It’s F*cking Water

The Challenge 

Clean drinking water is something we take for granted in Canada. However, for individuals belonging to Indigenous communities, easy access to clean drinking water can be far more complicated. For example, in some of the almost 70 Indigenous communities affected, tap water could be contaminated by many harmful bacteria or even pollutants such as mercury, arsenic or uranium, and those communities are told to boil their water before they use it. The government said they’d fix this five years ago. But the deadline has come and gone and they’ve done precisely… f*ck all. We felt it was way past time that we changed that. 

 

The Approach

Armed with a combination of hard-hitting facts, a dab of humour and a whole lot of f*cks, we created a video to raise awareness for the water crises many Indigenous communities are facing. The video features legendary Canadian figure skater Kurt Browning and the Chair and Founding Partner of the First People’s Group, Guy Freedman. Our CTA was meant to entice people to “Give A F*ck” and sign our petition to the government at effingwater.ca

 

The Impact

Our campaign kicked off during the 2021 holiday season and continues to gain momentum to this day. With over 1 million organic video views – which have helped drive over 70,000 signatures on our petition – we’re actively getting the word out to all Canadians about this important issue. 

In response to our campaign, Andrew MacKendrick, Director of Communications and Issues Management at the Office of the Minister of Indigenous Services and Minister responsible for the Federal Economic Development Agency for Northern Ontario reached out to advise that, “[i]n the last couple of months a number of advisories have been lifted, now up to 132 long-term advisories lifted since 2015 and 33 remaining in 28 communities.”

Progress continues, as we collectively call on the government to ensure all Indigenous communities will finally have access to safe, clean water. After all, it’s f*cking water

 

The Partners
First People’s Group

  • Strategy

    Campaign

  • Client

    Public Inc.

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