ALEXANDER FIRST NATION
Our Water, Our Future
A Nation-led approach to protecting, restoring, and governing water.
AFN NIPÎY is Alexander First Nation’s water sovereignty, protection, and resiliency initiative. It brings together community knowledge, Elder guidance, and technical planning to address long-standing water challenges across our territory — from Sandy Lake and local creeks to drainage systems, groundwater, and regional watersheds. This work is about more than infrastructure. It is about responsibility, jurisdiction, and ensuring that our land can continue to hold, clean, and sustain water for generations to come.
OUR RELATIONSHIP TO WATER
Water has always connected Alexander First Nation to our lands, our food, and our way of life. For generations, creeks, wetlands, lakes, and rivers sustained our people, our wildlife, and our ceremonies.
Our Elders teach us that water is alive, and that we carry responsibilities to protect it — not only for ourselves, but for future generations. These responsibilities did not begin with modern infrastructure, and they do not end with it.
AFN NIPÎY exists to ensure that these responsibilities are carried forward in today’s world, where land use changes, climate impacts, and aging systems have placed new pressures on our waters.
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Over time, natural water systems across our territory have been altered. Wetlands have been drained. Creeks have been redirected. Drainage systems, roads, and agricultural expansion have changed how water moves across the land.
These changes have affected places like Sandy Lake and the wider watershed. They have increased flooding in some areas, reduced water levels in others, and placed stress on both natural ecosystems and community infrastructure.
For many years, these problems were addressed only after something failed.
AFN NIPÎY represents a shift away from reaction — toward planning, protection, and long-term stewardship.
THE PURPOSE OF THE AFN WATER PROTECTION STRATEGY
Protect & Restore the Land
We identify and restore riparian areas, stabilize erosion, improve drainage systems, and use natural solutions like wetlands and vegetation to help the land hold, slow, and clean water.
Strengthen Infrastructure
We plan and prioritize upgrades to culverts, ditches, crossings, reservoirs, and water systems so they function safely, reliably, and in harmony with the watershed.
Monitor & Plan
We use technical studies, field surveys, and water sampling to understand what is happening across the territory and guide long-term decision-making.
Advance Water Governance
We support Nation-led standards, planning, and partnerships through Alexander First Nation and the First Nations Water Alliance.