WHAT WE DO
Program Impacts
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The water crisis facing Indigenous communities is profound
Founded in 2009, Water First Education & Training Inc. partners with Indigenous communities to help resolve local water challenges through education, training and meaningful collaboration. Water First offers training and education in three key programs: Drinking Water Internship, environmental water technical training and school-based water science education courses.
It’s our approach to providing these programs that sets Water First apart. Because we listen and work alongside Indigenous partners to learn about long-term environmental water goals and local training needs. Then each program is adapted based on these local, community-identified needs.
By bringing skills training and internship opportunities to communities, training is locally based and connects learning and skills development to the land and water.
have partnered with Water First from coast to coast to coast
We are one of the Top 100 charities in Canada
Water First has been rated a 5-Star, Top 100 charity by Charity Intelligence (Ci), an organization that conducts assessments of non-profits to promote transparency, accountability and a focus on results in the charitable sector. Ci’s rating is based on financial transparency, results reporting, demonstrated impact, need for funding, and cents to the cause.
Program Goals and Evaluation Indicators
All program primary goals are rooted in partnership with communities. Key indicators allow us to measure how program goals are being met.
Therefore, success is measured by each program’s ability to address community priorities, build meaningful relationships, and deliver education and training that has lasting results.
Drinking Water Program
The goal of the Drinking Water Program is to train Indigenous adults to become certified water treatment operators, in order to provide safe, clean drinking water for future generations.
Click here to see a full table showing year-over-year data for the Drinking Water Program.
Impact Highlights
From program inception in 2017 to August 31, 2025.
65
Drinking Water Internship Graduates
31%
Graduates that identify as female 1
74%
Total graduates on a career pathway 2
12 months post graduation
80%
Average graduation rate
252
Certifications achieved
171,100
Hours of training
- 97% of graduates completed Operator-In-Training certification
- 92% of interns strongly agreed/agreed that the program helped them develop the skills needed to become a water treatment plant operator.
- Interns report a 25% to 46% increase in self-rated confidence across three core learning areas (Water Quality Knowledge and Application, Workplace Skill Development, and Career and Employment Skill Development) from internship start to finish
1 This exceeds the mainstream workforce where less than 10% of water treatment plant operators identify as female.
2 Either employed in a water science field or have gone back to school for further education.
Environmental Water Program
The goal of the Environmental Water Program is to train and certify Indigenous adults in the environmental water science field, in order to increase technical capacity to manage land and water resources for future generations.
Click here to see a full table showing year-over-year data for the Environmental Water Program.
Impact Highlights: Community-Based Projects
From program inception in 2017 to August 31, 2025.
39
Community-based water projects completed
85
Environmental water workshops delivered
- Since FY 2024, 92% of project participants strongly agree/agree that after participating in an Environmental Water project workshop, they developed new skills that could be applied to their field of work.
- 92% of project participants strongly agree/agree that the training provided by Water First was beneficial to their community.
Impact Highlights: Environmental Water Internship
18
Certifications achieved
12,635
Hours of training
At the midpoint during the pilot internship program:
- 86% of interns strongly agree/agree that the internship is helping them develop the skills needed to become an environmental technician
- 100% of interns feel that they will be able to apply the skills they’re developing during the Internship to pursue a career in environmental sciences and/or to advance in their current career in environmental sciences
- 86% strongly agree/agree that the training provided by the Internship is beneficial to their community
School Water Program
The goal of the School Water Program is to engage Indigenous students, from kindergarten to grade 12, and showcase pathways to careers in water science sectors.
Click here to see a full table showing year-over-year data for the School Water Program.
Impact Highlights
From program inception in 2016 to August 31, 2025.
11,409
Student learners in courses
164
Multi-day water science courses delivered
125
High school credits earned by students through the Summer Credit Course
80%
Student satisfaction rate
91%
Teacher satisfaction rate
During FY 2025:
- 15 Drinking Water and Environmental interns/alumni engaged in delivering School Water programming to students
- 33 local Indigenous community speakers shared water-related knowledge during student workshops
- On average, 82% of students and teachers strongly agree/agree that the SW program is delivering on its primary goal (i.e., the program increased students’ understanding of water science, pathways into water science careers, and what a career in water sciences involves)
Strengthening our foundation for growth and lasting results
Water First’s objective is to meet the needs of any Indigenous community in Canada that wants to partner with us to address water challenges through education and training. We’ve seen a surge in interest and support for our work over the past few years, which presents exciting opportunities and new challenges. As we expand our offerings and nurture meaningful partnerships, it’s important we remember our mandate and focus on the specific skills, practices, and perspectives that we bring to the table. This means we must focus on growing well.
Lessons learned this recent fiscal year
Environmental Water Program
While we look back at the pilot of the Environmental Water Internship with pride and gratitude, we learned quite a few lessons along the way that will help us run a smoother, more efficient internship in round two and future iterations.
Recruitment was one of the initial challenges. While we had already collaborated with many communities via our community-based projects, the scope of the internship was something that not every community within the Tribal Council had capacity for. Ensuring that there was a Lands & Resources office and management, or related department, available to take on an intern for 15 months was a hurdle that took some logistical planning to overcome. To prepare for this possibility in the second internship, we have adapted by starting recruitment much earlier, engaging directly with communities more, and building program awareness among communities and other stakeholders by working on various engagement projects and via communication materials.
We have also recognized an opportunity to more clearly define the program through standardizing workflows, adopting industry-standard practices, and allotting additional time to curriculum revisions. Being awarded ECO-Canada certifications in three program areas and upon program graduation will also help with initial recruitment efforts.
Drinking Water Program
Expansion of programming has created several challenges for the Drinking Water Team, but these challenges have provided opportunities to address gaps in our service model and delivery that we can continue to improve and adapt.
As part of Water First’s planned expansion of programming into Western Canada, we launched the first Drinking Water Internship in Manitoba. Adapting this program for success outside of Ontario meant the development of significant new material, including Wastewater Training. This required additional subject matter expertise to provide quality training. However, it did give us the opportunity to push us towards the development of a new Canada-wide curriculum that will reduce the need for further adaptations when entering new provinces and territories to offer the Internship.
With the mandate of working with any community that sees value in our programming, we were challenged to adapt our model to be able to partner with Indigenous communities that were not affiliated with a common Tribal Council. This led to the development of the Southern Ontario Internship, partnering directly with communities under multiple service agreements, rather than partnering with a Tribal Council under one agreement. This enables us to remove a huge barrier to partnership, and will become a more common model as Water First programming continues to expand to new communities.
School Water Program
Working year-round and often in remote locations means that even with the very best advance planning, we are sometimes dealing with weather-related circumstances we just can’t control. This past winter, extreme weather events caused flight cancellations, travel delays, and multiple-day school closures during our scheduled time in-community.
Working in remote communities where capacity, staffing and resources may be limited already, takes care and adaptation. The additional challenge of a truncated timeline for program delivery (i.e. cramming five days of scheduled programming into three days of classroom time) means constantly re-evaluating priorities and plans. Thankfully, our team is resilient, creative, and flexible. We engage and trust our team and the community we are working with to help guide our choices when the weather isn’t sunshine and clear skies.
In these situations, we work to simplify information requests to reduce administrative burden, preparing contingency plans and alternative scheduling. Working through these challenges together helps to build stronger relationships with those who are with us – it takes a team to find solutions that make a learning experience better in the face of difficulties.
When things don’t go as planned, our approach is persistence paired with respect – and we know to always pack a few extra ponchos.
