cdnpoli

1/ It was 20 years ago that I first heard of the devastating health impacts and cancer cluster in Fort Chipewyan, home of the Mikisew Cree First Nation downstream from oil sands tailings "ponds”.

(Scare quotes justified because even 20 years ago those toxic lakes were so vast they could be seen from space.)

Dr. John O’Connor, a physician who worked in the community, became a whistleblower - and was vilified and targeted for that work.

Today, according to the First Nation, cancer rates in the community are at least 25% higher than the rest of Alberta, but we don’t know exactly how much because the UCP government stopped publicizing that vital public health data in 2022.

And now the Alberta Energy Regulator, clearly captured by the industry, is going to let Suncor release oil sands tailings directly into the Athabasca river, without environmental assessment.

https://www.nationalobserver.com/2026/09/04/news/alberta-oilsands-tailings-suncor-regulator

#canada #cdnpoli #abpoli #environment

This is the government of Canada’s scientific finding.

It is true.

It is also a terrible message. Here’s what’s also true:

Every tenth of a degree of global warming matters.

Every fraction of temperature rise we avoid saves lives, reduces disease, food and water shortages, disasters.

That means:

Every wind turbine and solar panel deployed

Every heat pump installed

Every energy efficiency retrofit

Every electric bus and vehicle

Every job created from all these things…

It all matters! It all counts.

But so do new pipelines, the LNG boom, and the Carney government’s dismantling of Canada’s climate policy.

Folks, it’s not too late. We can change course and choose a healthy, safer future.

We just need the right kind of nation-building projects.

(And that includes engaging First Nations first.)

https://www.ctvnews.ca/climate-and-environment/article/changes-to-canadas-climate-now-irreversible-federal-report-says/

#canada #cdnpoli #environment #climateChange