They Are Killing Our People
This past week, the Mikisew Cree First Nation of Alberta released a report on the massive cancer rates in their community.
The Alberta government withheld key medical statistics, and the federal government dragged their feet. The Feds promised to fund a study that would take 10 years to complete. And so, the community paid for their own research.
“We will all be dead in ten years,” said Chief Billy-Joe Tuccaro.
The study revealed staggering rates of cancer in the community.
No one can claim to be surprised. The community lives downstream from the massive tar sands operations in northern Alberta.
The people are being poisoned — from the staggering levels of emissions whose real rates of toxicity are continually under-reported. And they are being impacted by the toxins in the Athabasca River, where people fish for sustenance.
In 2006, Dr. John O’Connor went public with the frightening number of cancer victims in Fort Chipewyan.
Industry and government did everything to shut him down because the source of the cancers was obvious. The Federal Health Canada launched four complaints against him, tying Dr. O’Connor up in litigation in an attempt to strip him of his credentials.
“I was simply doing my job,” he said.
Further investigation found that everything he said was true. Cancer rates were at least 30% higher than in other communities. And yet nothing was done.
And now, 20 years after Dr. O’Connor raised the alarm bell, the Mikisew Cree were in Ottawa with more evidence.
In that time, the toxic water in the massive tailings ponds at Fort Mac has grown immensely. It takes upwards of 5 barrels of water to produce 1 barrel of bitumen in Fort Mac. The toxic water is stored in the massive tailings ponds which are almost three times the size of the city of Vancouver.
There are now over 1.4 trillion litres of toxic water in the tailings ponds.
The oil industry is seeking federal permission to begin dumping toxic water into the badly stressed Athabasca River system. No one in the federal government or the mainstream media are asking what will be the impacts on the people and the stressed waterways if Danielle Smith moves forward with her plan to double oil production.
I want to share with you the Meidas Canada Network interview I did with journalist Brandi Morin. She is a truth teller. Please take the time to watch. Included in the video is the trailer to her powerful new film on the toxic waters of the Athabasca.
The environmental impact on people and the land will last for decades. As these poisons are sitting in a vulnerable position I fear that this flood will be released whether by design or negligence.
I don’t know what the federal government can actually do about this extreme danger except maybe building another location for people along the river to move to. This is not fair or right, but at this point people are dying and need a safer place to live until this horrific mess is cleaned up.
This is awful to see. The world needs Canadian oil because of the US war on Iran. The environmental costs to people are not worth producing more. As a USer, it seems successive Federal and Alberta governments refused to help fix the source.
I asked a Canadian months ago here on Substack about ramping up wind and solar. Said hydro already produced a lot. And I said removing Alberta oil sands? Not possible she said. It would break Alberta’s economy.
1.4 trillion gallons of toxic water is a Canada problem, not only a local problem.
We need to remove all oil from our lives, and make sure the impacted residents and workers get needed economic help.