First Nations take message on dirty oil to USA

Alberta's wealth should not be at the cost of one people. That's the message two First Nations from northern Alberta and a coalition of Canadian environmental groups delivered in a full-page advertisement that ran in USA Today's northeastern distribution last month.
"We wanted to send a clear message to Washington, D.C. that there are significant human rights implications, significant climate change implications, and significant ecological destruction associated with the dirty oil that's coming from northern Alberta," said Clayton Thomas-Muller, co-ordinator for the Canadian Indigenous Tar Sands Campaign for the Indigenous Environmental Network (IEN).
Mikisew Cree and Athabasca Chipewyan First Nations teamed up with ForestEthics (which is funded through a broader North American tar sands coalition) to place the ad, which appeared two days prior to U.S. President Barack Obama's Feb. 19 visit to Canada.
The decision to target the U.S. in an advertising campaign is by design, said Thomas-Muller, pointing to a Globe and Mail article in which federal Environment Minister Jim Prentice stated that Canada's climate and environmental policy would be dictated by U.S. policy.
"The federal government has already given over sovereignty and control of its own policies to D.C. It's really critical to recognize that and, in that context, that's why we don't see the Canada/U.S. border when it comes to lobby efforts for energy and climate policy," Thomas-Muller said.
"Obama must ask Canada to clean up its tar sands and to respect the rights of our Aboriginal First Nations. Both the federal and provincial governments of Canada have failed our Aboriginal community," said Chief Allan Adam of the Athabasca Chipweyan First Nation, in a news release issued by IEN.
While Obama made no public statements specifically about the tar sands development, Thomas-Mueller noted that more than 45,000 letters of support "to move away from the bottom of the barrel forms of energy, like tar sands" were received by ForestEthics following the full-page ad.
The USA Today ad came on the heels of the February release of Premier Ed Stelmach's government report entitled Responsible Actions: A Plan for Alberta's Oil Sands. The 50-page document is introduced by Treasury Board President Lloyd Snelgrove as "the Alberta government's strategic plan for responsible development of this vast resource... It sets a new direction that will guide our decision-making for oil sands development, and contains ambitious strategies to help us identify and address the economic, social and environmental challenges and opportunities in the oil sands regions."
Among the strategies outlined in the report is one which calls for "strengthen(ing) our proactive approach to Aboriginal consultation with a view to reconciling differences."
But that isn't enough, said Thomas-Muller.
"It depends upon what (the government) means by consultation. It's all up to interpretation."
Thomas-Muller pointed out that the format the provincial government has in place for consultation is an industry led, multi-stakeholder process. First Nations are not stakeholders, but sovereignties, he said.
"First Nations fall under federal jurisdiction and to have provincial regulatory enforcement to subjugate First Nations is just not adequate," said Thomas-Muller. He also noted that the federal government has fallen short of its commitment to First Nations by not providing funding resources to help band councils reach all their members with information on tar sands development.
"Jurisdictional issues are emerging. The federal government doesn't want to get involved and the provincial government is allowing industry to regulate themselves, and what we have is cancer clusters emerging in First Nation communities," said Thomas-Muller, referring to a report recently released by Alberta Health Services indicating that cancer rates in Fort Chipewyan are 30 per cent higher than anticipated.
"We are seeing disheartening toxicity levels in our animal life and have now received confirmation of unacceptable cancer rates to people in our community. As a people who have been here for thousands of years, we are sad that no one will listen and that government sits back and issues denials and publicity campaigns without substance," said Adam in the news release issued by ForestEthics.
The Athabasca Chipweyan and Mikisew Cree First Nations comprise approximately 60 per cent of the First Nation population in the Athabasca tar sands development zone.