Minister says Fort Chipewyan, Alta., dock is safe, but Ottawa will further assess
'We believe that the water is poisoning our community,' chief says
The federal transport minister told a House of Commons committee Thursday the land and water around the Transport Canada dock in Fort Chipewyan, Alta., is not contaminated, but says they are committed to doing another assessment of the area.
For years, the Indigenous communities that use the dock have said the water and land was contaminated, but it wasn't until earlier this year that concerns ramped up, when Athabasca Chipewyan First Nation found out that there was a federal assessment done in 2017, that outlined potential contaminants in the area.
The House of Commons standing committee on transport, infrastructure and communities first met to discuss this issue in October and continued this week, hearing from community leaders, a toxicologist and the minister of transport.
On Thursday, Minister Anita Anand told the committee there is no risk to human health, based on the evidence the office has — and she'd even let her own children swim in the lake.
"The 2017 study needs to be updated and I have established a single point of contact at Transport Canada to be the person in addition to myself, so that we can undertake this work in consultation with the three nations," she said.
Anand says the original 2017 study of the area looked at potential contaminants and the risk assessment considered human exposure pathways, potable groundwater ingestion, indoor and outdoor vapour inhalation, ingestion of country foods and direct soil and sediment contact.
"There is more work to be done and we need to be using Indigenous methodologies and approaches and so in order to get this right, we need to update," she said.
The communities of Athabasca Chipewyan First Nation, Mikisew Cree First Nation, and Fort Chipewyan Métis Nation testified earlier this week.
"We believe that the water is poisoning our community, that's why the people are dying in our community," Athabasca Chipewyan First Nation Chief Allan Adam told reporters before the committee meeting.
"Both levels of government knew about it — provincially and federally — so when are you guys going [to] come clean and start telling the truth and fix up our contaminated site that you helped create?"
The leaders were united in their belief community members are dying from rare cancers, which they believe is caused by the water.
"We come from a community that has many high cancer — rare cancer — rates," said Mikisew Cree First Nation councillor Tammie Tuccaro to reporters.
"We're looking to have this all remediated so we can all move forward."
Adam says his community wanted to acquire the dock through the federal Ports Asset Transfer Program, and it wasn't until they went to dredge the soil around the dock that they found out about the environmental assessments already done in the area.
Letter from the feds
Ahead of Tuesday's committee meeting the communities received a letter from the ministry of transport, which claims the communities were told of the assessments conducted over the years.
"My officials have been able to confirm that environmental reports that describe and address the contamination in greater detail have been previously shared with the Mikisew Cree First Nation and Fort Chipewyan Métis Local 125," the letter says.
"Nevertheless, I have instructed my officials that, going forward, information will be shared with your communities on a more proactive and transparent basis."
But leaders say they did not receive that correspondence.
"The letter we received … addressed that correspondence did go out in the past, to our knowledge, we have not received this," said Tuccaro.
She says her community is looking into whether or not they received anything from Ottawa, but regardless, she says the government never addressed the issues outlined in the reports.
"There was no follow up, no remediation, and that is what brought us here today because we would have addressed this back then and not waited and exposed our children and grandchildren to these contaminated areas that they clearly classified as commercial," said Tuccaro.
Adam pointed out — according to the letter sent out — his community did not receive the assessments.
"Canada is playing games with the community [of] Fort Chip and try[ing] to divide and conquer us," said Adam.
"We're here to set the record straight ... because if we were told back in 2016 about this issue, about the contamination, the problem would be fixed already."
Committee heard from toxicologist
The federal committee heard from the toxicologist who worked with the three nations that use the dock.
Mandy Olsgard says the 2017 assessment done by Ottawa found several classes of chemicals, including metals, and hydrocarbons.
"From a toxicological perspective, there are several health effects that can be experienced from exposure to these chemicals, including but not limited to cancers of the digestive tract, blood and lymphatic systems, and non carcinogenic effects on the neurological system, kidneys and skin rashes," said Olsgard.
Her major concern with the assessment is that the consultant classified the dock as a commercial use dock, not taking into consideration how the community lives off the land.
"In a northern community with a 91 per cent Indigenous population, and well-documented reliance on the land and water for traditional diets, it did not assess the potential risks from the contact with contaminated soils or contact with contaminated sediments or the surface water," she said.
Ottawa says they intend to commence field work in the area in spring 2025, once the snow and ice has melted.
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