Suncor faces opposition to treat and release in Fort Chipewyan

Gerry Cheezie says he’s worried about the potential downstream impacts if oil sands companies are allowed to dump treated tailings into the Athabasca River.

Cheezie, the co-chair of Keepers of the Water and former chief of the Tthebatthie Denesųłiné Nation, travelled to Fort Chipewyan, Alberta, last week to attend Suncor’s engagement sessions on its plans for oil sands water management.

He described the meeting as having “a really negative vibe” and said many community members were not happy with Suncor and its plan for managing toxic mine tailings.

Alongside company representatives, Suncor sent a “mobile water and reclamation exhibit” to the community by barge. Alberta Premier Danielle Smith has featured the exhibit, which includes a demonstration of tailings treatment, on her Facebook page.

“The model they have now is not the answer to dealing with the tailings issue, and releasing that into the environment is going to create more problems than it solves,” Cheezie said.

“They’ve allowed it to grow to such a point that something has to be done now, and they’re saying that the only thing that can be done now is treat and release, but that liability and that problem shouldn’t be dumped on the backs of the community people that live downstream of the oil sands.”

Suncor cut engagements short

Suncor’s engagement sessions in Fort Chipewyan did not go as the company planned.

Ahead of the event, the Mikisew Cree First Nation issued a community notice saying chief and council, who were elected in June, did not have an opportunity to properly assess Suncor’s proposal for managing mine tailings and were concerned with the company’s engagement process.

Suncor had advertised that the engagement sessions would take place from 1 to 7pm on both September 2 and 3 at the Mamawi Community Hall. But several attendees told Cabin Radio that the company left Fort Chipewyan early and the RCMP were called, as first reported by Brandi Morin.

Neither Suncor nor the Alberta RCMP responded to Cabin Radio’s requests for comment.

Mark Mercredi, a councillor with the Athabasca Chipewyan First Nation, criticized the open house style of the event, saying he felt Suncor chose that method to “dissipate community concerns, so that we all aren’t one unified voice.”

Mercredi made a post on Facebook on September 2, encouraging community members with concerns about the release of tailings into the Athabasca River to meet at the community hall at 5pm with anti-oil sands posters and pictures of loved ones they had lost to cancer. He said Elders also made signs which were displayed.

Before community members were able to gather, however, he said Suncor representatives left the engagement session with their trailer around 3:30pm, citing safety concerns. He said they left the community later that night.

“Now they can’t say that they consulted with Fort Chipewyan,” Mercredi said. “There were many members who saw nothing and were confused.”

What is treat and release?

Containment ponds near the Athabasca River hold more than 1.5 billion cubic metres of oil sands tailings, which are a by product of the mining process. The tailings contain a mixture of sand, silt, clay, residual bitumen, chemical compounds, minerals and water.

Suncor has said the treatment and release of tailings water is needed to support the full reclamation of mine sites and ensure that tailings ponds don’t continue to grow.

The company has maintained that treated tailings are safe to release into the environment and said it is committed to demonstrating the effectiveness of treatment technologies.

The Alberta Energy Regulator has determined Suncor’s treat and release proposal does not require a provincial environmental assessment, as reported by Canada’s National Observer.

First Nations in Fort Chipewyan, located approximately 250km downstream from Alberta’s oil sands, have voiced opposition to treat and release citing concerns with possible negative impacts on wildlife, land, water and human health.

Indigenous leaders have pointed to high cancer rates among community members and the spill of contaminated wastewater from Imperial Oil’s Kearl oil sands project among their existing issues.

There are also concerns about potential impacts further downstream in the NWT.

Water in the Athabasca River flows north into the Slave River, then Great Slave Lake and the Mackenzie River before emptying into the Arctic Ocean.

The Dene Nation and Treaty 8 Sovereign Nations – formerly the Treaty 8 First Nations of Alberta – signed an agreement in July committing to work together to protect waters that connect their territories. The agreement includes calls for accountability from governments and industry for oil sands tailings pond management and independent assessments of the structural integrity of tailings ponds and the downstream effects of oil sands pollution.

The Alberta government is working to develop provincial standards for the release of oil sands tailings into the environment, which would require federal approval. The province has said it is consulting Indigenous communities and organizations in Alberta as well as the NWT government.

The federal government and several Indigenous groups in the Athabasca region formed a working group in 2021 to explore options for managing oil sands wastewater, including potential treatment and release into the Athabasca River.

‘What happens here is going to ripple out’

Earlier this year, the Mikisew Cree First Nation released findings from a health study indicating that between 1993 and 2022, cancer rates in Fort Chipewyan were approximately 25 percent higher than the rest of Alberta. Billy-Joe Tuccaro, then chief of the First Nation, attributed the number of cancer cases in the community to contamination from upstream industrial activities.

Alberta’s Ministry of Primary and Preventative Health Services has said there is “no known causal link between oil sands development and cancer rates in the region.”

The First Nation is suing the Alberta and federal governments over the cumulative impacts of industrial development in northern Alberta.

The Athabasca Chipewyan First Nation is taking legal action against the provincial government and Alberta Energy Regulator related to leaks from tailings ponds at the Kearl facility in 2022 and 2023.

Mercredi told Cabin Radio several community members are currently battling or have recently died from cancer and he had cancer removed earlier this year.

Regarding the industry’s treat and release plans, he said he’s concerned not only for his community, but also people living further downstream.

“Fort Chip is a beacon right now. What happens here is going to ripple out,” Mercredi said.

“If you follow the river and the flow, everybody from here to the Arctic Ocean where it empties out will be affected and they’re going to face what Fort Chip is facing right now.”

Mercredi said he wants `Suncor to pursue alternative solutions for managing tailings, describing treat and release as “the cheapest” option.

Paul Tuccaro, a councillor with the Mikisew Cree First Nation, similarly spoke about the impact cancer has had on his community and said Suncor needs to find another way to manage tailings.

“It can’t happen,” Tuccaro said.

“I can’t even put into words of what the devastation is going to cost to our people and our health.”

Tuccaro, who highlighted his experience as a water treatment operator, said he wants to see independent research on the safety of treated tailings.

Cheezie said he is “deeply concerned” about the management of oil sands tailings and called on the NWT government to work more collaboratively with Indigenous governments and organizations in the territory, including the Dene Nation, to address the issue.

Ultimately, Cheezie wants the federal government to determine that treat and release is “the wrong option.”

“I can’t believe that Canadians would do this to other Canadians,” he said.

“We did not create this problem. Now we are going to be asked to live with it and there’s going to be dire consequences if the province of Alberta and Canada agree to this.”

NWT does not support treat and release

Jay Macdonald, the NWT’s environment and climate change minister, told Cabin Radio the territory has been engaging with Indigenous governments and organizations as well as the Alberta and federal governments on the proposed treatment and release of oils sands tailings.

Macdonald said the territory does not currently support treat and release as there are still “gaps in the science,” particularly when it comes to dealing with naphthenic acids, which can be toxic and do not break down easily in the environment.

“I think we’ve been very clear that our position will not change until we can see that there is robust science that proves that this is a safe option for northerners,” he said.

Macdonald said he previously travelled with the leaders of the Salt River First Nation, Fort Smith Métis Council and Délı̨nę Got’ı̨nę Government to attend an engagement session in Fort McMurray, and the territory gave an update on treat and release during an NWT Council of Leaders meeting this summer.

The minister said Suncor has given a presentation on its treat and release plan to the Thebacha Leadership Council and has expressed interest in holding engagement sessions in the NWT, similar to the ones in Fort Chipewyan.

Conversations between the territorial, federal and Alberta governments on treat and release largely take place at bilateral meetings between environment ministers, Macdonald said. He added there have been improvements in information sharing through Alberta and NWT’s transboundary water agreement since the Kearl spill.

Macdonald said the NWT government will continue to discuss the matter with Indigenous, federal and provincial partners with the goal of “protecting northern water for northerners,” but it will be up to the Canadian government to develop regulations for the release of oil sands tailings.

“This is such a big part of who we are,” Macdonald said. “Whether it’s culture, our food sources, our drinking water, our animals, the health of our children and our grandchildren.”