More than three decades after Indigenous leaders in northern Alberta began asking for funding to better understand if pollution from the oilsands was making their people sick, the federal government is funding a study to do just that.
Mia Rabson, The Canadian PressOTTAWA —
Other studies have found unsafe levels of arsenic, mercury and hydrocarbons in the area’s water, as well as in its fish, sediments and surrounding wildlife. “I’ve heard loud and clear community members need to know what impacts of living downstream from the oilsands means for them,” he said. Documents later filed by Imperial Oil showed seepage from the tailings ponds was anticipated when they were designed, and that it had been documented for years.
Funding for the study “speaks volumes” about a commitment by the federal government to reconciliation, Kendrick Cardinal, president of the Fort Chipewyan Métis Nation said Tuesday. “So just to keep that in mind, we can’t keep pointing fingers at one component,” he said. “There is multiple engines running here and there are engines that were long operating before Imperial came. Until we truly find out what is the cause, only then we would be able to address those issues. But until then this is a step forward.”
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