Current Problems: Environment
Exploring Theme: "Environmental Impacts"
Updates on this page: 23
(Filtered by Indigenous Group "Métis")
November 13, 2024
Toxicologist calls Fort Chip contamination assessment ‘essentially useless’
Drone image of the Transport Canada dock in Fort Chipewyan, Alta. Photo submitted by the Athabasca Chipewyan First NationListen to article Canada’s National Observer – An independent toxicologist says a federal assessment of the contaminated Fort Chipewyan dock site failed to consider how community members use the land to fish, swim and harvest traditional plants. Numerous studies...
October 30, 2024
Keepers of the Water take message to COP16 that Canada’s largest river basin needs to be protected
The Deh Cho, also known as the Mackenzie River, is downstream from Alberta oilsands CBC Indigenous – A group advocating for the protection of Canada’s largest river basin attended the latest United Nations biodiversity conference to raise awareness about the need to protect its freshwater. Keepers of the Water is a coalition of First Nations,...
August 23, 2024
Leaders in Fort Chipewyan, Alta., urge people to avoid Lake Athabasca over contamination concerns
‘It’s nothing new,’ says elder in Fort Chipewyan CBC Indigenous: Community leaders in Fort Chipewyan, Alta., are asking residents there to stay away from Lake Athabasca, citing concerns about the water quality and possible contamination. Athabasca Chipewyan First Nation Chief Allan Adam and Fort Chipewyan Métis president Kendrick Cardinal have both posted messages on social media recently,...
June 21, 2024
A new law aims to crack down on environmental racism in Canada
Legislation will track how communities are affected and ‘hold government’s feet to the fire,’ professor says CBC News: For years, researchers, activists, community leaders have shown how Indigenous, Black and other racialized groups have been disproportionately affected by polluting industries. Now, a new law will require the federal government to better track this injustice, and...
July 5, 2023
UNESCO report on Wood Buffalo National Park shows urgent need to fix problems, First Nation says
Document reaffirms threats from dams, oilsands development and climate change. But of 14 objectives for the park, UNESCO says only two are improving, with five stable and seven deteriorating. CBC News: A report from a United Nations body on environmental threats to Canada’s largest national park shows the urgency of the problems, says a spokesperson...
May 11, 2023
More needs to be done to involve First Nations in emergency management, says Indigenous leader
Province says it is working to modernize emergency management legislation CBC News: Provincial and local authorities need to do more to involve First Nations in their emergency management plans, says Stó:lo Tribal Council Chief Tyrone McNeil. McNeil says the B.C. government is not providing enough direction to local and regional governments on how to work...
April 26, 2023
To Protect Water, Bring Together Indigenous and Western Knowledge: U of G Expert Report
NationTalk: To restore and protect vulnerable freshwater systems in North America, start by interweaving Indigenous and Western values, worldviews and knowledge systems. So says a comprehensive report by University of Guelph researchers released last month by the Global Commission on the Economics of Water (GCEW) urging collaboration and braiding of viewpoints in looking after threatened water systems. “Freshwater ecosystems...
January 26, 2023
First Nations say Alberta’s oil sands mine security reform unlikely to fix problems
The Globe and Mail: Alberta is preparing to change how it ensures oil sands companies are able to pay for the mammoth job of cleaning up their operations, but critics fear a year of consultations hasn’t been enough to avoid repeating past mistakes. “There’s no signal to me from this government that they are going...
January 25, 2023
Caribou summit asks a burning question: What’s the future of the Porcupine herd?
The Porcupine is ‘one of the biggest herds in the world.’ Will it stay that way? CBC News: The Porcupine caribou is one of the few barren-ground herds in the circumpolar world that remains strong and healthy — and the communities who rely on it want to make sure it stays that way. This was...
January 4, 2023
The Sacred Balance: Learning from Indigenous Peoples
We are no more removed from nature than any other creature, even in the midst of a large city. Our animal nature dictates our essential needs: clean air, clean water, clean soil, clean energy. NationTalk: Rabble.ca. David Suzikii The following is adapted from the prologue to the 25th anniversary edition of The Sacred Balance: Rediscovering Our...
October 23, 2022
Coastal GasLink in hot water over pipeline environmental violations
Vancouver SUN: TC Energy’s Coastal GasLink pipeline project is in hot water with British Columbia’s environmental regulator for failing to meet the conditions of a compliance agreement that was supposed to correct a lengthening history of violations of the project’s environmental permit. The Environmental Assessment Office posted an order to its website late Friday, issued...
September 28, 2022
Indigenous Leaders: First Nation partnerships will lead the way north
Marten Falls and Webequie pursue their socio-economic development goals in shepherding Northern Road Link environmental impact process NationTalk: Soontoday.com: If your First Nation community harbours great ambitions to become a major project proponent, Gordon Wabasse offers some sage and simple advice. “Be prepared.” Wabasse, the lands and resources director of Webequie First Nation, participated in...
August 30, 2022
‘Trying to save our fish’: B.C. First Nations appeal a court ruling in an attempt to restore the Nechako River
Saik’uz and Stellat’en First Nations have been fighting for the health of the watershed for over a decade. A dam operated by Rio Tinto Alcan and regulated by the province continues to devastate sturgeon and salmon populations The Narwhal: Seventy years ago, B.C. approved a hydroelectric project that would irreversibly alter an entire watershed and...
August 18, 2022
Ontario is resisting Canada’s plans for Indigenous-led conservation areas
The federal government is starting to fund Indigenous Protected and Conserved Areas. An internal document shows Ontario has ‘concerns’ The Narwhal: In the face of provincial resistance, the federal government is urging Ontario to cooperate with plans to establish Indigenous-led conservation areas, according to an internal briefing. The document from Natural Resources Canada, obtained by...
August 17, 2022
UNESCO team in Alberta to judge if Wood Buffalo Park should go on endangered list
CityNews Everywhere Ottawa: A United Nations body that monitors some of the world’s greatest natural glories is in Canada again to assess government responses to ongoing threats to the country’s largest national park, including plans to release treated oilsands tailiBob Weber, The Canadian Press a day ago EDMONTON — A United Nations body that monitors some...
April 18, 2022
Multiple Threats to Pacific Salmon Fishery
NationTalk: The First Nation Wild Salmon Alliance (“FNWSA”) is deeply troubled with the revelations set out in an article featured on the front page of today’s Globe and Mail which identifies that the Department of Fisheries and Oceans Canada (“DFO”), under the Harper administration, withheld critical science related to the existence of a highly transmissible...
December 14, 2021
Tailings Pond release in Athabaska River
Fort McMurray Today – First Nation, Métis leaders raise concerns about plans to release treated tailings into Athabasca River. The federal government is developing protocols for when treated tailings water can be released into the Athabasca River. A first draft is scheduled to be finished by 2024 and a final draft will be published in...
June 5, 2020
Suspension of Environmental Monitoring in Oil Sands
Three First Nations in northeast Alberta – Athabasca Chipewyan First Nation, Fort McKay First Nation and Mikisew Cree First Nation – have jointly filed an appeal related to recent Alberta Energy Regulator (AER) decisions to suspend key aspects of environmental monitoring in the oil sands. The First Nations were not consulted on decisions that clearly impact...
April 6, 2020
Suspension of Environmental Monitoring in Oil Sands
Canadian Manufacturing – The Alberta Government has suspended all environmental reporting requirements for industry under emergency powers the province has enacted due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The move effectively suspends environmental regulation in the province. Later, on May 6, 2020, the Alberta Energy Regulator suspended a wide array of environmental monitoring requirements for oil sands...
February 13, 2020
Criticisms of Federal Impact Assessment Act
FACETS – “Indigenous knowledge and federal environmental assessments in Canada: applying past lessons to the 2019 impact assessment act”. Even the most contemporary federal Environmental Assessment framework in Canada ultimately fails to ensure the engagement of the critically important knowledge of Indigenous peoples in environmental decision-making. While we identify that Impact Assessment Act fails to...
January 31, 2019
Redwater Energy avoids liability for orphaned wells
Alberta Energy Regulator (AER) – Supreme Court of Canada decision 2019 SCC 5 ruled in favour of the AER and Orphan Well Association’s (OWA’s) appeal of the Redwater decision. From the May 2016 Redwater decision until January 30, 2019, receivers and trustees involved in 28 insolvencies renounced their interest in more than 10 000 AER-licensed...
December 30, 2018
Redwater Energy avoids liability for orphaned wells
Macleans -Environmental Protection and Enhancement Act: requires owners of contaminated land – including oil and gas sites – seeking remediation certificates to report “new information” as well as meet specific timelines and instructions to remediate land and prevent future adverse effects....
July 4, 2017
Redwater Energy avoids liability for orphaned wells
Alberta Energy Regulator (AER) – The May 19, 2016, decision by the Court of Queen’s Bench of Alberta in the matter of Redwater Energy Corp. allows receivers and trustees to disclaim Alberta Energy Regulator licensed assets and avoid their abandonment and reclamation obligations. Disclaiming unprofitable sites allows a company to reap the benefits of producing...
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