First Nations leaders claim federal government was involved in a cover up

They call the Big Dock the hub of the community, but it’s also contaminated, and the people of Fort Chipewyan believe the federal government hid the issue for years.

Chief Allan Adam of the Athabasca Chipewyan First Nation is leading the call for immediate action.

“I think they have a hard time understanding people aren’t illiterate anymore. People understand what’s going on,” Adam told CTV News Friday.

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Adam says the seriousness of the situation became clear this summer, after community leaders contacted the federal government to dredge the dock. Low water levels on the nearby Athabasca River, a vital artery to Fort McMurray 250 kilometres to the south, are increasingly becoming a problem.

But Adams says Transport Canada refused to dredge the dock. Locals began the process of dredging it themselves, which included hiring a contractor. Adams says it was that contractor who alerted the community to contamination in the area, including cancer-causing substances above legal limits, confirmed seven years ago. That 2017 report was prepared by Winnipeg-based EGE Engineering for Public Works and Government Services Canada.

The findings, Adam says, were never revealed to the people of Fort Chipewyan, and now that local leaders have gone public, he believes the lack of action from the federal government amounts to environmental racism.

“We raised these issues and nobody seems to sound the alarm on the other side saying there’s something serious going on in the community.”

Adams says Transport Canada has been trying to sell the dock to the community since 2013, and they were never alerted to any potential issues. CTV News reached out to Transport Canada for a response. . In an email, a spokesperson from Transport Canada told CTV News

“As the conversations with Fort Chipewyan regarding procurement of the dock never progressed, the detailed information was not shared,” Transport Canada told CTV News.

The main concern now in Fort Chip, as it’s affectionately known, is two-fold.

The dock and the Athabasca River provide a critical evacuation route during wildfires, especially if air travel isn’t an option.

“It’s a fly-in, fly-out community, and when you fly into it, you have a hard time booking a ticket to get in, and you have a hard time booking a ticket to get out,” Adams said, adding that taking a boat is a main access point,” Adams says.

Locals believe climate change, combined with heavy industry in the area, have contributed to falling water levels, and their water-based transportation hub is being threatened.

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The health of people in the community is the other critical concern. Generations in the tiny town on the western tip of Lake Athabasca have been raised swimming and fishing in the waters off the dock.

"With the contamination I feel like I have to limit how much food I could give to my children, to my ancestors, to anybody. I feel like it’s not safe anymore” a resident named Jason Castor told CTV.

Chief Adams says the high rates of rare cancers in the area are well known, twice the Alberta average, and have been backed up in multiple reports. "It’s not acceptable in a community of 1200 people where people are dying of rare cancer diseases and nobody’s telling us what’s going on."

The Office of Alberta’s Minister of Health told CTV News there have not been any new cases of cholangiocarcinoma in Fort Chipewyan registered since 2017, and that detailed statistical assessments of the incidence of cancer in the community are completed every three years. Adams disputes those claims.

“We’ve got 39 rare cancers in a community of 51 known.”

Transport Canada confirmed it commissioned the 2017 report which looked at risks to human health and wildlife.

"The student determined the site was not likely to pose any risks to human health," it said. Federal Transport Minister Anita Anand’s office said based on risk assessments over the years that took uses like fishing and swimming into account, there is "no risk to human health."

For lifelong residents of Fort Chipewyan like Jason Castor, the twin issues of contamination and low water levels have the heartbreaking potential to destroy their traditional way of life.

"That’s all I’ve ever known is feeding my family off the land."

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Adams is calling for immediate action to remove contaminants and dredge the waterway before it’s too late, and members of three local first nations would be forced to become environmental refugees.

"People would have to pack up and leave a beautiful community because the water’s damaged and there’s nothing to repair it. You got nowhere else to go," Adams said. "You won’t be able to swim in it, you won’t be able to eat the fish in it, won’t be able to eat the livestock that go to it. We won’t be able to live here anymore."

Wfith files from CTV News Edmonton's Amanda Anderson