{"id":238221,"date":"2025-10-25T01:45:11","date_gmt":"2025-10-25T01:45:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/238221\/"},"modified":"2025-10-25T01:45:11","modified_gmt":"2025-10-25T01:45:11","slug":"mikisew-cree-first-nation-opposes-releasing-treated-oilsands-tailings","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/238221\/","title":{"rendered":"Mikisew Cree First Nation opposes releasing treated oilsands tailings"},"content":{"rendered":"

Mikisew Cree First Nation is speaking out against a government-appointed committee’s recommendations for releasing treated oilsands tailings.<\/p>\n

Alberta’s oilsands mine water steering committee released a report with its nine recommendations\u00a0on tailings management last month<\/a>. One of its recommendations is to expedite the creation of standards to release treated oilsands mine water. <\/p>\n

Mikisew Cree First Nation, based in northern Alberta, says it opposes the plan’s implementation, worrying it would threaten the health of downstream communities and ecosystems.<\/p>\n

The First Nation held a rally about the issue last week in Fort McMurray. The event brought together Indigenous leaders, environmental advocates and community members.<\/p>\n

\u201cTreat and release is a no-go for Mikisew Cree First Nation,\u201d said Chief Billy-Joe Tuccaro.<\/p>\n

He said collected community data shows higher rates of cancer in Fort Chipewyan. <\/p>\n

The community is currently involved in a federally-funded study<\/a> to trace potential contaminants from oilsands operations to better understand the long-term health and environmental impacts. <\/p>\n

Tuccaro said the First Nation won’t stay idle in the face of decisions that could impact the health of the community. <\/p>\n

Fort Chipewyan M\u00e9tis Nation spoke out about the tailings recommendations last month.<\/a><\/p>\n

Tailings are made up of water, sand, bitumen residue and chemicals. They are considered toxic to fish and other wildlife. <\/p>\n

The province accepted\u00a0recommendations from the committee, which was tasked with studying tailings management options. <\/p>\n

The latest environmental mandate letter<\/a> from Premier Danielle Smith directs Alberta\u2019s environment minister to work with the federal government on establishing release standards for treated water.\u00a0<\/p>\n

In a statement, the office of the province’s Ministry of Environment said Alberta cannot \u201ccontinue to ignore this challenge or let water keep accumulating for 50 more years,\u201d and that any future standards would be developed only after engagement with First Nations and affected communities.<\/p>\n

“We are reviewing how the committee\u2019s recommendations can be safely and effectively put into practice.”<\/p>\n

But Indigenous leaders at last week’s rally said that engagement hasn\u2019t happened.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey\u2019re sidestepping the issue at every level,\u201d Treaty 8 First Nations of Alberta Grand Chief Trevor Mercredi said, adding he wants to see more transparency about spills when they happen. \u201cThere\u2019s spills that have happened and have drastically impacted the health of our people. \u2026 There is no trust, there is no relationship. \u2026<\/p>\n

“The people in Canada have to know what\u2019s going on here.\u201d<\/p>\n

Speakers at the rally said they will continue to push for meaningful consultation and uphold their responsibility to protect the land and water.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt’s a very pressing issue that should not be ignored,” Mercredi said. “If they want to move forward with projects and work with the Indigenous people, they have to rectify these issues.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Mikisew Cree First Nation is speaking out against a government-appointed committee’s recommendations for releasing treated oilsands tailings. Alberta’s…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":238222,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[22],"tags":[49,48,295,66],"class_list":["post-238221","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-environment","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-environment","tag-science"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/238221","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=238221"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/238221\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/238222"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=238221"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=238221"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=238221"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}