Opposition MPs call Fort Chipewyan dock contamination 'environmental racism'

Opposition MPs say the federal government’s failure to inform northern Alberta Indigenous communities about contamination at a critical dock in Fort Chipewyan is a clear case of environmental racism.

At a press conference on Oct. 2, Athabasca Chipewyan First Nation (ACFN) Chief Allan Adam explained how the community’s efforts to get a Transport Canada dock ready for potential wildfire evacuations eventually revealed the wharf, water and soil is contaminated with cancer-causing compounds. Referred to as “The Big Dock” by local people, it is the only one that can accommodate barges and provides an essential escape route for people and supplies in an emergency.

It all started this spring, when ACFN asked the federal government to dredge the community’s only dock in preparation for potential wildfires, but their request was denied. 

“We had three wildfires burning within two kilometres of the airport. We were worried that we would have no escape from the community,” Adam explained at a virtual press conference on Oct. 2. “We applied for Transport Canada to dredge the dock, and they refused, but they didn't tell us why.”

During the 2023 wildfires, the Transport Canada dock in Fort Chipewyan was critical to evacuate people and transport supplies by boat. During the summer, the only way in and out of Fort Chipewyan is by plane or boat. When wildfire smoke limits visibility, air travel is no longer an option. 

But in recent years, the landing area has become more difficult to use in an emergency.

“The water is too low. You won't be able to launch at the big dock, because over the years, the sediment had built up and nobody maintained the dock or the canal to the channel …. It just kept building and building and building,” Adam told Canada’s National Observer in a phone interview. A multi-year drought, water withdrawals from the oilsands and BC Hydro's Site C dam all contributed to low water levels, he said.

ACFN hired a contractor to see about dredging the dock itself. That third party obtained a 2017 risk assessment report that Transport Canada never shared with the Indigenous communities. 

The risk assessment showed the water, sediments, shores and dock are all contaminated with cancer-causing compounds that exceed legal limits, the Indigenous leaders said at the press conference. 

ACFN commissioned its own studies and found contaminants including cadmium, arsenic, iron and hydrocarbons that exceeded the legal thresholds for safe human use, the leaders said.

“That's the hard thing about it; we tried to divert an emergency situation only to find an ecological disaster,” Adam said in an interview.

“Over eight years, we've dealt with more than 15 Transport Canada employees, including three ministers' offices, and none of them told us — this is a cover-up,” Adam said. “This is environmental racism and this is deadly.”

Environmental racism

The same day Indigenous leaders went public with news of the contamination on Oct. 2, NDP MP Laurel Collins questioned Minister of Emergency Preparedness Harjit Sajjan about the dock contamination in a federal committee meeting later that evening.

Sajjan said he was not aware of the situation and would work to get more information.

Collins told Canada’s National Observer she “was surprised that the minister didn't know about it.”

She said it is “profoundly disturbing” and “completely unacceptable” for Transport Canada to withhold this “critical information that impacts the health and safety of this community.”

“It is, in my opinion, an example of environmental racism,” Collins said during the Oct. 2. federal environment committee meeting.

During the meeting, Andrew Campbell, Parks Canada senior vice-president of operations, said he “was just up in Fort Chipewyan” with all three Indigenous leaders and Environment Minister Steven Guilbeault and heard concerns there could be contamination.

“We said we would look into it, and have,” Campbell said in response to Collins’ remarks. 

Oliver Anderson, Guilbeault’s director of communications, told Canada’s National Observer in an emailed statement “the Minister heard about the difficulties about the dock and low water, particularly in the case of a wildfire emergency evacuation. 

“The Minister worked hard to arrange funding for a community-led health study on the water quality, something the community had long been advocating.”

In an emailed statement to Canada’s National Observer, Transport Canada spokesperson Sau Sau Lui said the 2017 risk assessment “investigated risks to human health and wildlife, and the study determined that the site was not likely to pose any risks to human health.”

Adam was joined at the press conference by Mikisew Cree First Nation Chief Billy-Joe Tuccaro and Fort Chipewyan Metis Nation President Kendrick Cardinal. The three said Transport Canada’s statement is not accurate; that the study doesn’t reflect the wide variety of ways community members use the dock and surrounding environment, such as swimming and fishing. Transport Canada’s spokesperson said its risk assessment did consider these uses. 

“The [risk assessment] was completed by a qualified environmental professional, with appropriate certifications, following industry standards, including guidance published by Health Canada and the Federal Contaminated Sites Action Plan.” 

In an interview with Canada’s National Observer, Green Party Leader Elizabeth May questioned what skillset the “qualified environmental professional” had and whether their certifications included any expertise in human health or epidemiology. 

“This is all useless information. It's not information. This is all the language that's used by polluters to ensure no one looks any further,” she said.

“Now, I don't want to overstate how dangerous this is, because I don't know. But … Transport Canada’s reply tells us nothing useful.”

Transport Canada did not respond to follow-up questions by deadline. Conservative Fort McMurray—Cold Lake MP Laila Goodridge did not respond to requests for comment by deadline.

Tuccaro said Mikisew Cree First Nation is exploring possible legal action.

“We will continue to put pressure on the Canadian government to do the right thing and fix the dock up so we as community members would have safe access out of Fort Chip if there was ever a natural disaster,” Adam said.

In an Aug. 23 letter to former Transportation Minister Pablo Rodriguez, the leaders said they had brought concerns about dock maintenance, dredging and low water levels to Transport Canada staff repeatedly since 2017. 

“To date, Transport Canada’s only response has been to try to transfer the dock and its associated liabilities to our Nations,” the letter reads. Transport Canada’s statement said the information was not shared because “conversations with Fort Chipewyan regarding procurement of the dock never progressed.”

May also called this a clear case of environmental racism. She said the federal government should model its response to environmental racism on the U.S. 

South of the border, “the First Nations community would have access, through an environmental justice program, to hire their own epidemiologist, to hire their own toxicologist, to have their own experts review whatever it is that Transport Canada has done and conclude whether it's valid information that's reassuring or just excuses,” she said.

In her experience, she said, risk assessments like this are “garbage in, garbage out,” pointing to a risk assessment of Agent Orange exposure in Gagetown, New Brunswick that found people at the military base were not at risk, This is being disputed.

“This is the go-to standard handbook for polluters,” May said.

Natasha Bulowski / Local Journalism Initiative / Canada’s National Observer