Leaders in Fort Chipewyan, Alta., urge people to avoid Lake Athabasca over contamination concerns

‘It’s nothing new,’ says elder in Fort Chipewyan

A view of a house on the shore of Lake Athabasca where Fort Chipewyan is located. — Fort Chipewyan, Alta., on the shores of Lake Athabasca. Some community leaders are advising residents to avoid the lake water until water-quality test results are back. (Geneviève Normand/CBC Radio-Canada)

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, asking people in the community to stay away from the shoreline, not swim in the water and not consume the lake water. Both cited concerns about possible contamination in the water and said they’re awaiting water quality results.

“For now, I figure it’s probably best not to swim around the dock, and the front of the lakefront of Fort Chipewyan, and be safe and check yourself and make sure that you watch out for your health,” Cardinal told CBC in a phone interview.

The office of the Athabasca Chipewyan First Nation chief declined to comment further to CBC News, saying they are awaiting water quality test results.

The potential contaminants in the water could be a mix of things, according to Cardinal. He noted there are barges that frequently travel through Lake Athabasca, and highlighted the fact that the community is downstream from the Alberta oil sands.

“It’s not just one thing — it’s a whole combination of things,” he said.

A guy stands in front of a sign. He is wearing a puffer vest and hat. — Fort Chipewyan Métis president Kendrick Cardinal is seen in a still from a video he posted on social media, asking people to stay away from Lake Athabasca right now. (Facebook/Kendrick Cardinal)

Fort Chipewyan has a population of approximately 850, according to 2021 data from Statistics Canada.

Athabasca Chipewyan First Nation has asked for independent water-quality testing, with leaders saying results should be back in two to three weeks. Those results will then be shared with community members, according to the First Nation.

Meantime, the Alberta government told CBC News the province has also been working with the regional municipality to increase drinking water quality monitoring.

“Expert monitoring in Lake Athabasca and 12 supporting river and stream locations has produced over 40 tests during the last 14 months, with every one meeting the Health Canada standards for drinking water,” Tom McMillan, director of communications with Alberta Environment and Protected Areas, wrote in an emailed statement.

CBC News also reached out to Environment and Climate Change Canada about the quality of water, since the Fort Chipewyan wharf on Lake Athabasca is owned by the federal government. CBC asked if the department or Transport Canada is testing for contaminants in the water.

A spokesperson with Environment and Climate Change Canada said they are “consulting a few subject matter experts within different divisions of the department” to provide a response.

‘It’s nothing new’

Concerns about contaminants in the water are not new for many people living in Fort Chipewyan.

Elder Alice Rigney is a regular user of the land in the area and said she has long known there are questions about the water in Lake Athabasca.

“It’s nothing new, we all knew that — I mean, the dock is a place where barges and boats are always loading and unloading, so there’s always gas on the surface. And what’s coming down from the oil sands, it does leach into the river system,” Rigney said.

Fort Chipewyan is located on the southwest corner of Lake Athabasca, downstream from the oil sands.

Last March, news broke that a tailings pond at Imperial Oil’s Kearl facility leaked millions of litres of contaminated wastewater into muskeg and forested areas south of Lake Athabasca, and that the Alberta Energy Regulator (AER) —charged with holding industry accountable and protecting the environment — was made aware of the spill nine months prior.

The public later learned that documents filed by Imperial to the AER as early as 2020 acknowledge tailings were seeping from its containment ponds.

“They know that there’s something going on — we’ve known it forever,” Rigney said. “It’s just that it has fallen on deaf ears.”

While there was an initial lack of communication with residents about the Kearl spill, there was also a lack of notification with the N.W.T. government — raising questions about whether a transboundary water agreement was breached. Alberta denied the idea there was a breach.

Test results expected in 2 to 3 weeks

For now, leaders in Fort Chipewyan say people should avoid the lake until further testing is done.

In Adam’s public video, he says between the Athabasca Chipewyan First Nation, Fort Chipewyan Métis and Mikisew Cree First Nation, people will be conducting water and soil samples from Lake Athabasca.

Results are expected back in two to three weeks, Cardinal said.

“We’ve all known for the longest time that there’s something wrong with the water here … I’m sick and tired of it and I’m not going to stand for it anymore,” Cardinal said in his Facebook video.

“I’m going to do whatever I can to make sure that this community is kept safe and the water is clean.”

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Jenna Dulewich, Journalist

Jenna Dulewich is a reporter with CBC Manitoba. She joined CBC North in Yellowknife after a career in print journalism in southern Alberta. Her career has taken her across three provinces and a territory. In 2020, she won the Emerging Indigenous Journalist Award from the Canadian Association of Journalists. You can send her story ideas at Jenna.Dulewich@cbc.ca.

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