“Canada must immediately establish a process with Indigenous communities to find solutions to the risks that tailings cause to areas of federal jurisdiction, including our Treaty rights. Tuccaro said the federal government needed to immediately move the Fort Chip water intake to a safer location to ensure safe drinking water on the reserve enhance monitoring of Mikisew Cree Nation’s drinking water and source water ensure that timely and complete information is shared on testing and that there be collaboration of monitoring on the site.įull funding was also needed for a Fort Chip health study, said Tuccaro, and there needed to be a federal-Indigenous audit of risks for all tailings facilities in the region.įurther, wrote Tuccaro, there needed to be “real solutions” to tailings ponds. “We need to look in detail and what the role is for the federal government to play in regards to each of those requests.” “Overall, we agree with those requests,” said Guilbeault. In it, he outlined four steps that needed to be taken in order to “address the crisis our community is facing and to protect against another crisis of this kind.”
The motion comes on the heels of a letter being sent on March 18 to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau from Tuccaro. Both ministers said they had spoken with chiefs Billy-Joe Tuccaro (Mikisew Cree) and Allan Adam (Athabasca Chipewyan). Guilbeault was joined by Indigenous Services Canada Minister Patty Hajdu. In a tweet March 15, Weiler said Imperial’s CEO will have to explain “how his company let this happen.” AER would have to answer to “why they kept the leak hidden.” Affected Indigenous communities will be asked to testify on how this has impacted them.Įnvironment and Climate Change Canada Minister Stephen Guilbeault, who addressed the media in Ottawa on March 20, said he was pleased by the motion for testimony at the parliamentary committee. One seep area is in close proximity to Waterbody 3, which is fish-bearing, with tributaries that feed the Firebag and Muskeg rivers, which flow into the Athabasca River.Ī motion was passed March 20 by the parliamentary committee, which will also invite Imperial Oil’s CEO and the Alberta Energy Regulator to speak on the occurrence The motion was brought forward by West Vancouver-Sunshine Coast MP Patrick Weiler, who is a member on the standing committee on environment and sustainable development.
The wastewater exceeds federal and provincial guidelines for iron, arsenic, sulphates and hydrocarbons that could include kerosene, creosote and diesel. Industrial wastewater has been escaping the external tailings area, both on and outside the boundaries of the Kearl site, since without the Indigenous communities being notified until Feb. First Nations and Métis communities in the Fort Chipewyan area downstream of Imperial Oil’s Kearl mine site tailings seepage will be invited to speak at a parliamentary committee that will be addressing the situation.
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