Water As a Sacred and Scarce Resource Among First Nations Reserves in Canada.
2021 Trebek Grantee
Sara Hylton
The Ongoing Challenge of Clean Water For Everyone
Access to clean, safe drinking water remains unequal across Canada, with long-term impacts on health, trust, and daily life.
Across Canada, some First Nations have gone decades without reliable access to clean water. Neskantaga First Nation has lived under a boil water advisory for more than 30 years, the longest in the country. In Fort Chipewyan, concerns about the safety of local water have been raised for generations, shaped by the community’s proximity to industrial development.
These are not isolated cases. They reflect deeper gaps in infrastructure, oversight, and access, especially in remote Nations that have long called these lands home.
Documenting the Impact of Water Insecurity
Photojournalist and 2021 Trebek Grantee Sara Hylton set out to document what water insecurity looks like in everyday life.
Over a period of two years, she visited the Neskantaga First Nation and the community of Fort Chipewyan, where residents have long faced challenges related to water access and safety. Her photographs reveal how water insecurity influences daily routines, the storage and use of water, and how, in many homes, it is no longer trusted.
Sara’s work has since appeared in Canadian Geographic and continues to reach new audiences through exhibitions and public talks. But the stories began in communities where water is more than a resource. It is tied to family, history, and the ability to trust what comes out of the tap.
Explore the Full Photo Essays in Canadian Geographic
These articles reveal how residents of Neskantaga and Fort Chipewyan experience life without reliable access to clean water.
The trauma of an entire generation without access to safe drinking water has left its mark. Written by Brandi Morin with photography by Sara Hylton
Published Jan 09, 2025, Updated Jan 10
Through photographs and interviews, Canadian photographer Sara Hylton explores how human-caused impacts are damaging Fort Chipewyan, a small community in northern Alberta
Published Sep 22, 2023, Updated Feb 20, 2025
The Neskantaga First Nation
Located along the banks of Attawapiskat Lake and the Otoskwin River, 436 kilometres from Thunder Bay, Ont.
Neskantaga is a fly-in community in northern Ontario that has lived under a boil water advisory for nearly 30 years. Without road access year-round, residents rely on bottled water flown in. Past failures of the water system have led to evacuations and ongoing mistrust.
These images show …….
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Daily Life in Neskantaga
Reaching these research sites takes time and grit. Dalal and her team hike through dense forest and over rugged terrain, carrying gear and gathering evidence from waters few people see. This is the heart of field science, where data begins and the story of recovery takes shape. 🔽 Walk with the team into landscapes shaped by disturbance.
Standing at the edge of a logged landscape, Dalal and her team analyze how deforestation alters the delicate balance between land and water.
Threading through the trees, Dalal’s team navigates toward their research site, where the forest meets the water, and change is already unfolding.
Searching for signs of life, Dalal and Andrea carefully collect invertebrates, tiny creatures that reveal whether these waters are in distress or beginning to heal.
A fragile piece of the puzzle, benthic invertebrates serve as freshwater sentinels, reflecting the health of the river in ways the eye can’t see
Precision in the wild. Dalal calibrates water sensors, ensuring that every data point captures the true state of the stream’s recovery.
Hope beneath the surface. Dalal examines a benthic invertebrate, a sign that despite the changes above, life still clings to these waters
Under a darkening sky, the river flows quietly, unchanged to the eye yet carrying the invisible shifts that researchers are racing to document.
Science doesn’t stop when the sun sets. Beneath the stars, a team of researchers prepares for another day of uncovering the secrets of Canada’s changing waters.
A river in transition. Where a dense forest once stood, exposed land now drains sediment into fragile waterways, altering the flow of life downstream.
In the Field
Reaching these research sites takes time and grit. Dalal and her team hike through dense forest and over rugged terrain, carrying gear and gathering evidence from waters few people see. This is the heart of field science, where data begins and the story of recovery takes shape. 🔽 Walk with the team into landscapes shaped by disturbance.
Wading into the stream, Dalal looks for aquatic insects whose presence can reveal the river’s recovery or decline.
A stonefly larva, nature’s own water quality sensor. These creatures thrive in cold, clean waters. Their presence is a hopeful sign; their absence, a silent warning.
A closer look at transformation. Where towering forests once stood, only exposed earth remains. What happens upstream will shape the rivers below for decades to come.
With the sun framing her silhouette, Dalal Hanna records water quality measurements, capturing data that will reveal the long-term impact of logging on freshwater ecosystems.
Dalal filters water for environmental DNA, a technique that reveals what species have passed through without ever being seen.
Dalal uses genetic sampling to reconstruct the river’s ecological memory, identifying what remains and what may be lost.
Every drop holds a history. Dalal gathers water samples to track temperature shifts, sediment loads, and the unseen consequences of upstream deforestation.
Reading the riverbed. Dalal Hanna examines the smoothness of a rock, a subtle but telling indicator of sediment buildup that can suffocate fish eggs and disrupt aquatic ecosystems.
Dalal Hanna examines an aquatic insect she hopes to showcase to students, while project partner Joe Grabowski sets up for a live-streamed field lesson that brings real-time science from the river to classrooms across Canada.
Meet Dalal Hanna
Biologist, Ecologist, and National Geographic Explorer
2024 Trebek Grantee Dr. Dalal Hanna is a freshwater ecologist at Carleton University and a National Geographic Explorer.
Her interest in freshwater began during childhood canoe trips across Quebec, where long days on the water sparked a curiosity about the ecosystems beneath the surface. That early interest grew into a career focused on how human activities shape freshwater systems over time.
In addition to leading national-scale field research, Dalal collaborates with students, educators, and community partners to explore how land use, science, and local knowledge can be integrated to support healthy freshwater ecosystems.
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