Something "magical" happened last week. The giant and powerful oil sands industry and its political supporters seemed deeply shaken by an unwanted visitor: the famous Titanic & Avatar director James Cameron.
Alberta Premier Ed Stelmach flew in a private jet to meet with Mr. Cameron and try to do damage control with the press. Meanwhile, in Ottawa, Steven Harper and Jim Prentice unveiled an independent panel of leading scientists to review environmental monitoring of the oil sands. The panel seems legitimate; Dr. Schindler, a water ecologist who did a study about the high levels of deformed fish from the Athabasca river (warning, pictures are really disturbing), said that “the technical people on the panel are very strong”.
The tragic part of this story is that First Nations, once again, are being impacted the most negatively. Downstream of the oil sands plant, the small community of Fort Chipewyan are experiencing extremely high levels of cancer. Concerns raised by the Canadian Medical Association didn't seems to shake our politicians too much, but now that James Cameron knows about it, it is becoming a real issue.
It probably takes a lot of energy for a community member of Fort Chipewyan to fight for their right to clean air, water & fish. When oil sands companies provide jobs and money to a community embattled with poverty, drugs, violence and many other problems so often present in first nation communities, maybe I would accept the check as well.
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