#canadapol — Public Fediverse posts
Live and recent posts from across the Fediverse tagged #canadapol, aggregated by home.social.
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For #Indigenous communities in ‘#Alberta,’ the #OilIndustry has left an ugly stain
Facing #OilSpills, evacuations and #illness — nations downstream of the #OilSands grieve their way of life, as the #corporations polluting their water get richer
By Brandi Morin, December 7, 2023
Excerpt: "The rush of the wind and sprays of water add to the thrill as Jason Castor guides his riverboat through a stretch of #LakeAthabasca near #FortChipewyan, in #Treaty8 territories. If he slows down, his boat could get stuck in the mud or even flip over because the water levels in this spot are remarkably low. He steers around buoys, dodges logs and other debris while accelerating to the mouth of the channel, which he knows should be deep enough to navigate at an average speed.
"While trawling his boat further down the river, Castor points to odd-looking clusters resembling dirty foam floating by.
" 'There’s just a slurry of a foam that looks like #oil or some kind of #chemical in there,' says Castor, a 42-year-old father, construction business owner and member of the #AthabascaChipewyan #FirstNation (#ACFN).
"He’s been a traditional hunter, trapper and fisherman for nearly 20 years and has documented strange changes in the water, the land and animals.
"Something’s going on in the river, he says.
" 'They say that it’s natural, well, I know that that’s not natural because I’ve been on the river my whole life,' he explains as he points to brown and #WhiteFoam, #OilSheens and other discoloured formations floating on the river.
"Nowadays, it’s risky to navigate these waterways because of industrial intakes like the #WACBennettDam to the west in B.C.; the #AlbertaOilSands just up the river and impacts from #ClimateChange.
"The #PeaceAthabascaDelta is the second-largest #freshwater delta in the world.
"The #AthabascaRiver, and the larger delta, also sit atop the world’s largest known reservoir of #CrudeBitumen.
"The industry that has sprung up around it drives Alberta’s and Canada’s economy, employing about 138,000 people. In 2021, crude bitumen production totaled approximately 3.3 million barrels per day. The oil sands energy sector including oil sands, conventional #OilAndGas, mining and quarrying is valued at about $18 billion.
"But while Canada prospers off the oil sands industry, #Indigenous communities downstream are dealing with its #toxic impacts.
"Not only are the water levels fluctuating, but the health of the water flowing through the Athabasca River is jeopardized."
#CanPol #CanadaPol #Alberta #TarSands #BigOilAndGas #OilSands #WaterIsLife #Pollution #Environment #Oiligarchy
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From last year...
#OnionLake #CreeNation to proceed with its legal challenge of #Alberta sovereignty act
By Lisa Johnson The Canadian Press, May 15, 2025
EDMONTON - "Alberta’s bill lowering the bar for a separation referendum has spurred a #FirstNation to push ahead with a legal challenge against the premier’s flagship sovereignty act.
"Danielle Smith has said her Alberta Sovereignty Within a United Canada Act is needed to push back on what the province believes is unconstitutional federal encroachment into provincial jurisdiction.
"But Onion Lake Cree Nation Chief #HenryLewis said that law has always been about undermining federal authority and asserting provincial control, which goes against his community’s #Treaty6 relationship with the Crown." 'I want to respectfully remind the premier that this land that we stand on today is #Treaty land and is not yours to take or make sweeping decisions about,” he said at a news conference in Edmonton on Thursday.
"He announced the legal challenge is moving forward a day after Smith’s government passed a bill significantly lowering the threshold for citizens to prompt a referendum, including one on seceding from Canada."
Archived version:
https://archive.ph/qPDjh#CanPol #CanadaPol #RespectTheTreaties #LandBack #Alberta #FirstNations #BigOilAndGas #Oiligarchy #Albertans #Mining #CorporateColonialism
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Seems like #Oiligarchy has won the hearts of #Albertan #MAGA-types. If anything, there should be #LandBack to #Alberta's #FirstNations, and colonizer descendants will just have to deal with it!!!
Albertans Could Soon Vote on Whether to Separate From Canada. Here’s What to Know
by Chantelle Lee, May 5, 2026
"Many Albertans have slammed the federal Liberal government for blocking #pipeline projects and canceling oil and gas projects. The province’s economy is largely driven by its #OilAndGas extraction, as well as #mining and #quarrying."
Read more:
https://time.com/article/2026/05/05/alberta-canada-separatist-movement-referendum/Archived version:
https://archive.ph/KxxFz#Colonialism #CorporateColonialism #CanPol #CanadaPol #NoMining #ExtractiveIndustries #BigOilAndGas #FuckColonialism
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Blog: Voices of #Decolonization
#FirstNations chiefs shouldn’t be duped by the ‘#nuclear-is-green' deception
by William Eric Altvater, February 6, 2025
"Some First Nation Chiefs are victims of shenanigans, not unlike the swindle behind the purchase of Manhattan. The federal government needs the support of #Indigenous peoples to expand nuclear power generation capacity in #Canada.
"For millennia, the cornerstones of the Indigenous people that inhabit Turtle Island, now known as North America, held all that is essential to life, in reverence. Every decision considered the next 7 generations. These cornerstones are crumbling.
"Newcomers, armed with the #Colonizing tool, 'The #DoctrineOfDiscovery' and their mentality of superiority, invaded the land of those they called 'Savages,' almost totally exterminating #Skicinuwok, People of The Earth.
"Determined to bestow Christianity and civility to this wild untamed population, old growth forests were cut, rivers and streams were dammed to power sawmills, roads and railroads were built, bridges erected. All to create an infrastructure for #capitalism, a system to make a #profit, that morphed into #greed, a word of foreign root. This unbridled desire for progress has ruined what was once called Paradise.
"Now most water is not fit to drink, clean air is scarce, #deforestation is rampant, #biodiversity loss out of control, plants genetically modified, food manufactured with unpronounceable chemicals, caged fish starved of oxygen while being fed chicken feathers and pig parts, cancer cases in the millions, the list goes on.
"As the population increased over this continent the available sources for power generation have not been able to satisfy the insatiable desires of the 'bigger, better, faster, more is never enough' mentality. Some have finally acknowledged the fact that #FossilFuels are not the golden egg they were once deemed to be.
"So-called '#GreenEnergy' is required to slow the blind drive to extinction of man; man, who is considered by some to be the most intelligent creature to ever roam Earth. Unfortunately, the lure of riches and the corruption of self-serving purposes have led man to stray from practices that nurture everything required to sustain life on this tiny blue marble floating through the universe.
"#NuclearPower is now being touted as being 'Green.' It is not. Big money corporations are lobbying legislators to convince them and the public that it is. They are also lobbying to convince the public that they should foot the bill in the form of taxes and rate hikes, for a process that pollutes from the day it starts. Water is life. As soon as #uranium is mined from the earth it begins to contaminate the water in surrounding aquifers.
"When the uranium is processed sufficiently, it is used as fuel for reactors where it generates heat while delivering electricity, not just for essential needs, but also for many things once considered luxuries. This fission generated heat is then dumped into nearby waters where it kills thousands, if not millions of small beings that form the basis of life itself.
"After this radioactive fuel is depleted, it is stored in various containers where it will stay radioactive for eons. Indigenous #Grandmothers have labelled it 'Forever Dangerous.'
"The power generated during the fission process benefits only those who exist today as the process occurs, not those born tomorrow or next week or next month. All the #RadioactiveWaste and the inherent danger it creates is left to future generations, kicking the can down the road.
"What better place to dump this waste than in an area with a population that has witnessed Newcomers enrich themselves for hundreds of years? Yes, what better place than a population that has been targeted for assimilation, suffered theft of lands, witnessed the taking of naturally bestowed rights? A population that has been subjected to racial Indian Act legislation essentially stripping away all that sustained this population for thousands of years.
"Yes, let us give the Indians some more shiny beads and trinkets so that they willingly agree to care for our radioactive garbage. How do we do this? Let’s talk to the Chief and Council. Let’s wine and dine them. Let’s give them some money, take them to dinner, buy some drinks and make them feel all festive and most of all make them think we are looking out for their best interests. Some Chiefs have taken the bait.
"Egregious as it may be, this is exactly what is happening in some Indigenous communities contrary to the will of the majority. Elected Chiefs are continuing the deception as they are blinded and professing the 'Nuclear is Green' mantra. They have lost connection with the Spirit of Ancestors and traditional values. They need to have a serious introspection and realize that looking forward, we need only look back at what has sustained us to this point in time. We need not do any more than that."
Eric lives in #PeskotomuhkatiNation territory in Maine and stands shoulder to shoulder with his Peskotomuhkati relations in #NewBrunswick in the struggle to achieve Canadian Government recognition.
https://www.wabanakireach.org/first_nations_chiefs_shouldn_t_be_duped_by_the_nuclear_is_green_deception_by_william_altvater
#NoNukes #NoNewNukes #WaterIsLife #AirIsLife #UraniumMining #UraniumMilling #LeaveItInTheGround #Greenwashing #NuclearIsNotCarbonFree #NuclearIsNotGreen #CanadaPol #NuclearWaste #NuclearIndustry #TEPCOLies #HoltecLies #NuclearColonialism