KEEPERS OF THE WATER SOLIDARITY STATEMENT—ATHABASCA CHIPEWYAN FIRST NATION SERVES ALBERTA ENERGY REGULATOR WITH NOTICE OF LAWSUIT
For immediate release: MARCH 8, 2024
KEEPERS OF THE WATER
ATHABASCA CHIPEWYAN FIRST NATION SERVES ALBERTA ENERGY REGULATOR WITH NOTICE OF LAWSUIT
TREATY 8, AB—The Athabasca Chipewyan First Nation (ACFN) has served the Alberta Energy Regulator (AER) with notice of a lawsuit filed in the Alberta Court of King’s Bench. In a statement, ACFN’s suit alleges negligence, nuisance, breach of duty to consult, breach of the Honour of the Crown, breach of fiduciary duty and unjustified treaty infringement by the AER and Alberta.”
According to the statement, the lawsuit is focusing on AER’s failure to inform ACFN about two significant toxic tailings discharges from Imperial Oil’s Kearl facility that took place between May 2022 to February 2023.
Keepers of the Water support ACFN and surrounding communities. These spills cause irreparable damage and KOW has been working along with many others to bring awareness to the toxic tailing ponds, leaks and the effects they have on land.
“Spills of this magnitude need to be addressed so they can be prevented in the future, not ignored or covered up. While the province is pushing mining expansions, we are pushing for clean-up and closures. We can no longer look away from one of the biggest driving forces of climate change, sitting in our backyards, We can no longer look away from the leading cause of the rare cancers plaguing our loved ones around and downstream from the tar sands projects.”
It was reported that Imperial Oil’s Kearl mine had been leaking toxic industrial wastewater for over nine months while keeping local Indigenous communities in the dark. The public only learned about the leak after a subsequent spill at the same facility, which released 5.3 million litres of industrial waste.
Keepers of the Water have been working tirelessly to raise awareness of the devastating human and environmental impacts of these ever-expanding toxic tailing ponds on the surrounding environment.
Background information:
The Alberta Energy Regulator issued an order on February 6th, 2023, to Imperial Oil, Canada’s 3rd largest oil sands producer, in response to two incidents in which wastewater from toxic tailings leaked into the environment. One of the incidents spilled 5.3 million litres of industrial waste.
Indigenous and environmental groups sent a letter to the federal and Alberta governments, urging action on the Imperial Oil leak, such as bringing federal charges under the Fisheries Act.
In 2020, the Commission for Environmental Cooperation, an environmental agency created under NAFTA, confirmed the tar sands tailings ponds were leaking toxic chemicals into groundwater and that these leaks violate Canada’s Fisheries Act.
The tar sands’ tailings “ponds” now contain over 1.4 trillion litres of toxic waste and cover an area more than two times the size of the city of Vancouver.
KEEPERS OF THE WATER are First Nations, Métis, Inuit, environmental groups, concerned citizens, and communities working together for the protection of water, air, land, and all living things within the Arctic Ocean Drainage Basin.
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For more information, please contact:
Tori Cress | Communications Manager