Despite an abundance of natural resources including minerals, timber, and freshwater lakes, no one in the northwestern Ontario riding of Kenora takes drinking water for granted.

The riding is one of the largest in Canada, and home to 40 different Indigenous communities, many of which have been boiling water for decades under official advisory. The Neskantaga First Nation in particular has been boiling water for more than 20 years, and the Grassy Narrows First Nation has evendeclared a “state of emergency.”

Kenora has long been identified a “riding to watch” by media and pollsters in the 2015 federal election. Indigenous voters represent around 35 per cent of Kenora’s voting population, and many haven't been pleased with their treatment under the Prime Minister Stephen Harper.

"(Harper) is threatening our treaties, our land, our right to protect these lands — and I feel that's not right," Wauzhushk Onigum Nation member Nicole Skead told APTN in a recent interview.

The Indigenous vote could even yank victory away from incumbent Conservative Greg Rickford, who has held the seat since 2008.

A former Liberal stronghold

Kenora packs a powerful political punch with more than 44,000 potential voters, and its territory spans the City of Kenora itself along with parts of Thunder Bay, Bertrand, McLaurin, Furlonge, Fletcher, and Bulmer.

It was a Liberal stronghold for 20 years before turning blue for Rickford, who is now Minister of Natural Resources and Minister for the Federal Economic Development Initiative for Northern Ontario (FedNor). Rickford won by wide margins in the 2011 election, and according to an exclusive National Observerpoll by Environics Research, he holds 40 per cent of support from decided voters.