"A Town's Toxic Questions"

In December 2007 the Canadian Broadcasting Company featured the story of Fort Chipewyan -- a town on the Athabasca River downstream from the Albertan tar sands. The story documents the townspeople's allegations of public health impacts -- elevated cancer rates -- as a consequence of tar sands development. It also includes the Albertan government's response.

"A Town's Toxic Questions". Click (and wait a bit) to see the video on the CBC website.

Elevated cancer rates

In 2006, Fort Chipewyan's only doctor, Dr. John O'Connor, raised concerns about the cancer rate in the town of 1,200. He maintained that the cancers he was seeing should only occur once in 100,000 people -- he was seeing at least 4, and maybe more, in the town.

Suncor -- one of the companies developing the tar sands -- has reported elevated cancer rates downstream of the tarsands at approximately 450 per 100,000 people, attributable to elevated arsenic.

The Albertan government disputed both Suncor and Dr. O'Connor, and performed research that apparently rebutted both.

An independent study shows increased pollution

Ft. Chipewyan's health director, Donna Cyprian, commissioned the town's own study of the waters and sediments around the town. The study found elevated levels of PAHs (polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons) -- which are associated with oil deposits. The study also found an increasing rate of PAH pollution.

The study did not directly connect this increased pollution with the cancers in the town.

A town that lives off the land

The question of connection between the cancers and the land is critical because of another direct connection that seems beyond dispute:  between the land and the people of Ft. Chipewyan. Donna Cyprian:

"People in this community don't just eat moose meat occasionally, or fish occasionally. They eat it every day. They eat it twice a day."

And because the moose and fish are local, they are likely affected by whatever is in the sediments. As Archie Waquan of the Mikisew Cree First Nation put it:

"That's our food supply. You know you have your Safeway down there. We have our [moose and fish] up here."

A need for answers before development

Donna Cyprian believes that the town's study should be seen as a first step in a more thorough independent examination of the health impacts of tar sands development.

And she has company. David Schindler, a biologist with the University of Alberta:

"Whether it's natural or enhanced by oil sands mining it's clear that there is the basis for some health concerns. There should be a genuine attempt to go in and see what is coming out of the oil sands. Whether the values below the oil sands of those toxins are higher than above it. Seems a very simple thing to do."

Those answers are needed quickly. Pat Marcel, Athabasca Chipewyan First Nation:

"All this rush here to develop without knowing the real consequence of your actions... My people are hurting. We're dying. Can't we just slow down? That's what the elders are saying. There is no need for this mad rush. The oil will still be there."

For More Information

• NDE: tar sands

• Nunee Health Board Society of Fort Chipewyan:

  A Study of Water and Sediment Quality as Related to Public Health Issues (pdf)

• Edmonton Journal:

  Natives unite to fight oilsands

Tag it:

?