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Native leader says Cameron to join fight against oilsands
News Articles | Calgary Herald | Hanneke Brooymans And Kevin Libin | September 29, 2010
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An Alberta native leader says director James Cameron agreed Tuesday to throw his Hollywood clout behind efforts to help aboriginals in this northern Alberta community take legal action against the federal and Alberta governments for polluting the Athabasca River.
Chief Allan Adam, of the Athabasca Chipewyan First Nation, said the agreement was reached in a private meeting Tuesday between Cameron and native leaders from the Fort Chipewyan region near Fort McMurray, where critics have said massive oilsands developments are polluting the river systems.
Adam said after the meeting, Cameron agreed to either help raise funds or donate money personally for legal action against the provincial government.
When asked what his long-term commitment to the issue was, Cameron said: “Until it’s fixed,” adding he’ll do what it takes.
“The next step is get to the problem, talk to the premier about it tomorrow, talk to government about it tomorrow and then follow up. Follow up with the non-profits, follow up with the leaders that came with me today and with the leaders here in Fort Chip and just stay on it,” he said.
Cameron said he’d be back, if necessary.
“There’s a big imperative for them to get this tarsands oil right,” he said. “We’re not saying they have to stop development, we’re not saying they have to take the jobs away. We’re just saying they’ve got to do it right.”
“They’ve got to do it in a way that’s responsible: responsible development, responsible to the environment and responsible to the people directly affected by it,” said Cameron. “That’s not a lot to ask. There’s a lot of money at stake here and they should spend some of it to fix this problem.”
Cameron, the Hollywood director who earlier this year called Alberta’s oilsands a “black eye” on Canada, spent Tuesday morning getting an eyeful —and an earful —from oil company representatives and the Alberta government as he spent nearly six hours on a guided helicopter tour of the industry.
Cameron said he had taken up the invitation from downstream native environmental activists to visit northern Alberta because he had a keen interest in learning more about the industrial project.
“I’m at the point now where I don’t need to make any more money,” he told the National Post. “I want to use my time and resources to do some good, but I don’t want to look like an idiot by dropping myself into a discussion about something that I know nothing about.”
Speaking to a business audience in Quebec on Tuesday, Premier Ed Stelmach continued his efforts to sell Canadians on the oilsands.
He noted that over the next 25 years, oilsands activity is expected to create 450,000 jobs across Canada and generate more than $307 billion in tax revenue and $1.7 trillion in GDP.
Stelmach also lashed out at oilsands critics and the media. According to speaking notes posted on the Alberta government’s website, the premier said there is “a more sinister side” to the political debate waging over the lucrative resource.
“There are a very small few in this country and elsewhere who have a political agenda of their very own,” Stelmach’s speaking notes state.
“They care not about Alberta, or Albertans, or . . . to the economic and social well-being of Canada.
“They are not debating the issues; they are waging a mean and dirty PR campaign attacking Albertans — and they get lots of attention from a media that thrives on confrontation.”
Cameron’s meeting with native leaders came in the wake of widespread anxiety in the region over the possible toxic effects of oilsands mining and processing.
A study released in August recently suggested that the oilsands industry increases the concentrations of dangerous metals, such as mercury, in locations downstream of development. Earlier this month, area residents reported an unusual number of diseased and deformed fish in the Athabasca River system, downstream from oilsands projects.
Accompanied by Alberta Environment Minister Rob Renner and representatives from Syncrude, Cenovus and the Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers, Cameron touched down Tuesday on a sprouting timberland, roamed by bison, that had been rebuilt by Syncrude after the company began mining it for oil decades ago.
He was then taken to Cenovus’s relatively low-profile steam drainage in situ operation near Christina Lake. There, he also met briefly with Chief Vern Janvier, of the Chipewyan Prairie Dene First Nation, whose band has built several prosperous businesses servicing the in situ mine and upgrading plant.
The director’s tone Tuesday was markedly non-confrontational. He acknowledged he was “firmly in the camp” that believes the world must wean itself from a carbon-based economy, but he acknowledged that a renewable-energy economy is still something off in the future.
“The question is, what’s the interim plan?” he said. “What’s the bridge strategy?”
Cameron spent the morning peppering his hosts with detailed technical questions about their work on improving the environmental impact of tailings ponds, carbon emissions, water usage, and physical footprints on the land.
He said the visits had made an impact on how he thinks about the oilsands. “I learned a lot today that will reframe how I think about this.”
Tagged with: alberta, avatarsands, calgary herald, first nation
