Indigenous leaders denounce Alberta’s plans to alter water management

The Suncor Energy Inc. Fort Hills mine is seen in this aerial photograph taken above the Athabasca oil sands near Fort McMurray, Alberta, Canada, on Monday, Sept. 10, 2018.

Former Tthebatthie Denesuline (Smith’s Landing) chief Gerry Cheezie is not mincing words about plans between the Alberta government and Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers (CAPP) to change the legal framework governing the watersheds of Northern Alberta that feed into the Northwest Territories.

“When we signed Treaty 8 on July 17, 1899, there was no talk about Alberta,” he said. ”Alberta just happened to be created in 1905. Then in 1930, under the Natural Resources Transfer Act, some old white guys in Ottawa and some old white guys in Alberta signed an agreement that stole all our land and resources.

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“They don’t pay for any of this water usage — they use all this water for free. To produce one barrel of oil, they have to use 17 barrels of water and that water can’t be returned to the system — it sits in tailings ponds. The quality of the water is going down. We’re doing water samples and air samples and we’re getting all sorts of disturbing readings.”

Now co-chair of the Keepers of the Water, Cheezie is sounding the alarm over talks between CAPP and the Danielle Smith-led Alberta United Conservative Party government to modify the province’s Water Act to allow oil companies to draw water from either the Athabasca River or the Peace River and transfer it up to 100 kilometres from either body of water.

Under the current legal framework, oil extractors need to apply to draw water from a specific body and that water cannot be moved to a separate operation.

“CAPP has been engaging with the Alberta government to advance various approaches that could enhance water management, including low-risk, inter-basin water transfers,” said CAPP vice-president of regulatory operations Richard Wong. ”While the proposal to merge the Peace/Slave and Athabasca river basins for the purposes of identifying inter-basin transfers did not originate with CAPP, our members support it as a practical solution.

“Current restrictions under the Water Act create unnecessary inefficiencies for oil and gas projects that span major basin boundaries. Allowing water transfers between the Peace/Slave and Athabasca river basins, which naturally converge within Alberta, would eliminate the need for redundant water infrastructure, allow companies to access the most suitable water sources based on availability and reduce environmental impact,” Wong stated.

Wong told NNSL Media there are roughly 122 oil and gas operations on the watershed. He said changing the management system would mean less water would have to be moved by truck in the area.

A spokesperson for the Alberta government confirmed talks were underway.

“Right now, we are looking at ways to strengthen and modernize Alberta’s water management system,” said Kevin Lee, spokesperson for the Alberta Ministry of Municipal Affairs. “Over the past year, we’ve been engaging with Albertans on proposed Water Act amendments that would help improve the province’s water management system.

“One of the proposed changes that we are seeking feedback on is on the definition of major river basins and includes a proposed merging of the Peace and Athabasca river basins, which would only apply to inter-basin transfers. All applications submitted under the Water Act undergo a full review to assess potential impacts to other water users and the environment before a decision is made. This process would still be in place for all applications.

“Merging these basins under the Water Act would be comparable to how Alberta is already managing the Red Deer, Bow, Oldman and South Saskatchewan sub-basins as one major river basin for the purpose of inter-basin transfers,” Lee added.

‘Nothing normal about it’

An arrangement similar to the inter-basin transfer system in southern Alberta is exactly what Keepers of the Water executive director Jesse Cardinal is fighting to stop.

She noted that since those changes were implemented — in spite of warnings from hydrologists — water scarcity in southern Alberta has been an ongoing problem.

“We’ve been in a drought consistently for several years,” she said, adding the Keepers of the Water only found out about the plan from listening to public meetings. “Last year was extreme drought and Alberta was saying that if there wasn’t enough precipitation by spring, they were going to restrict water use. So we were paying close attention because the oil and gas industry and big agriculture are the biggest consumers of water in Alberta.

“It was around the fall last year these suggestions were being made, so we attended a couple of their online sessions. They just casually threw it in these sessions conversationally, really trying to normalize inter-basin transfers — there is nothing normal about it. It’s a huge decision with massive impacts.

“The only reason why it was allowed to happen in the south is that is where the mismanagement of water began. That’s where the First in Time, First in Right licensing system began, where massive amounts of water were licensed out for big-scale farming — not thinking ahead towards population growth, economic development and all the other impacts to water. There’s been municipalities that can’t even allow more people in because they don’t have the water to sustain growth.”

Water management in the province has always been flawed, added Cardinal, because water is seen as a renewable resource. But climate change is proving that may not always the case, with the glaciers that feed the watershed now melting twice as fast as they were a decade ago and entire summers with next to no rain.

Cardinal said the Keepers of the Water held a gathering in K’atl’odeeche First Nation last year and heard concerns of low water preventing hunting and transportation from chiefs across the Northwest Territories.

Noting the Alberta government has not properly consulted First Nation governments in the area and other stakeholders, Cardinal her organization is prepared to take the province to court to protect the watersheds.

The Alberta government did not respond to questions from NNSL Media about if and how it consulted First Nation governments on the proposed changes.

‘What choice do we have?’

Highlighting other health concerns that have arisen from oil and gas development in the region, such as the contamination of country foods in Fort Chipewyan, Cardinal said there is little confidence in the oil and gas industry or the Alberta Energy Regulator (AER) in managing people’s drinking water.

“It’s a corrupt system. There’s an entire book written about it,” she said. “Chief Alan Adam of Athabasca Chipewyan First Nation has asked for the AER to be dismantled because they’re taken over by industry. There’s no environmental consideration.

“Water levels are already impacting people’s lives. Last year, we had no blueberries, and the evergreen muskeg died. When we were in Hay River last year, you could walk across the river.”

She also pointed out if Alberta was to go forward with Premier Smith’s stated goal of doubling oil sands production, that would mean its water requirements would also double, which would mean less water for everyone else.

Low water levels in the Northwest Territories in the past few years has resulted in skyrocketing prices for fuel and food in remote communities such as Norman Wells and Fort Good Hope, which rely on summer barges for resupply. The Town of Norman Wells declared a state of emergency last winter when Imperial Oil did not respond to notification of barge cancellations in time to ensure the town has enough fuel for the winter.

Non-Indigenous-governed communities in Northern Alberta are also struggling with the ongoing drought — the counties of Grand Prairie and Greenview and the Municipal District of Bonnyville have declared agricultural emergencies this summer, citing concerns the cattle ranching industry could be crippled by drought conditions.

Cardinal said Keepers of the Water is demanding a pause on water transfer discussions and open transparency through the entire process, but also noted the people of treaties 6, 7 and 8 never conceded rights to water to the Canadian government.

“We still have the right to govern water,” she said. “Our treaties give us the right to hunt, fish and trap. You can’t do that without water. Our ecosystems depend on clean water.”

Officials with the GNWT said they are aware of the proposed changes and are seeking more information, noting they have heard the concerns of First Nations downstream of the oilsands.

They noted communication between the Northwest Territories and Alberta governments has improved since the 2023 Imperial Oil Kearl River incident, where 5.3 million litres of tailings-contaminated wastewater leaked into the watershed, which was only shared with the GNWT after the fact.

Cheezie said if the oil industry wants to control Indigenous waterways, they are in for a fight.

“In our treaty, it says our way of life would not be impaired,” he said. “Now they’re messing around with the water. We’re going to use whatever means we have to stop this blatant misuse of water resources.

“We can’t allow them to run roughshod over people’s rights and our treaty rights. These people don’t want any court challenges because every day their project isn’t happening, they lose money, and as soon as they lose money, they get worried. So we’ll use that to delay everything, even if we lose, because what choice do we have?”

By Eric Bowling, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, NWT News/North