Community-based operator training and appropriate certification regimes for Indigenous water and wastewater systems

At any given time there are more than 150 boil water advisories in Indigenous communities across Canada. Recently, there has been greater emphasis on the importance of Indigenous-led management of water and wastewater on reserve, to increase control and decision-making power around water and wastewater management. This paper describes bottom-up, participatory methodologies and tools for water and wastewater management, specifically operator training and certification. Operators and community members from across Canada were interviewed about their experience with training and certification programs and policies. The purpose is to assess the level of community control, identify key considerations for enhanced decision-making, and propose best practices for operator training and certification for water and wastewater management in Indigenous communities. It is shown that policies and programs developed around training and certification for operators in Indigenous communities across Canada need to involve Indigenous peoples throughout the development of these policies and programs, in a collaborative, nation-to-nation approach. In addition, policies that devolve training and certification responsibilities to national and regional organizations should be investigated as ways to further increase decision-making and self-government of Indigenous communities across Canada.