Mikisew Cree activist garners international attention

George Poitras is not shy when it comes to sharing his distaste for Alberta’s tar sands. He has travelled the globe  telling how the oil and gas industry is devastating his northern Alberta community, and he has no plans to stop.

His story has captured the interest of Academy Award winning film director James Cameron. In April, Cameron, best known for blockbusters Avatar and Titanic, voiced his concerns with Alberta’s oil industry, referring to it as a “black eye” on Canada’s environment. Poitras met Cameron in New York and said Cameron accepted his invitation to tour the northern Alberta oilsands.

Poitras was also featured in the film Dirty Oil, which was narrated by actress Neve Campbell.

In November 2009, Poitras resigned from his position as consultation coordinator with Mikisew Cree First Nation, in Fort Chipewyan, to become a full time activist.

His new role has taken him across the ocean. In May, he was in Oslo, Norway, where he spoke at the general meetings of three large oil companies that are invested in Alberta’s oil sands. In the summer of 2009, his name was weaved throughout international media when he helped organize a demonstration in Trafalgar Square in London and referred to his campaign as the “bloody oil” tour.

“I’m simply giving them the story of an impacted Indigenous community, which I’m certain they have never heard,” said Poitras, who fears for the safety of the nearly 1,200 residents in his home community.

Fort Chipewyan came to the media forefront in 2006, when Dr. John O’Connor, the community’s medical examiner, reported higher-than-expected rates of cancer and other diseases.

The Alberta government responded with health studies in 2006 and 2007 to evaluate the toxin levels. Those results were not consistent with O’Connor’s findings.

Poitras and other residents commissioned an independent study, which contradicted the Alberta Cancer Board’s findings.

“We know the Alberta government has every intention to continue to exploit the tar sands regardless if people are dying from cancers in Fort Chip,” said Poitras.

While overseas, Poitras confirmed Alberta government officials began discussions with Fort Chipewyan residents looking at the steps needed to determine if there are health risks within the area.

“Although they are at the table, it doesn’t mean that they are there genuinely,” said Poitras. “They’re really dragging their feet in terms of meeting the needs of Fort Chip.”

Alberta’s chief medical officer Dr. André Corriveau said his department is committed to working with the people of Fort Chipewyan.

“At this point there is no way you can make a link to what is going on in Fort Chip until we have more information to go by and analyze,” said Corriveau. “Until we have that level of detailed information we can’t really ascribe a cause to the increase numbers that were reported in the Alberta Cancer Board study.”

For Poitras, cancer deaths are more than statistics and analysis.

“What drives me is watching our youngest that was 26 being diagnosed in November and dying in January,” he said, referring to Grant Courtoreille, a Mikisew band member who passed away from cancer in 2009.

According to Industry Canada’s website, revenues for the oil and gas industry have reached $124.3 billion for both domestic and export production. Alberta is responsible for 98 per cent of domestic manufacturing. Statistics published are the most recent at 2006.

“When you factor in the cost of human life with this industry, one has to ask: ‘Are even the millions of jobs worth exploiting the resource if there is a correlation between petroleum products and people’s health?’” said Poitras.