EDMONTON – A “world-class” environmental monitoring program being set up in northern Alberta’s oilsands region is being heavily criticized even before it gets fully up and running.
In an angry letter to Premier Alison Redford, area aboriginal groups say the provincial and federal governments have already broken promises to involve them in the design and implementation of the system, which is considered crucial to understanding the industry’s impacts and answering the concerns of its critics.
“The Mikisew Cree and the Athabasca Chipewyan are extremely disappointed with the failure of Environment Canada and Alberta Environment and Sustainable Resource Development to honour their promises,” begins the letter obtained by The Canadian Press.
The June 27 missive points out that although federal and provincial scientists are already in the field, aboriginal people who live in the area remain “politically ostracized from all involvement.”
That’s despite explicit recommendations from the experts who designed the system and who said aboriginals should be heavily involved through community-based monitoring and by tapping into traditional knowledge. Those suggestions were accepted in the implementation plan adopted by both governments.
The letter also demands to know why no independent commission has been appointed to oversee the monitoring that has been repeatedly touted as “world class” by officials.
“We wish to respectfully remind the premier that she promised in the February launch of the world-class monitoring system that there would be an independent commission to oversee monitoring,” the letter says. “Given that the world-class monitoring program has been collecting data for almost eight months, where is this commission?”
Alberta Environment spokesman Mark Cooper said both groups have had several chances this spring to have a look at the program and offer input. In some cases aboriginals have worked alongside federal scientists, he said.
“It is critical that we have First Nations involvement,” said Cooper.
“We’re continuing to engage with them. There have been many workshops with First Nations to discuss ongoing work and implementation of the joint plan which would include governance and how they would be involved in that.”
The program was announced last February in response to years of criticism that analysis of the environmental impacts of the massive and rapidly expanding oilsands industry was deeply inadequate.
Federal Environment Minister Peter Kent and his provincial colleague Diana McQueen were present at the announcement and toured the area in July for a first-hand look at the early stages of the monitoring program, which will take several years to fully implement and is estimated to eventually cost about $50 million a year.
The letter says that while millions have been allocated to support that work, no resources have been dedicated for research based on traditional knowledge, local training or involvement. It says the disconnect means Environment Canada is duplicating some work already being done by aboriginal groups.
“We have had no opportunity to add our traditional knowledge to this process,” the letter says. “We have received zero funding and zero training.
“A monitoring program that disregards the entire accumulated body of knowledge of our (First) Nations, which have lived here for thousands of years, is not world class.”
Aboriginals have had no input into what should be studied, where studies should be happening, which species should be studied or how often, the letter states. It adds that neither group has seen the agreement between the two levels of government on how the program will run.
A separate report on how monitoring should be governed was delivered to McQueen earlier this summer. It has not been released.
“There’s important policy decisions a government needs to consider before this report is released and that’s exactly what we’re doing,” Cooper said.
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