Fort McKay First Nation

Located smack-dab in the middle of the Athabasca oilsands, Fort McKay is the bull's-eye on the dart board of the world's third-largest crude oil reserve. 

Ever since fighting “The Beast” — a massive system of wildfires that devastated Fort McMurray and swept through northern Alberta in 2016 — Ron Quintal says his “anxiety level goes from zero to 100 in a matter of minutes” at that telltale sign of smoke.

A poisonous, corrosive and flammable gas has been detected near a TC Energy pipeline roughly 70 kilometres west of Fort McKay, Alta.

The Alberta government says it has completed a plan to manage oilsands development in an area near the Fort McKay First Nation that supports traditional land uses and maintains its ecological integrity.

Three northern Alberta First Nations are asking to appeal the province's suspension of environmental monitoring in the oilpatch because it "fails to come close" to being a reasonable decision.

A judge has given the Alberta government 10 days to make a decision on an oilsands project that has raised concern from a nearby First Nation.

Indigenous leaders say they hope other companies will follow the lead of Cenovus Energy Inc. after it pledged to give $10 million per year over the next five years to support housing in six northern Alberta communities near its oilsands operations.

The Athabasca Chipewyan First Nation sought to block the expansion of Syncrude Canada Ltd's Mildred Lake oilsands operation in a filing to the province's energy regulator, adding another indigenous legal challenge to the region's resource exploitation.

Alvaro Pinto wants Alberta's energy regulator to follow its own oilsands rules.

The bison herd on the Syncrude's Mildred Lake property is doing well, even with fires raging nearby.