The Athabasca Chipewyan First Nation (ACFN) held a press conference on Thursday to address the toxic tailings leaks and spill from the Kearl Oil Sands Project (Kearl) into their survival resources.
The site, managed by Imperial Oil, is located northwest of Fort McMurray in the Athabasca Oil Sands. Athabasca Chipewyan First Nation Chief Adam said the company and the Alberta Energy regulator failed to notify the ACFN and other Indigenous communities of the leakages for almost nine months, putting unknown amounts of hazardous material into their water and food supplies.
“Since May 2022, Imperial Oil and the Alberta Energy Regulator (AER) have covered up unprecedented failures of tailings dams and toxic tailings leaks and spill at the Kearl mine,” said Chief Adam in a statement March 2. “They’ve been keeping this information from the public, instead of protecting the environment and the downstream Indigenous communities.”
The AER issued an environmental protection order on Feb. 6 in response to two "containment incidents" at Kearl: one in 2022 and one in 2023.
"The first incident, reported earlier in 2022, involves industrial wastewater seeping from the External Tailings Area in four locations both on and outside the boundaries of the Kearl site. At this time, there are no public impacts," the AER statement reads.
In a second incident, Imperial reported that an "uncontrolled release of industrial wastewater from an overflow drainage pond" occurred on Feb. 4.
In a separate, second incident, also at the Kearl site, Imperial reported an uncontrolled release of industrial wastewater from an overflow drainage pond, that occurred on Saturday, February 4, 2023. The initial spill volume was estimated at 5.3 million liters.
“We need to see immediate action to protect people and the environment. These toxic leaks must be contained, and the causes of Imperial’s tailings pond failures must be determined, or production will need to be discontinued,” stated Adam. “Those who decided not to inform the public of these failures must be held accountable. Our members and all Albertans are owed explanations and immediate actions!”
In the March 2nd press conference, Chief Allan Adam said that his people have never had a problem with the oil sands and even worked with the company before. But the chief said that the latest events have been a disappointment, adding that if these leakages happened in a bigger, more populous area, Imperial Oil and the Alberta Energy Regulator would have acted differently.
"We are a small community, small First Nations living up north. [Are we] considered human beings, or are we considered to be livestock? Is it going to be like this forever?" the chief said.
ACFN’s leadership has warned community members not to eat any meat or plants harvested downstream from Kearl since May 2022.
Hunters and trappers are also being told to stay away from the area. Adam believes 78 per cent of Fort Chipewyan residents actively hunt, trap and harvest food from the land. Water has been diverted from the Athabasca River to a reservoir.
More information can be found on the ACFN website.
Listen to the full CFWE Interview below with Chief Allan Adam: