Exploitation of tar sands is a human rights issue, article says

“The river used to be blue. Now it’s brown. Nobody can fish or drink from it. The air is bad. This has all happened so fast,” says Elsie Fabian, 63, an elder in a Native Indian community along the Athabasca River.

Canadian Dimension magazines from Winnipeg carries a sober, disturbing story in its March/April issue about the devastation of northern Alberta native communities by the tar sands developments. Canadian policymakers, says Clayton Thomas-Müller, need to understand that there is an inextricable link between indigenous rights and energy and climate impacts.

From the perspective of many concerned First Nations and citizens of northern Alberta, the government has given over the responsibility of environmental monitoring and enforcement to the corporations. But the tar-sands development has completely outstripped the ability of the corporations and the provincial and federal governments to provide either management or protection.