Unanswered Al-Pac questions nag chief

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The fight to stop the proposed Albert-Pacific pulp mill is not over yet, says the chief of the Cree band at Fort Chipewyan.

Archie Waquan says although a decision on the $1.3 billion pulp mill has been delayed, the Athabasca mill will probably be approved without answers to a lot of questions.

"The delay doesn't mean much because they (the government) still don't know the eventual impact on the river systems. Even if they find the mill won't pollute the river, what happens in the future if they are wrong? It's questions like that there are still no answers to."

Waquan is also concerned about Al-Pac's Forest Management Agreement (FMA). He says the Alberta government is giving away large tracts of land without understanding what the environmental impact on the land and the people living in the are will be.

The government may delay its decision on the mill until November. A three-man scientific review panel presented its report to the government Oct. 1. Environment Minister Ralph Klein said at that time he expected a decision by mid-October.

A spokesman for the group, Citizens for Responsible Northern Development, says the province is delaying its decision because the scientific review panel's report contains material, which will make it difficult for the project to go ahead. Mith Bronaugh says the government is trying to figure out its options.

But, says Bronaugh, if the proposed mill is built, it will be a great threat to Natives in the area. He says Al-Pac's proposed 100,000 square kilometer FMA will have a severe impact on Native land claims.

"Al-Pac will be able to close off the land to Natives and they'll be considered as squatters on Crown land. The government is giving away land that rightfully belongs to Indians."

The Fort MacKay and Athabasca Chipewyan bands are also concerned about how the proposed mill will affect their traditional way of life.

The Al-Pac project was first announced in December 1988. In the spring of 1990 an environmental review panel, which was established with pressure from numerous environmental and Native groups, recommended it be delayed because of concerns about water quality in the Athabasca River The company decided to change the technology it proposed to use. That new technology was subject to three days of public hearings last month.

Bronaugh and Waquan agree the government will ,make Al-Pac the lord and master of 11 per cent of Alberta if it decides to go ahead with the mill. Bronaugh, who is working closely with Natives in the Athabasca region on the Al-Pac issue, says neither the province nor Natives will benefit from the proposed development.

"Albertans and especially Natives will have to give up what is theirs in order for this to go through. I think the government is realizing this and they might be learning about what it's like to be an Indian," he says.