Since I live in Toronto, I usually travel to Cochrane by bus or car. On the bus, it’s a 16-hour trip.

From Cochrane, there is one daily train option, a 9 a.m. Polar Bear Express that arrives at 2 p.m. in Moosonee, where water taxis wait on the Moose River to ferry customers to the island. The single train going south leaves Cochrane at 5 p.m. This complicated journey is the only way most Moose Factory residents have to get to and from Kingston, the closest place they can access complex medical care. 

In the winter, accessing Moose Factory is more straightforward because an ice road connects James Bay communities to the rest of Ontario, allowing trucks to bring bottled water, fuel and groceries. But in spring and fall, the only method of transporting supplies is by helicopter, so the prices skyrocket. A case of bottled water in a remote community like mine can cost close to $40, while in a city like Toronto the same case of water would cost less than three dollars.

In 2015, former prime minister Justin Trudeau promised to end long-term boil water advisories in First Nations communities by March 2021. The Canadian government defines a “long-term” boil water advisory as one lasting more than a year. They’re behind on this goal: as of March 2025, there are still 35 long-term advisories remaining, mostly in Ontario. 

Even that number downplays the extent of the problem across the country. These long-term advisories numbers exclude some reserves in British Columbia, which were taken off of the federal list when responsibility for monitoring was transferred to the First Nations Health Authority, a unique authority which oversees Indigenous health programs and services in the province.

When I looked up the reserves on the list to be addressed, I was stunned that Moose Factory was not on it. I learned that reserves that only experience “temporary” boil water advisories — even if they last days, weeks or months — aren’t included in the federal promise. These temporary interruptions to clean water systems regularly occur in isolated northern Ontario nations like Attawapiskat, where Charles Hookimaw filed a 500-page human rights complaint to the United Nations last year, claiming that the water in the community hasn’t been safe to drink since the 1980s. In the winter, Attawapiskat residents like Hookimaw haul water across the frozen ground on a sled when tap water is dangerous to consume. 

For years, Moose Factory has been waiting for improvements to the water system, which could finally give the community something most city dwellers take for granted: clean drinking water all year long. But when I visited last summer, I learned that a solution isn’t happening any time soon.

Lack of clean water in Indigenous communities is a legacy of Canada’s history of erasure

My birth mother is Moose Cree from Moose Factory, and my birth father is English; his family settled in North Bay, Ont., in the 1920s. I was born in Moose Factory but spent my childhood bouncing between foster homes, an adoptive home and each of my parents. In one Catholic foster home, I learned how to be a well-behaved little girl so that a family would want to adopt me.

I didn’t know then that I was part of the Sixties Scoop, one of more than 20,000 Indigenous children removed from their homes and placed with non-Indigenous families from 1951 to 1991. While the event was coined the Sixties Scoop because most children were removed at the height of the residential schools, elders recount Indigenous children being separated from their families as early as the 1930s.

The practice of removing Indigenous children from their birth families hasn’t ended and is now known as the Millennium Scoop. As of 2021, over 50 per cent of children in the foster system in Canada are Indigenous, even though they make up less than eight per cent of children under 14. These events continued the project of residential schools that saw Indigenous children removed from their families to assimilate them into Canadian culture. Many of the children faced unspeakable abuse. Even if there was no outright physical and sexual abuse, the cultures and languages were stolen, causing fractures in Indigenous communities that are still healing. 

The reasons given to justify the removal of children like me are the result of colonial harms. Indigenous parents are accused of neglect for having empty refrigerators, even if they feed their children from the land. Some struggle with substance abuse due to trauma. Instead of helping Indigenous parents put food on the table or recover from addiction, Canada takes their children away. 

When I was four years old, I was adopted: though one of my adoptive parents was a non-Indigenous man, I had the good fortune of having an Anishinaabe woman from Wiikwemkoong as my adoptive mother. Her older sister cherished me dearly, and when I ended up in a group home at 12, my aunt got a job there. She made sure to raise me with Anishinaabe values, which are kin to Swampy Cree traditions. For that, I am grateful because many Indigenous adoptees did not have that privilege. 

Another strategy of forcible assimilation used by the government was to create reserves to dispossess Indigenous people of their land. Many First Nations reserves are remote and cut off from transportation infrastructure, leaving residents without basic necessities such as clean water.

Indigenous communities like Attawapiskat and Moose Cree work hard to ensure the survival of their language, cultures and land. Still, when a community constantly deals with crises like contaminated water, it slows progress and prevents healing.

No timeline for planned upgrade to Moose Factory water system, which will be too little, too late 

I travelled to Moose Factory this past August for the Gathering of Our People. The annual event sees all the Cree folks around James Bay come together to celebrate their heritage by dancing at a powwow, heading up the river for sundance and learning the language. Vendors sell traditional crafts like dream catchers and beaded jewellery. Residents sell homemade food during the day and into the evening, when the hockey arena transforms into a concert venue. This past summer, even my uncle Emmett, who doesn’t like crowds, made his way to the arena to watch Los Lobos and Tom Cochrane.

During the shows, the stage glows with multicoloured spotlights operated by Jay Monture, who wears many hats in the community, including repairing the water infrastructure. He told me one cause of boil water advisories is that old plastic pipes crack in cold weather. 

All the schools and public buildings are affected by low water pressure and frozen water pipes, which causes temporary closures, disrupted programs and services and postponed special events, according to Monture. Often when he digs up the earth to get to the leaks caused by frozen pipes, dirt gets in the lines, causing a boil water advisory. Fixing one problem causes another, and the cycle is never-ending. And because Moose Factory does not have adequate access to water for its residents’ needs, the nation has not built more housing despite population growth. 

I told Monture I was headed to the Quick Stop, and he offered me a ride. He showed me a pile of pipes meant to build an extension for the existing treatment plant. But the timeline for that project remains a mystery. Moose Cree First Nation’s water treatment systems have been operating beyond capacity since at least 2015. In 2019, the nation’s chief and council said building an extension to the existing plant is “the number one priority.” 

In 2022, the cost of upgrading the existing water treatment plant, as well as the sewage lagoon, was projected at $51 million, with funding provided by Indigenous Services Canada and the Canada Infrastructure Program.

However, it doesn’t seem as if anything concrete has happened since. The last available public update, from March 2024, is an environmental assessment by Indigenous Services Canada, Transport Canada and Infrastructure Canada, which concluded the project was not expected to have adverse environmental effects. Though construction to extend the water system was supposed to be completed in November 2024, as of April 2025, there were no updates on the status of the water treatment plant upgrades, and construction has not yet begun. Moose Cree First Nation did not respond to multiple requests for comment on the status of the water treatment plant.  

Even once it’s completed, the water filter extension will only help so much. In 2021, the nation’s then director of public works, Abel Wapachee, proposed a new system altogether — but construction wouldn’t start until the extension to the existing plant is complete. 

An upgrade is literally a downstream solution, a last-ditch effort for a problem that has become unavoidably bad. One needs to travel upstream to look for the cause of the issue.

Hunters and fishers witness impacts of contamination up close

Along with contaminated pipes, Moose Factory Cree Nation faces other challenges with its water. Phil Sutherland, who grew up with my family in Moose Factory, pointed out that the Moose River is downstream of several hydroelectric dams and power stations that create silt and environmental contamination. He told me about a study on fish in the rivers that found high levels of mercury.

Ron Spencer, the director of lands and resources for Moose Cree, sent me the report for the study, done in 2024, which was conducted in collaboration with community members, researchers from Trent University and Camp Onakawana, which brings people together for Cree cultural activities on the Abitibi River, a tributary of the Moose River. 

The report gathered stories from Elders and fishers, who shared changes they had noticed in aquatic wildlife, such as skin colour and deformities. The recommendations from the report stated that vulnerable populations, such as pregnant women and people under 40.8 kilograms, should avoid eating walleye from Moose River Crossing, since the predatory fish eat other fish with mercury in them. Although the report recommended eating non-predatory fish such as whitefish and trout, it noted the toxins have already made their way into the ecosystem through the water.

Hunters of the moose that drink from the Moose River also observed alarming signs of environmental contamination. One told the researchers, “[The moose] have these bunch of little sores inside their stomach, like black cysts all over inside. It’s kind of scary when you see it.”

Lindy Linklater, the director of administration and communications at Moose Cree First Nation, told me part of the Moose River is so polluted that where it meets the French River, you can see the divide between where the water is safe to drink and where it has become contaminated. I head out with my uncle on a boat to see for myself — on our way, we saw some masko (bears), and he pulled up as close as possible to take photos.

After about an hour, we reached the spot that Linklater was referring to, and it was shocking to see the change in the water. I was reminded of my last trip, in 2022, when I tried to get footage of fish; the water was so murky that the camera couldn’t pick anything out. 

Jennifer Simard, the nation’s director of Ontario Power Generation relations, told me that the visible brown pollution in the Moose and Metagami Rivers is from erosion. She said the river banks are unstable, primarily from hydroelectric dams, but also because of construction and other human activity.  The French River has never had a hydroelectric dam, and no roads lead to it, so the waters are clear, she said. There are no published studies, but Simard creates updates that can be referred to on these topics, part of her work to preserve the French River.  

Sutherland said Moose Factory used to be “God’s Country,” when the land was untouched and the water was safe to drink. The reserve is still close to heaven, a stunning place to visit, and the land many call home. Like many other reserves, Moose Factory deserves to return to the state where people don’t have to question the water they drink so that many generations to come can rebuild their culture and thrive on the land. 

Updated on April 16, 2025 at 10:25 a.m. PT: This story has been updated to correct the timeframe of the Sixties Scoop, which includes children removed from their homes between 1951 and 1991.

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This story is a collaboration between The Narwhal and The Waterloo Region Record.

Hundreds of acres of prime farmland in Wilmot Township are being assembled and converted to an industrial site for a future Toyota plant, The Narwhal and The Waterloo Region Record have learned.

The controversial project began more than a year ago when the Region of Waterloo and Wilmot Township first responded to calls by the Doug Ford government to assemble shovel-ready land for industry to attract jobs.

The call went out to municipalities across the province and required at least 500 acres of land in order to attract large-scale investment. Waterloo’s regional government identified 770 acres, or about 323 hectares, in the middle of Wilmot, including six farms and six residential properties contained by Bleams Road, Nafziger Road, Highway 7 and Wilmot Centre Road. 

Last March, farmers and property owners received offers from the region. Some said they were threatened with expropriation if they refused to sell. To date, the region has spent $18 million to buy one farm that covers 161 acres, and three residential properties, totalling about 20 per cent of the lands it wants to assemble. The region says it remains committed to negotiating fair deals with the land owners. 

The region has previously told property owners the land is being readied to attract a major employer to the area. Both the region and province say no end-user has been lined up for the site. 

In an email to The Narwhal and The Record, Philippe Crowe, a Toyota spokesperson, said, “We are not involved in any land assembly projects in Ontario.” 

Several sources connected to the public and private sectors have told The Narwhal and The Record the land assembly was started so Toyota could build a third plant in this part of the province, adding to those in nearby Cambridge and Woodstock. The Narwhal and The Record have granted these sources confidentiality because none are authorized to speak publicly. They say nothing has been signed and discussions are ongoing but none have said Toyota has a role in the assembly process.

One source said, “The site is ready for Toyota whenever it’s ready for it.” 

The Narwhal and The Record emailed the premier’s office, the Ministry of Economic Development, Job Creation and Trade and the Ministry of Municipal Affairs and Housing. None responded to the questions by the time of publication. The federal Department of Innovation, Science and Economic Development referred questions to Toyota. 

Lynsey Slupeiks, spokesperson for the Region of Waterloo, did not address a question from The Narwhal and The Record about whether the region had engaged in any discussions about the land with Toyota. She wrote that the land assembly is “underway to create a large-scale, contiguous, shovel-ready site that is attractive to a major employer locating or expanding in Waterloo Region.”

“Waterloo Region has lost several investments from major employers as a result of not having shovel-ready land. This resulted in a loss of over $4.1-billion in investment and over 5,000 new jobs, over the past three years,” she wrote.

Two sources say the future plant could produce batteries, helping to boost Ontario’s anticipated electric vehicle supply chain. Another facility in that supply chain would give incentive for Toyota to stay and grow in Canada in the wake of tariff threats from U.S. President Donald Trump that target automakers. While those threats have supposedly sparked the 2025 Ontario election, in Wilmot, voters are heading to the polls with the controversy, secrecy and future of this site top of mind. 

Toyota’s long history in southwestern Ontario

The parcels of land being assembled in Wilmot are located between the Toyota assembly plant in Cambridge, which opened in 1988, and the newer one in Woodstock, which opened in 2008. The two plants have a combined workforce of 8,700, and produce more vehicles than any other part of Ontario’s auto sector for the past five years in a row, according to Toyota. The two assembly plants are also supported by a network of parts factories that employ more than 35,000 people in the region, says the Waterloo Region Economic Development Corporation.

At 770 acres, the proposed industrial site in Wilmot is larger than the Cambridge and Woodstock plants combined, with hundreds of acres of land left over. 

Sources said the site is ideal for a Toyota electric-vehicle battery plant.

The Japanese automaker is already making this shift: a new Toyota plant in Randolph County, N.C., that cost US$13.9 billion is set to begin production in April on electric-vehicle batteries. 

In recent years, Ottawa and Queen’s Park have collectively provided billions of dollars in subsidies to help build such electric vehicle and battery plants across southwestern Ontario, including in Windsor, St. Thomas, Alliston, Port Colborne and Loyalist County. So far, Toyota has not been in the mix, which doesn’t make sense, according to a source in Waterloo Region, given Toyota’s importance to automaking in Ontario.

According to public federal records, Toyota representatives have lobbied federal officials across several ministries and on various topics including manufacturing and electric vehicles. Toyota also has a heavy presence in the Ontario lobbying registry, with company officials from its manufacturing subsidiary registered since last summer. 

Vic Fedeli, the outgoing minister of economic development, previously said the province would help the region pay for the land assembly. 

Some in the auto industry say the province should be doing everything it can to keep companies like Toyota in Ontario in light of the tariff threats. Trump has also said Americans “don’t need” vehicles made in Ontario and laid out a strategy to force automakers to move their operations to the United States.

The source in Waterloo Region said the land assembly in Wilmot Township is critical because if Toyota builds another electric vehicle plant in the U.S., the future of Ontario’s Toyota operations will be in question.

In the past, Toyota has changed plans in response to political pressures. In April 2015, Toyota announced it was moving production of the Corolla from Cambridge to Mexico. After Trump first took office in January 2016, he threatened to impose tariffs on Toyota if it moved the plant to Mexico, and Toyota responded by moving the plant to the U.S.

“Toyota is a major investor in Ontario and the biggest employer in the region,” Flavio Volpe, president of the Automotive Parts Manufacturers’ Association, said in an interview. “We’d better be pitching them a super site like this.”

Land assembly a concern at the ballot for the 2025 Ontario election 

Rural Ontario is the base of support for the Ontario Progressive Conservative Party but the land assembly is threatening to wane it, in this area, at least. The Conservative incumbent, Mike Harris Jr. — son of former premier Mike Harris – won the riding by more than 4,100 votes in 2022. On Monday night, he was booed and called a liar at an all-candidates meeting in the New Hamburg Community Centre, near the assembly site.

During the discussion, Harris said voters in the riding are most concerned about having well-paid jobs close to home. At an earlier debate, Harris said 30,000 jobs are at stake if the land assembly in Wilmot Township is not completed. 

“How do you know how many jobs are at stake if you do not know what is going in there?” Jodi Szimanski, the Ontario NDP candidate in Kitchener-Conestoga, said in an interview Monday night. “It is another case where they are hiding secrets and not being transparent with people.”

The Ontario Liberal candidate, Joe Gowing, acknowledged the candidates are seeking office with little information about the most controversial issue in the riding. Gowing called the land assembly secretive, deceitful and undemocratic. He does not believe the Region of Waterloo and the Conservatives when they say no end-user is lined up for the land.

“The reason I don’t, is where are they getting the figure of 30,000 new jobs this is going to create? Where do they know that number from unless there is somebody waiting in the wings?” Gowing said in an interview Monday night.

In addition to the secrecy, voters are also concerned about the loss of farmland that could result from this industrial development. The 2021 Census of Agriculture shows Ontario is home to a quarter of Canada’s farms, and almost eight per cent of the country’s farmland. The Ontario Farmland Trust reports the province is losing 319 acres of farmland every day to other uses. At that rate, Ontario will lose all of its farmland in 100 years. And once farmland is paved over, it can no longer be used to sequester carbon, mitigate floods, provide habitat for wildlife or grow food. 

As a result, the National Farmers Union, among other advocacy organizations, has come out strongly against the land assembly, especially after some Wilmot farmers said they were threatened with expropriation if they do not agree to sell.

That includes Stewart Snyder, a third-generation dairy farmer on Nafziger Road. The region first made an offer to buy his property about a year ago for $35,000 an acre. After he refused, Snyder said the region has more than doubled the offer but it contains a strange clause — if the region does not need it, the land will be returned to the farmer.

“The terms and conditions totally suck,” Snyder said. “If you were selling your house would you let someone use it for a year while they decide if they want it or not, without paying anything? No.”

“When you go buy a car, can you take the car and drive it for a year and then decide whether they want it or not? Without paying anything? No.”

The secrecy, bizarre conditions and threats of expropriation have caused Snyder to re-think his lifelong support for the Ontario Progressive Conservative Party. He texted Conservative leader Doug Ford about it in response to a campaign message asking for his support. 

“My text said, ‘As a true blue supporter for the last 40 years, I am totally appalled by what’s going on and the process in Wilmot Township,’ ” Snyder said in an interview in his barn. 

Snyder was pleasantly surprised when Ford personally called his family farm and told his wife to direct their questions to the Region of Waterloo. But the outreach was not enough for him to vote for the Conservatives.

“I have to think twice about how I will vote,” he said.

Updated on Feb. 26, 2024, at 11:24 a.m. ET: Phrasing in the display copy — the secondary headline in particular — of this story has been changed to clarify that no farmland has been expropriated to date, however some farmers say they were warned their property could be expropriated.

The Narwhal’s reporters are telling environment stories you won’t read about anywhere else. Stay in the loop by signing up for our free weekly dose of independent journalism.