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Our Guiding Philosophy: the Strands of Success

During a staff retreat in the fall of 2019, the Water First team reflected on the essential qualities of our work that produce our strongest relationships and greatest achievements. Our Strands of Success stem from this reflection. These Strands are deeply woven into our operations, how we ensure our work is meeting community-identified needs, as well as in the design and delivery of our education and training programs.

Trust Building

Ensure that respect, honesty, transparency, humility, and integrity are fundamental to our engagements.

Meaningful Partnerships

Fully committed to collaborations built on open communication, mutual knowledge exchanges, and common goals.

Lasting Results

Consistently strive toward sustainable outcomes, with skills and benefits remaining within Indigenous communities for the long-term.

the Water First strands of success
The Water First Strands of Success

To achieve and maintain our mandate, we strive to braid these three strands across all aspects of our work. They reflect our organizational values and are integrated into our everyday work. The strands are critical to our success and, over the years, have led to a strong up-take of our programs by our partners.

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Drinking water advisory statistics are for federally maintained systems on First Nations reserve lands only. These numbers do not include private systems or systems in Inuit communities.

Drinking water advisories include short-term (under 1 year) and long-term (more than 1 year) boil water advisories, do not consume advisories, and do not use advisories for First Nation communities in Canada.

Calculating the number of drinking water advisories is a complex process. Water First relies on information from several different sources. 

Sources: www.watertoday.ca, www.sac-isc.gc.ca, www.fnha.ca.

Last Updated: July 2026