'There is no trust': Indigenous leaders tell Feds to take action on contamination

Chief Allan Adam of the Athabasca Chipewyan First Nation can be seen at a press conference in Fort McMurray, Alta. on Friday May 30, 2014. (Jason Franson)

Northern Indigenous leaders are demanding action from the federal government after Transport Canada failed to inform them about water and soil contamination at a community dock in Fort Chipewyan, Alberta.

"These things have to be fixed. If not, we will continue to embarrass you all," Athabasca Chipewyan First Nation (ACFN) Chief Allan Adam told the Standing Committee on Transport, Infrastructure and Communities on Tuesday.

Adam, Fort Chipewyan Métis Nation (FCMN) President Kendrick Cardinal and Mikisew Cree First Nation (MCFN) councillor Tammie Tuccaro travelled from their remote community to Ottawa — roughly 4,000 kilometres — to tell MPs their concerns.

Adam explained that the community's efforts earlier this year to get the Transport Canada dock ready for potential wildfire evacuations eventually revealed the wharf, water and soil are contaminated with cancer-causing compounds.

Referred to as "The Big Dock" by local people, it is the only one that can accommodate barges and provides an essential escape route for people and supplies in an emergency. In the summer, the only way into Fort Chipewyan is by boat or plane.

When ACFN, MCFN and FCMN first went public with their concerns in early October, the federal government repeatedly said the contaminated zone is unlikely to pose any risks to human health. https://edmonton.ctvnews.ca/a-cover-up-fort-chipewyan-releases-report-showing-cancer-causing-substances-found-at-dock-1.7059815

But environmental toxicologist Mandy Olsgard, who testified on Tuesday via Zoom, said that assertion is based on a federal risk assessment that failed to consider how Indigenous people use the dock, water and land, including ingesting fish and plants from the area.

The federal assessment was "essentially useless" to address concerns about human health, she said.

"This is a northern community with a 91 per cent Indigenous population with a well-documented reliance on the land and water for traditional diets," Olsgard said at the committee meeting.

The study of environmental contamination at the Transport Canada dock in Fort Chipewyan was initiated by NDP Transport critic Taylor Bachrach and NDP Environment critic Laurel Collins. Transport Minister Anita Anand is set to testify on Dec. 5.

Cardinal and Adam emphasized community members' reliance on wild food diets.

"Unfortunately, due to the deficiencies and errors of the health risk assessment contracted by the federal government … the potential risk to community member health is still unknown," said Olsgard, who was hired by the three nations to review the 2017 risk assessment commissioned by Transport Canada.

Health Canada guidance specifically states that you have to engage Indigenous communities because their land use and way of life could expose them to higher concentrations of contamination, Olsgard pointed out.

If the risk assessor (Millenium EMS Solutions) "had talked to anyone in this room or engaged anyone, it would have looked fundamentally different," she said.

The three nations want to be compensated for the money spent hiring consultants to investigate the dock, conduct their own contamination studies and parse through hundreds of pages of technical reports.

"We're spending money out of pocket, and we should be reimbursed immediately," Adam said, adding it was the government's job to do a proper risk assessment and create a plan to remediate and fix Big Dock.

Mikisew Cree First Nation also wants funding for mental health support to help address community members' anxieties and fears that arose because of the contamination, Tuccaro told MPs.

"There is a lot of concern from everybody, even people that don't use the lake," Tuccaro said. "That's the only place that we have a beach and a family park and stuff like that to be utilized … and it is located right adjacent to the wharf."

Adam, Tuccaro and Cardinal all spoke about the negative impact incidents like this have on both physical and mental health.

In spring 2023, the nations learned toxic tailings were seeping from Imperial Oil's Kearl oilsands facility for nine months. They were not notified until 5.3 million litres of wastewater escaped from a drainage pond in a separate incident.

"It's difficult to put into words the kind of stress that comes from living in this constant fear," Cardinal said. "We are constantly asking ourselves questions: Is it safe to fish here? Is it safe to swim here? Can we drink the water? We should never have to live with this level of uncertainty."

Adam explained, "there is no trust" between the community and Transport Canada.

Tuccaro added that Chief Billy-Joe Tuccaro could not travel to Ottawa because his mother was recently diagnosed with terminal brain cancer, and he is staying with her for the final days of her life.

The three nations want to be in the driver's seat when it comes to remediation, and not rely on Transport Canada, she said.

On the morning of the committee meeting, ACFN received an email from Anand saying the department had already hired a consultant to work with the nations to review and update the environmental studies, and determine a path forward for remediation or risk management of the contamination.

Olsgard said she was "a bit taken aback" by the department's decision to hire a consultant since the reason for the ongoing study is that nations were previously left out of decisions and assessments for the dock.

Among the many recommendations put forward by witnesses, Cardinal suggested $25 million be allocated for remediation of the Big Dock and a funding agreement for 50 years, so the three nations can maintain the dock.