Tar Sands factory complex in Alberta.
‘What Alberta said it would do and what it actually did are very different things,’ report says
By Bob Weber, The Canadian Press, Feb 2, 2016
The Alberta government’s attempt to balance competing interests in the oilsands region has failed to protect aboriginal
rights, lands and health from industrial development, says an unreleased report.
Instead, the document concludes the Lower Athabasca Regional Plan, which came into force in 2012, has been used by both industry and government to erode traditional land use in favour of economic interests.
8 bands refuse to publicly post financial documents, council salaries
By Terry Reith, Briar Stewart, CBC News, July 27, 2015
The federal government is taking eight First Nations to court in a bid to force compliance with the First Nations Financial Transparency Act, which became law one year ago.
The FNFTA requires First Nations to submit audited financial statements, along with the salaries of the chief and councillors. That information is posted publicly on the internet. So far, 570 of 582 First Nations have complied, and four others are working co-operatively with the federal government to meet the requirements. Read the rest of this entry
Oil spill from Nexen Energy pipeline in northern Alberta tar sands, July 16, 2015.
Alberta oil pipeline cleanup covers area of 2 CFL football fields
CBC News, July 18, 2015
In the wake of a massive pipeline leak in northern Alberta, a First Nations group in the area is worried more spills will happen unless environmental standards are tightened.
“If we continue to accept that these types of incidents are the status quo of development we are also accepting the illegal abrogation of the rights and title of First Nations,” Chief Allan Adam of the Athabasca Chipewyan First Nation said Saturday. Read the rest of this entry
Attempt to critique Neil Young’s “Honour the Treaties” Tour backfiring, says Aboriginal group.
The controversial, pro-oil group Ethical Oil is in PR damage control mode after publishing a social media message that many Aboriginal people saw as racist. Read the rest of this entry
Tar Sands factories in northern Alberta.
First Nations plans challenges of new rules for regulatory approvals of energy projects
CBC News/The Canadian Press, Jan 02, 2014
Simmering disputes over the oilsands between Alberta aboriginals and the provincial and federal governments will break into the open in 2014 as virtually every one of the many recent changes in oversight of the controversial industry comes under legal and political attack. Read the rest of this entry
Tar Sands in northern Alberta.
By Marty Klinkenberg, Edmonton Journal, December 15, 2013
FORT CHIPEWYAN — On a hill overlooking Lake Athabasca, the big water that sustained their forefathers for 9,000 years, a dozen residents of Fort Chipewyan gather in a teepee with the legs and shoulders of a freshly killed caribou before them. Read the rest of this entry
Mine will create $17 billion in taxes, royalties and create 750 full time jobs, Shell says
Banner drop on Shell station in Vancouver, Oct 23, 2012.
Angela Sterritt CBC News, Dec 09, 2013
The largest known reservoir of crude bitumen in the world is about to get even bigger, but Alice Rigney is in no mood to celebrate.
Rigney was raised in Northern Alberta on the Athabasca River that now runs directly through multiple oil sands projects.
“That river is our lifeline and has been for thousands of years. It has always sustained us with fish, food, water and travel – everything,” said Rigney. Read the rest of this entry
A mine in the Tar Sands of northern Alberta, showing the “potentially damaging” impact of Tar Sands operations.
Environment minister says negative environmental effect is ‘justified in the circumstances’
CBC News/The Canadian Press, Dec 06, 2013
Shell Canada’s Jackpine oilsands mine expansion plan has received the go-ahead from Ottawa, despite the environment minister’s view that it’s “likely to cause significant adverse environmental effects.” Read the rest of this entry
SHAWN McCARTHY and CARRIE TAIT, The Globe and Mail, Monday, Oct. 01 2012
The Athabasca Chipewyan First Nation has launched a constitutional challenge to Royal Dutch Shell PLC’s application for approval of the proposed Jackpine oil sands mine expansion, saying neither the company nor the government has adequately consulted or accommodated its treaty rights. Read the rest of this entry
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