Autumn Peltier

Autumn Peltier is a 15-year-old Canadian Water Activist. Autumn is an advocate for clean drinking water in First Nations communities. She lives on Lake Huron which is one of the largest groups of freshwater lakes on Earth. Autumn comes from the territory of Wikwemkoong, a proud prosperous First Nations reserve. Currently, Autumn lives in Ottawa and attended St. Mother Teresa High School. Autumn grew up understanding the importance of water and the need to protect it. She also advocates for the universal right to clean drinking water, raising awareness towards water rights and ensuring communities have access to clean, safe and reliable drinking water. As young as the age of 8, Autumn was attending water ceremonies on First Nation reserves. Autumn continues her work for the access of clean water concerning Indigenous peoples across the world ("Autumn Peltier" 2020).

Peltier soon became in-demand as a speaker. She gained national and international notice when at a meeting of the Assembly of First Nations she presented Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau with a copper water pot and although she did not have time to deliver her prepared speech she confronted Trudeau on his record on water protection and his support for pipelines.[4] Her act inspired the Assembly of First Nations to create the Niabi Odacidae fund.[4] She has attended international events such as the Children's Climate Conference in Sweden.[2]

In April, 2019 Peltier was named the chief water commissioner by the Anishinabek Nation.[5][6] This position was previously held by her great-aunt Josephine Mandamin.

In September 2019, Peltier was nominated for an International Children's Peace Prize[7] and named as one of the United States Union of Concerned Scientists list of 2019 Science Defenders.[8] She was also invited to speak at the United Nation Secretary-General's Climate Action Summit in New York, in 2018 and 2019.[9]

Autumn Peltier was not given the title "Water Warrior" for no reason (NAAEE, 2018). During her many active years as a water advocate she has inspired many youth to also take action with her and has gained the attention of world leaders. She has been the voice for the universal right of clean drinking water, specifically safe drinking water for Indigenous communities in Canada (NAAEE, 2018).

Although her activism started in Canada, she is now known globally. She gained a lot of public attention when she confronted Canada's Prime Minister, Justin Trudeau in 2016 during the First Nation's annual winter meeting telling him "I am very unhappy with the choices you made" (Zettler, 2019). Autumn expressed her concern about the lack of safe drinking water in various Indigenous communities across Canada, especially from Justin Trudeau's support of pipelines as mentioned above. Autumn further gained attention when she spoke at The Global Landscapes Forum in New York City of September 2018, where she addressed the United Nations and important decision-makers (Zettler, 2019). This conference also allowed her to further spread awareness around the world for her cause and spark a change.

"We can’t eat money or drink oil" -Autumn Peltier, 2018

Her work is being recognized by thousands of people all over the world and she is inspiring youth, especially Indigenous youth, to make a change. She uses various platforms such as Facebook and Instagram, where she has over 100 thousand followers, to spread her water advocacy (Zettler, 2019). Youth and older generations actively use social media daily, this allows her to spread awareness all over the world to different users. Overall, she has been receiving vast amounts of support from youth, politicians, and other activists. She has contributed greatly to bringing attention to the issues of the absence of clean drinking water in indigenous communities at such a young age. Autumn Peltier seems to only be beginning her journey in becoming a passionate activist and making real change in the world.

Before the America’s were colonized, Indigenous women had political authority and were an important part of decision making in their communities (Anderson & Anderson, 2016). For example, it was not uncommon in some indigenous communities, that the women had the authority of choosing and deposing chiefs (Anderson & Anderson, 2016). Women would also participate in community meetings and their opinions were held in high regard (Anderson & Anderson, 2016). It did not matter that they were women or how old they were. The importance centered around their knowledge on the topic being discussed and their passion for it.

When settler colonizers came to the America’s with the goal of destroying the people who had previously occupied the land, this led to the destruction of the indigenous cultural structure, including the influence that women had in society (Arvin & Tuck & Morrill, 2013). They defeminized many different aspects of indigenous life primarily in politics and economics (Arvin & Tuck & Morrill, 2013). They had taken away the power and respect that indigenous women had in society (Arvin & Tuck & Morrill, 2013). Settler colonizers did so by enforcing the idea of heteropatriarchy (Arvin & Tuck & Morrill, 2013). Heteropatriarchy is the idea that only men can be the leaders of the community (Arvin & Tuck & Morrill, 2013). Heteropatriarchy focuses on the concept of the male gender being strong and capable and the female gender being weak and incompetent (Arvin & Tuck & Morrill, 2013). 

The reason why strong leaders like Autumn are so important in today’s society is because she demonstrates the positive impact that women can have when they are given a platform to speak. She is a powerful individual who is working hard to advocate for the people in her community to have safe drinking water. She is reclaiming the positive aspects of indigenous women’s traditions, such as being an influential member of decision-making meetings. She also challenges the binary ideas of men vs women. Her advocacy work challenges the ideas that indigenous women are weak and incompetent. It doesn’t matter that she is a woman or that she is very young. She still has and deserves respect in the local and international community for her advocacy work which has been very successful.

• Nominated for the International Children's Peace Prize, 2017, 2018, 2019.[2][10][11][12]
• Canadian Living Me to We Award Youth in Action under 12, 2017.[4]
• Ontario Junior Citizens Award, Ontario Newspaper Association, 2017.[13]
• Sovereign Medal of Exceptional Volunteerism, by Governor General of Canada and Lieutenant Governor Of Ontario, March 2017[14]
• Ottawa Riverkeeper Award, 2018.[15]
• Water Warrior Award at the Water Docs Film Festival in Toronto, 2019.[3]
• Young Leader Award, Ontario Municipal Social Services Association Award, 2019.[16]
• Named Top 30 under 30 in North America for Environmental Education making a difference, 2019.[17]
• Named to the BBC 100 Women list for 2019.[18]
• Named to Maclean's list of 20 to Watch in 2020. [19]
• Named to Huffington Post's list of 15 Canadian Icons Who Stole our Hearts in 2019. [20]
• Named to the Union of Concerned Scientists list of 2019 Science Defenders. [21]
• Named as a Chatelaine 2019 Woman of the Year. [22]