Message from Our Co-Chair, Sue Deranger

Greetings and thank you for being part of Keepers of the Water. I am honoured to walk with so many committed people who make the world a better place. It touches my heart and motivates me to do more.

Each and everyone of us have a part in loving, honouring, and protecting water and the waters everywhere. This is not to be taken lightly. Without water there is no life. Protection of water is more than words; it is a responsibility.

The fact that you are reading this newsletter indicates that you are taking part in this responsibility. Take the next step, follow and join Keepers of the Water. Keep us informed of the good things you are doing. I know there are many of you doing great things in your communities, families, and Nations. Join us in our events and gatherings. Lend your voice and experience. Every person matters. Every person is valuable and has something to share. Together we can and will stand up for water that gives us life, nourishes us, and ensures the well being of all living beings. Together we will maintain Keepers of the Water’s Vision.

Water is life. We embody water. It is a sacred gift. Love, honor, and respect of water is essential.

We share a vision of unity based on Elders’ guidance, ceremonies and natural law.

Keepers of the Water values water and environment, for a sustainable and just future for the survival of all living beings for generations to come.

Much Love and Respect,

Sue Deranger, Co-Chair, Keepers of the Water

Dr. John O'Connor and the Whistleblower Award

KOW Board Member, Dr. John O’Connor, was awarded the inaugural Peter Bryce Prize from Ryerson University on March 3. This is a whistleblower award, which is given to people who spoke up about wrongdoing at great personal cost.

Dr. O’Connor is a Fort Chipewyan physician who revealed high cancer rates in communities downstream from Alberta’s tar sands in 2006, drawing both national and international attention to the issue of cancer prevalence in the tar sands region. This led to health officials threatening to take away his medical license and his firing from his job at the local health authority.

On receiving the award, Dr. O’Connor said, “Part of being a physician is being an advocate for your patients, and that’s all I do.” Dr.O’Connor is asking for an independent health study to be completed. Ay hay to Dr. O’Connor for his work and his continued advocacy for Water and all those that rely on it.

Support KOW

To keep doing this work for the Water and all that relies on it, we need your help. By May 13, we’re trying to raise $30,000 to continue our work in protecting the Arctic Ocean Drainage Basin and uplifting Indigenous water governance.

This goal is only 0.1% (!) of Kenney’s war room but rather than propping up oil and gas, you’ll be joining us in protecting the Water and supporting Indigenous rights.

You can donate on our website (KeepersOfTheWater.ca). Every bit counts!

Letter to Federal Government about Tailings Treatment

The federal government is working with the Alberta government, along with the oil and gas industry, to develop new regulations to dump treated tailings into the Athabasca River. No independent studies have been conducted to show that liquid tailings can even be treated to safe levels.

At the end of March, Keepers sent a letter to the federal government, asking them to change course and disallow the dumping of tailings into the Athabasca River. The federal government should be using all tools within its purview to ensure Alberta enforces stringent provincial regulations on tailings clean-up and terrestrial reclamation. They should also develop safe standards so that tailings can be recycled and reused within the extraction process used by oil companies while they still operate. Through this, less water will be extracted from the Athabasca River and toxic tailings will not be released back into the watershed.

Our letter was signed by over thirty Indigenous leaders and directors of environmental organizations from both Canada and the US.

Letter

The impacts of the northern Alberta tailings ponds on the land, water, human and ecosystem health have been documented for more than a decade. These reservoirs containing the toxic waste left over from oil sands production have been leaking millions of litres of dangerous chemicals into the groundwater and surrounding environment daily, as federal government scientists have reported.

Instead of addressing the growing problem and spending the billions required to clean up Alberta’s tailings ponds, oil companies have been meeting with the Alberta and Federal governments to develop a series of new Federal regulations that would allow the dumping of treated toxic waste from oil sands production into the Athabasca River.

The Alberta government promised in 2009 and 2013 to clean up the tailings ponds, but these toxic reservoirs have continued to grow. As of 2013, there were over one billion cubic meters covering 220 km2, and in 2017 that number reached 259 km2, or 1.3 times the size of Washington, D.C. The temporary suspension of environmental monitoring, including tailings ponds monitoring, by the Alberta government during the COVID-19 pandemic further illustrates the ongoing lack of provincial action.

The federal government has also ignored the impacts of the tailings ponds on the land and water – under Stephen Harper, environmental inspectors were pulled from the oil sands. In 2020, the Commission for Environmental Cooperation confirmed allegations that the federal government failed to enforce the federal Fisheries Act by not prosecuting oil sands producers over the leaching of tailings chemicals into the ground and surface water.

The federal regulatory requirements proposed by the new Oil Sands Reclamation Interest Group (OSRIG) are set to come into effect by 2023. These regulations would require the treatment of the liquid tailings that would be separated from the solid tailings before release, but no independent studies have been done to show liquid tailings can be treated to safe levels. Tailings ponds contain dangerous levels of mercury, arsenic, cyanide, benzene and naphthenic acids, which are entirely unique to the oil sands. This toxic contamination has been linked to severe health effects, including rare cancers, with an overall 30 per cent higher rate in Indigenous communities downstream from oil sands operations.

To date, oil companies have given no indication of ensuring the proper remediation and reclamation of developed sites. Despite the Auditor’s General of Alberta’s 2018 estimate that “cleaning up after the province’s oil and gas industry would cost $260 billion” with the oil sands making up half of that number, oil and gas companies have only set aside $1 billion for clean-up. This lack of action does not instill confidence in corporate treatment of tailings. More than ever federal involvement in tailings clean-up is urgently required.

We, a group led by local Indigenous community members and organizations, and supported by scientists, environmental and social justice organizations, are asking the federal government to disallow the dumping of tailings into the Athabasca River. Instead, the federal government must use all the tools within its purview to ensure Alberta enforces stringent provincial regulations on tailings clean-up and terrestrial reclamation and develops the safest standard so that tailings can be recycled and reused within the extraction process used by oil companies, while they still operate. This way, less water will be extracted from the Athabasca River and toxic tailings will not be released back into the watershed.

The federal government must work with Alberta to secure the full cost of clean-up of the oil sands, and ensure oil companies permanently clean-up by developing existing technologies in full consultation with and with the full consent of impacted communities.

Win for Water - Muteshekau-shipu River in Quebec

Muteshekau-shipu River (also known as Magpie River) in Quebec was granted legal personhood in February by the Innu Council of Ekuanitshit and the Minganie Regional County Municipality (RCM). This is a Canadian first!

The resolutions grant the river nine rights, in accordance with Innu customs and practices:

1. the right to flow

2. the right to respect for its cycles

3. the right for its natural evolution to be protected and preserved

4. the right to maintain its natural biodiversity

5. the right to fulfil its essential functions within its ecosystem

6. the right to maintain its integrity

7. the right to be safe from pollution

8. the right to regenerate and be restored

9. the right to sue

For years, Hydro-Quebec has wanted to use the river for hydroelectric power, but this new status could help protect the Muteshekau-shipu River from corporations from damming it.

In Memoriam - David Schindler

KOW extends love to the family of Dr. David Schindler, renowned ecologist, who moved into the next world in March. Schindler had a deep love for Water and made many large contributions to the protection of Water, frequently speaking about the contaminants put out by industry and the need for environmental regulations. Ay hay to him for his work for the Water.

KOW News

Current Projects

KOW has finished collecting responses about Indigenous Peoples’ needs and concerns when it comes to Fresh Water. We used an online form to gather replies, hosted four community workshops, and conducted a few phone interviews. These responses will help to inform KOW’s consultation with the Government of Canada in the development of a Canada Water Agency.

We’ve also got a brand new website! You can check it out at KeepersOfTheWater.ca

Past Events

Indigenous Knowledge on Mountains Webinar

On February 16, KOW hosted a webinar about Indigenous knowledge on mountains. We had four presenters who spoke on different topics: Roxanne Blood and Karen Crowshoe on Sacred Places/Tourist Destinations in Blackfoot Territory; Marie Smallboy and the Smallboy Camp; and David Khan and the current coal situation in Alberta. You can watch the webinar on our Facebook page under Videos.

World Water Day Webinar

On World Water Day (March 22), we had a webinar on Indigenous knowledge on Water and the history of water licensing in Alberta. We were joined by Dr. Darlene P. Auger who spoke to Indigenous knowledges on Water and Jeremy Schmidt who addressed Water in Alberta and its connections to settler colonialism in the 21st Century and the history of water licensing.

Upcoming Events

International Water Summit

Keepers of the Water will be hosting an International Water Summit. We will bring in various guest presenters from different countries who will share their experiences of Water and speak to issues, challenges, solutions, and best practices related to Water.

Water/Medicine Knowledge Gathering

Keepers of the Water is partnering with Kaniyasihk Culture Camps to host a gathering where there will be Indigenous teachings on Water, as well as discussion around current issues concerning Water, such as SAGD [Steam Assisted Gravity Drainage] Drilling. We will discuss solutions and community planning strategies for addressing some of the impacts to Water.

We will also be spending time to gather to do medicine teachings and discuss how Water is connected to everything, including medicines.

New Kevin Timoney Book

Hidden Scourge: Exposing the Truth about Fossil Fuel Industry Spills

Hidden from public view across western North America, spills of crude oil and saline water occur daily during production of hydrocarbons by the fossil fuel industry. ‘Hidden Scourge’ takes the reader on a journey into the covert world of spills with data from over 100,000 spills in Alberta, Saskatchewan, North Dakota, Montana, and the Northwest Territories. In contrast to the disinformation produced by the industry and its captured regulators, Hidden Scourge documents failed reclamation, residual contamination, loss of biodiversity, thousands of “missing” spills, a costly legacy of contaminated sites to be managed by future generations, and a pervasive undermining of our democratic institutions. Hidden Scourge concludes with a global perspective on the existential climate and ecological crises facing civilization. This unique and timely investigation is essential reading for those concerned about social and environmental justice, the impacts of fossil fuel use, and the need to transition to life-sustaining energy systems.

PDF version