Not many people know that in April 2011, Alberta experienced one of it's largest oil spills when the Rainbow Pipeline burst and spilled nearly 28000 barrels of oil into the boreal forest. For those of you who don't know, 28000 barrels is the equivalent of 4.45 million liters of oil. The spill happened close to the community of Little Buffalo, home of the Lubicon Cree. The spill not only shut down their public school after children started getting sick, the spill contaminated their water supply and now the people of little buffalo have little access to safe and clean drinking water. May I remind you that this is in Canada.
Greenpeace recently teamed up with Melina Laboucan-Massimo, a young activist from the Lubicon Cree community who grew up in Little Buffalo, to create a photo essay describing the human impact that the tar sands have. I encourage you to watch the video and ask the question, why is the human impact not talked about in Canada? Why is it that we only hear about how the tar sands will strengthen our economy and bring jobs to northern Alberta?
Hey Greg,
ReplyDeleteI just watched the video... That was super intense. What is the deal with Canada violating the UN resolution or whatever... do we have more details on that?
Unfortunately, I can't speak much to the UN actions talked about in this photo essay. (maybe that's a question for Silas?)
ReplyDeleteI do know this: Despite Canada's stubborn resistance to supporting the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP), Canada did eventually support the declaration and indeed signed it. The document clearly states that Indigenous peoples not only have the same rights that are enshrined in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (which includes access to clean and safe drinking water), but that they also have a right to land and self determination. That means that if the Lubicon Cree were not consulted with the development of their lands for oil production, Canada directly violates the UNDRIP. Canada has ACTUALLY acknowledged that claiming that the UNDRIP is a non-binding agreement that they can choose not to support. This quite frankly, is a load of horse shit.