When citizens are most vulnerable
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For years Fort Chipewyan’s leadership has been asking for base-line health studies to find out why a greater than ‘normal’ number of cancer and other serious diseases have infected their community. Yet the research carried out has been superficial at best, and the conclusions – that nothing at all is wrong – are suspect. What is particularly alarming is people who speak out about this are silenced.
Dr. John O’Connor, the local family doctor, was recently muzzled for trying to get the Alberta government to understand why Fort Chipewyan needs help. An official complaint was lodged and the doctor was investigated by the body that polices doctors – obviously to shut him up. His name was eventually cleared - it was found there were no grounds for the complaint.
What happened to O’Connor is more than a travesty of justice – it was evil and nasty and flies in the face of all that is good and right about Canada. Little is known about the complaint, other than it was lodged by Health Canada. How is it that our national government is working against its own citizens? An answer to this would be greatly appreciated – by the people of Fort Chipewyan as well as most other Canadians.
Pollution that may contain carcinogens from the massive oil sands developments immediately upstream of Fort Chipewyan may well be where such sickness starts. Alberta too has a duty to protect these same citizens. Instead it nods a resounding “Yes!” to further development in the area - without adequate study of the impacts on human health.
The logic in all this is bizarre. The multi-billion dollar oil industry puts money in the coffers of government making it wealthy beyond compare. But what good is being wealthy if your own citizens become ill because of the development and millions of dollars have to be pumped into health care to deal with them? Even if the Alberta government lacks moral principles when it comes to their duty to their own citizens, at least they should be able to do the math. Why not invest some of that money into preventative measures?
Criticism of harm to the environment and subsequent human health issues is the stuff of Hollywood movies and is usually reserved for industry. Some industries are certainly good corporate citizens, while more than a few have been found guilty of putting profit above all else. Undoubtedly this applies to the oilsands situation. But who is to know? This is not about industry doing what is right – or not. This is about government covering up so that industry is accountable to no one. That is unthinkable.
