Water First Education and Training Inc.

Water First is guided by the Indigenous youth and young adults participating in our programs, our Indigenous staff and board members, local Indigenous community partners, and our Indigenous Advisory Council members. Our collaborations are built on respect and meaningful partnerships, with Indigenous youth and community partners at the heart of our work. While we strive to meaningfully engage with many Indigenous individuals through our work, we do not identify as an Indigenous-led organization.

Founded in 2009 to bring drinking water resources to rural schools in Uganda, we provided training on the operations and maintenance of the water and sanitation systems we installed. Water First began working with Indigenous communities in Canada in 2012 after being challenged and inspired on numerous occasions about why we were not working with communities in Canada experiencing water challenges.

Our projects with Indigenous communities were initially small but grew quickly. Our collaborations accounted for nearly 90% of program resources within a few years. Water First dedicated itself exclusively to working with Indigenous communities in 2016. We focus on technical skills training for Indigenous youth in drinking water, environmental water, and water science education.