On August 1, 2024, CAPE hosted a sharing circle at our partner Keepers of the Water’s “Water is Sacred Tu’ de’gha’ Conference” in the Kátł’odeeche First Nation community alongside Hay River, NWT. The sharing circle aimed to highlight the environmental injustices faced by Indigenous communities impacted by tar sands tailings ponds (toxic wastewater left over from tar sands production in Northern Alberta), as well as to discuss stories, concerns, and ideas for action amongst participants. The health and environmental harms caused by these tailings ponds disproportionately affect downstream Indigenous communities, while they have limited input into related regulations and decision-making processes. 

As Fossil Fuel Extraction Campaign Manager for CAPE, and a member of the Gwich’in Nation from the Northwest Territories, my role is to facilitate physician and Indigenous voices to unite what we know in western medicine and science with what is known through millennia of living on the land. It was a great opportunity to reconnect with the north, and experience the real strength of two-eyed seeing which “encourages the realization that beneficial outcomes are much more likely in any given situation when we are willing to bring two or more perspectives into play.”

Low water levels shown at Alexandra Falls, NWT

Water, which is sacred to Indigenous peoples, is central to human and planetary health. Extractive industries like the tar sands degrade water systems and their quality, impacting everything from the local ability to have clean water or practice traditional lifestyles, to contaminating North America’s second largest watershed with little oversight or recourse.

A participant of the conference sharing circle reviews a fact sheet prepared by CAPE

In attendance were Kátł’odeeche First Nation Chief April Martel, Dene National Chief George Mackenzie, Dehcho First Nations Grand Chief Herb Norwegian, Sahtu Grand Chief Wilbert Kochon, Wet’suwet’en Hereditary Chief Na’moks, Skeena Watershed Conservation Coalition Co-Executive Director Jesse Stoeppler, Elder Francois Paulette, Elder Pat Martel, Former Dene National Chief Bill Erasmus, community members, government representatives, and others totalling over 60 attendees.

Discussion question posed for sharing circle participants

Key messages we heard from the sharing circle are:

• Water is sacred, and water is medicine.
• Water systems from northern Alberta to the Arctic ocean are connected, support life systems and determinants of health for all the communities they intersect, and those communities have the right to be informed about water issues and participate in decisions that affect them. 
• Tar Sands tailings ponds and other environmental issues are causing a water emergency.
  • A scheduled boat tour for the conference was canceled last minute due to low water levels.
• This emergency is a transboundary issue affecting Northern Alberta and the Northwest Territories; there are no boundaries when we deal with the environment. 
• Regulations around this water emergency have been ineffective and do not respect Treaty and Inherent Rights of Indigenous peoples.
• Indigenous Elders have shown respect to the land and water by actively stewarding, relating with, providing offerings to, and conducting ceremonies in consideration of them. 
• Indigenous peoples have a lot of questions, feelings, and concerns regarding water, but Elders emphasize maintaining good relations, taking responsibility and finding ways to help this issue rather than assigning blame or getting overwhelmed by its impacts. 
• Indigenous peoples work on the land and water, listen to their elders, try their best to take only what they need, share what they have, and not take all that is available to them. 
• The Dene Nation, Inuvialuit and Northwest Territory Métis Nation issued a Joint Statement on the tar sands tailings ponds in 2023, which remains an important document for understanding their perspectives. 
• Trying to fund long-term health studies is difficult and isolating health effects of the tar sands is difficult. Industry knows this and may attempt to use research findings to cause further confusion, distrust, or delays unless they are conducted in a good way, mainly by involving communities in research. 
• The baseline for water quality monitoring and studies should be that anyone is able to take a cup of water and drink it directly, as this was common in many attendees’ lifetime. 
• Asking an Indigenous person not to eat fish because it’s contaminated is like asking a churchgoer not to go to church – there is spirituality and ceremony in living off the land and not acknowledging that allows industry to avoid responsibility and justify risks.
• Being Dene means taking responsibility for your surroundings and actions. A strong, collective Dene voice must lead on this issue, find ways to address impacts on their lands and upstream causes of them, share information, and invest in future generations, guided by their elders and youth, and in collaboration with nations across the country. 
• Nations have a history of stopping harmful industry projects over many decades, it is possible to do so again. 

A key outcome of these discussions to understand is that there are many parallels and relationships between Indigeneity, health and the environment. 

• One Elder spoke about their experience with cancer, emphasizing the need to stop ignoring signs we are seeing that the environment is being harmed so we can take urgent action. As people, we must pay attention to ourselves, our lifestyles, our environment, our spirituality, and our relationships so we can heal and prevent cancer. Similarly, we must pay attention to the environment and our relationship to it so it can heal. Not having a spiritual connection to the land and water makes it easy for people to become lost in life. Similarly, it makes it easy to justify damaging the land. 
• Indigenous youth are spending less time with the land, so they are also losing relations with people from the region, community, and other youth. Decreasing these relationships leads to more phone use, focus on western education, and leaving the community to find other opportunities. As youth spend more time on the land, they notice more things to be concerned about, leading them to ask questions and get involved, and so they relate more with their community, region, and the land. The more they focus on the land, the less they are engaged in isolating technologies, systems and behaviors, allowing them to feel more healthy, connected, and act as stewards. 
• Having people gather from across the region to learn, share and discuss water issues allows people to relate their experiences, histories, stories, and feelings. Elders helped participants understand how to translate feelings of fear, anger, heartbreak, or helplessness into strength, presence, responsibility, relationships and ceremony.

Conference participants listen intently to speakers

Climate change is a narrow frame used in government and science to address the changing climate. We must think broader to understand that it is a global issue with many intersecting causes and solutions. Tar sands tailings ponds are an environmental justice issue impacting local to planetary health including the systems that maintain and rely on water. Indigenous rights, and conceptions of spirituality and responsibility, are critical to addressing this water crisis. The Dene Nation has a long history of being impacted by extractive industries, as well as successfully countering harmful projects. Their voice, especially those of Elders and youth, should be listened to in understanding water issues, what we can do about them, and the parallels between healing human and environmental health through our ways of being and knowing. 

I look forward to continuing CAPE’s work with Keepers of the Water on our Place-Based Power Project to amplify the voice of those who are impacted by the health and environmental impacts of tar sands tailings ponds alongside those of physicians, including the many stories and recommendations shared. 

Dakota Norris
Fossil Fuel Extraction Campaign Manager
Canadian Association of Physicians for the Environment