Autumn Peltier was born on September 27,2004 and is an Anishinaabe Indigenous rights advocate from the Wikwemkong First Nation on Manitoulin Island, Ontario, Canada.
25 Facts About Autumn Peltier
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Autumn Peltier was named Chief Water Commissioner for the Anishinabek Nation in 2019.
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In 2018, at the age of thirteen, Peltier addressed world leaders at the United Nations General Assembly on the issue of water protection.
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Autumn Peltier was born and raised on Wiikwemkong First Nation on Manitoulin Island, Ontario, Canada.
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Autumn Peltier attended St Mother Teresa High School and currently lives in Ottawa.
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Autumn Peltier grew up understanding the importance of water and the need to protect it.
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Autumn Peltier began advocating for the universal right to clean drinking water at a very early age, raising awareness towards water rights and ensuring communities have access to clean, safe and reliable drinking water.
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Autumn Peltier is a strong believer in the role of women in water advocacy, explaining that the first two teachings all humans experience when in the womb are to love the water and to love one's mother.
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Autumn Peltier believes strongly in the power of young people to create change.
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Autumn Peltier expressed frustration at how young people must "[pay] for the mistakes that older people made".
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Autumn Peltier worked closely with the Dreamcatcher Charitable Foundation to provide short-term water access relief to over 500 homes across First Nations communities.
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One major facet of Autumn Peltier's work is her environmental justice activism.
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Autumn Peltier has discussed the challenges of environmental racism against First Nations communities in Canada in the context of water rights.
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Autumn Peltier has argued that the demands of Indigenous peoples in Canada are consistently ignored and minimized by virtue of their indigeneity.
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Autumn Peltier has drawn attention to disparities in treatment of Indigenous people in Canada relative to non-indigenous Canadians, comparing the experience of First Nations citizens, with that of white Canadians living in remote communities, who are never denied access to water.
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At age 12, Autumn Peltier gained national and international notice at a 2016 meeting of the Assembly of First Nations when she presented Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau with a copper water pot and, although she did not have time to deliver her prepared speech, confronted Trudeau on his record on water protection and his support for pipelines.
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Autumn Peltier's act inspired the Assembly of First Nations to create the Niabi Odacidae fund.
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Autumn Peltier further gained attention when she spoke at the Global Landscapes Forum in New York City in September 2018, where she addressed the United Nations and important decision-makers.
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Autumn Peltier was invited to speak at the United Nation Secretary-General's Climate Action Summit in New York, in 2018 and 2019.
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Autumn Peltier is active on various social media platforms and often is connected as a contributor across international broadcast networks and on-line platforms.
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Autumn Peltier has over 200,000 followers across platforms, using them to spread awareness of indigenous inequalities and water advocacy issues, receiving support from youth, politicians, and other activists.
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Autumn Peltier has brought attention to the absence of clean drinking water in Indigenous communities in Canada.
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Autumn Peltier has been bringing global attention to the water issues in our country for a few years now.
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Autumn Peltier believes that the response to the COVID-19 pandemic globally has paved a way for a response to the issue of the drinking water crisis for First Nations in Canada and is hopeful that change is possible.
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On September 29,2022, the eve of National Day for Truth and Reconciliation in Canada, Autumn Peltier's petition asking for clean water solutions was referenced in a Parliamentary House of Commons address and continues to break into conversations as the petition has over 112,000 signatures and growing.