Trevor Howell

Environmentalists and residents of Fort Chipewyan descended on the Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers’ (CAPP) annual investment symposium June 16, in an effort to raise awareness about the negative health effects of oilsands development on local First Nations residents.

In an Erin Brockovich-esque stunt, Greenpeace members offered investors the opportunity to drink water bottled straight from Lake Athabasca, which local natives say is being poisoned and causing rare diseases amongst their population.

“Our kids, my children, they swim in that water, they drink that water every day,” says Lionel Lepine, a member of the Athabasca Fort Chipewyan First Nation. “Every day we drink it out of our taps. If it’s safe, [investors] should be able to take a drink out of it, too.”

Few investors ventured outside of the hotel into the crowd of protesters, and those who did seemed to disregard the action around them. None partook in the bottled water. “You’re going to see a diversity of tactics being pulled out as more people get engaged in the issue and in what’s happening,” says Jeh Custer, a member of the Sierra Club Prairie chapter. “The movement is growing and the resistance to this very devastating project that’s committing ecocide and genocide is growing.”

Ross Levin, an investment analyst from New York, and one of the few investors who left the confines of the hotel’s lobby, came out to gauge the temperature of the crowd. “In some places, some topics get people enthused to the point of stretching credulity,” he says. “These guys are not throwing chairs through windows, and that’s obviously good, and it seems like they have a rational view of things.”

According to Levin, there are always environmental costs to any type of natural resource extraction. The argument, he says, lies on where the line ought to be drawn to find a proper balance between development and protecting the environment. “Environmental activists or voters may want to do things to change the system, and they will have to bear the economic consequences of doing those things.”

“If people want to actually invest in this project before they drink some of the water and look some of the people in the face that are facing some of these horrific incidents, and can still invest in good conscience, then go for it,” says Mike Hudema, tar sands campaigner for Greenpeace Alberta.

A primary source of water and fish for First Nations for centuries, residents now fear for the water quality of Lake Athabasca. In the community of 1,500, many refuse to drink or eat from its waters, says Lepine, who has lost friends and family members to rare forms of cancer he claims were caused by the oilsands. “We were there for thousands and thousands of years, and now our whole way of life is in total jeopardy, and it’s going to be gone on account of the oilsands,” he says. “It may sound like a small little project, but this small project has a big impact on us and our livelihood.”

For years, residents of Fort Chipewyan have claimed that unusually high rates of rare forms of cancer were the result of toxins being leaked into the Athabasca River from the massive industrial developments near Fort McMurray. Tests conducted by ecologist Dr. Kevin Timoney in 2007 found concentrations of arsenic and heavy metals at levels he concluded could cause cancer clusters, like those found in Fort Chipewyan. His findings contradict a 2006 study by the Alberta Cancer Board that found the number of cases were within normal limits. The government’s study was considered inadequate by some, as it admittedly relied heavily on statistical data and did not include medical records of those who had moved out of the area.

However, after a number of high-profile environmental incidents earlier this year, including an admission by the government that a Suncor tailings pond had leaked into the Athabasca River, the federal and provincial governments promised they would launch a new study into the high number of rare diseases affecting Fort Chipewyan residents.

“In terms of the new study, the premier outlined it and said it’s just going to bring all the other studies that they have together into one mega study,” says Hudema. “It’s not necessarily a need for more studies. It’s a need for more action. Instead, it’s full steam ahead regardless of the environmental and the human-rights costs.”

Short of showing people the deformed corpses of wildlife and pictures of deceased loved ones, engaging a public far removed from oilsands development is not a simple task, admits Lepine. “I really don’t know how to get their attention besides talking as to what’s going on,” he says. “The only way is to get in their face and tell them that we got a problem here and you guys have to come up here and start listening to us because we’re dying. Literally, we’re dying, and it’s got to stop.”