'Very' serious issue: federal transport minister on contamination in northern Alberta town

The community of about 1,200 on the tip of Lake Athabasca is dealing with potentially carcinogenic contamination around its dock (CTV News)

The renewed pleas of people in Fort Chipewyan, Alta. for government to take action cleaning up contamination in their community have reached the ears of federal Transport Minister Anita Anand.

The community of about 1,200 on the tip of Lake Athabasca is dealing with potentially carcinogenic contamination around its dock. Local leaders are speaking out after they became aware of a 2017 government report identifying the contamination, which they believe was deliberately hidden from locals, who continued to fish and swim in the area.

Allan Adam, chief of the Athabasca Chipewyan First Nation, alleges a cover-up. “I think it was probably pushed aside, because they didn’t want to gain the media attention it would get. Somebody’s got to be held accountable,” he said.

Anand, who took over the Transport portfolio three weeks ago, responded Monday in Ottawa, addressing concerns over the 2017 report. “My understanding is that the severe health risks that we’re seeing now were not evident at that time, but of course having been in the role for just two weeks, I want to stress on the go forward, I take this issue very seriously."

A spokesperson from Transport Canada told CTV News the 2017 study into contamination in Fort Chipewyan determined the site was “not likely to pose any risks to human health.”

The site is listed as a ‘medium’ priority on a federal contaminated sites database. The 2017 report cited historical industrial activity and creosote-treated infrastructure as potential sources of contamination. The town’s drinking water is sourced nearby, and suspicion is rampant in the community it isn’t safe for consumption.

“To drink the water, to eat the fish, knowing it’s killing us, but yet we still gotta do it because we don’t have a choice,” April Mercredi, who grew up in the area, told CTV News. “And we don’t want to move. Where we gonna go?”

Locals maintain their health is being compromised.

“I live in this community, I see the people dying of rare cancers,” said Kendrick Cardinal, President of the Fort Chipewyan Metis Nation. An Alberta government report released a decade ago did confirm higher rates of three kinds of cancer. Lily Marcel, an Athabasca Chipewyan First Nation elder, believes cancer has been disproportionately affecting the community for decades. “Come and see our situation. And live it. Drink the water. When they come to our meetings they bring in the bottled water. Why do they do that?” said Marcel.

Fort Chipewyan is downstream from the oil sands, another factor that stokes suspicion, especially after multiple tailings pond spills in Northern Alberta two years ago. The spills led local leaders to demand change in Ottawa. In August, the federal government announced a $12 million, 10-year community-led health study into oil sands impact.

Community leaders are calling for Fort Chipewyan’s drinking water intake to be moved, and the Transport Canada dock area to be cleaned up and dredged. “Don’t forget about us on the corner of northern Alberta. We’re fighting for our lives every day,” Mercredi said.