Matt Price and Allan Adam
Citizen Special
Thursday, February 21, 2008
Todd Korol, Reuters
Canadians are becoming familiar with the scale of destruction in the
tarsands, something that First Nations of the region have known for some
time now.
And people around the world are learning why our country has taken such an
obstructionist role on global warming. Canada and the Bush administration
stand alone against the rest of the world because with the tarsands we are
housing the single most destructive project anywhere on Earth, and the
Americans are getting the oil.
But who exactly is letting this destruction happen? Most Canadians assume we
have environmental laws that should stop such damage and that the people we
elect to office are generally on top of things.
So, who is allowing toxic tailings ponds so large that they can be seen from
space with the naked eye? Engineers don't know what to do with these
misnamed "ponds" which are already leaking into the groundwater.
Who is letting increasing amounts of acid rain from the tarsands fall on
neighbouring Saskatchewan, and sanctioning an explosion in the release of
dangerous volatile organic compounds in the area?
Who is letting First Nations downriver and downwind from the tarsands live
in fear of what poisons are in the fish and game that their ancestors have
lived on for generations? And who has been persecuting their family doctor,
who raised the alarm about abnormal disease rates there?
And finally, who is letting the tarsands hold Canadians hostage in their
desire to tackle global warming?
The tarsands are not only Canada's fastest growing source of greenhouse gas
emissions, but also the reason we don't have hard caps on major polluters in
this country, unlike other industrialized nations.
The old answer is that it is all Alberta's fault. But that isn't true.
Since non-native people came here it has been clear that the federal
government has responsibility for the first peoples of this country. Some
treaties guaranteeing traditional rights to live off the land, like the one
in the Athabasca region where the tarsands are, were signed with the federal
government before Alberta even existed.
The federal government also shares responsibility on the environment with
the provinces, and must lead on issues that cross provincial borders.
There is a clear federal responsibility for fisheries and the protection of
fish habitat -- including clean rivers -- in the Fisheries Act. It is the
federal government that is supposed to regulate dangerous chemicals under
the Canadian Environmental Protection Act.
And, due to the international nature of the problem, it is clearly up to the
federal government to take leadership on global warming. Provinces can and
do fill the leadership vacuum on global warming, but ultimately it is the
government of Canada that must join together with other countries in
reducing emissions at levels in accordance with the best science.
Despite all these federal responsibilities, so far politicians in Ottawa
have been missing in action on the tarsands. Partly this reflects the legacy
of the National Energy Program, with Alberta flogging memories of the
backlash to this program to chase the federal government out of the oil
patch.
Yet, while Alberta claimed the victim label then, today it is a lack of
federal leadership that is creating victims.
Affected First Nations are losing the very foundation of their culture -
their connection to the land and water. Non-native people too will forever
be at risk from the emerging toxic hotspot that could one day cover an area
the size of Florida and spew pollution across the Canadian prairies and
north.
And all Canadians, indeed all people everywhere, are victims of tarsands
greed when our federal politicians refuse to enact the courageous policies
necessary to truly fight global warming, all because they prefer to let the
tarsands grow. And remember that the tarsands have only just begun to grow.
If the Bush administration has its way, the tarsands will be five times
bigger in short order. The toxic toll and impact to our climate will be
staggering.
The wanton destruction from the tarsands should be more than enough of a
scandal to drive change in Ottawa. Technology exists to clean up the
tarsands, whether it is dry tailings or carbon capture and sequestration,
but the government is not making the industry use it. With oil now flirting
with $100 a barrel, the oil companies can afford to clean up, but they won't
do so voluntarily.
First Nations downriver from the tarsands learned to live respectfully with
the riches of Athabasca before colonization began.
Now that new riches have been found there, it is time for the non-native
peoples of Canada to learn respect for the region, and indeed for the very
climate that sustains us all.
Matt Price is a program manager at Environmental Defence. Allan Adam is
chief of the Athabasca Chipewyan First Nation.
C The Ottawa Citizen 2008
