Size: The oilsands tailings contain 1.5 trillion litres of waste fluids and cover 300 square kilometers.

Toxicity and Harm: The tailings contain over 100 toxins that escape into the air, land, and water, harming plants, birds and other animals and aquatic life. The toxins pose long-term risks to biodiversity, disrupting food chains and habitats.

“The toxic tailings from oil sands extraction pose an immediate and severe threat to public health, contaminating water sources and ecosystems across Northern Alberta and beyond.”

“We are witnessing a health crisis that disproportionately affects Indigenous communities, and it’s imperative that we act now to prevent further irreversible damage to human health and the environment. The solution lies in respecting Indigenous sovereignty, implementing the highest environmental standards, and transitioning away from fossil fuel extraction to create a healthier future for all.” Dr. Joe Vipond, emergency physician and Past President of the Canadian Association of Physicians for the Environment.

Government and Industry Failure:

Governments have failed to require industry to clean up its mess. No reclamation sites support land uses similar to those that existed before the mining. Estimates for cleanup costs for the oil sands range from $30 – $130 billion with less than 4% of the lower estimate currently held by governments as security.

As illustrated by the Kearl spill, the Alberta government has failed in its duty to adequately regulate the industry.

• On May 19, 2022, Imperial Oil reported a tailings pond spill from the Kearl Oil Sands Mine. The Alberta Energy Regulator (AER) failed to inform First Nations communities of the spill until February 6, 2023 (after another spill occurred at Kearl Mine). The AER waited more than 2 years to issue a fine against Imperial for the initial spill, which continued for 263 straight days.
• When a fine finally came on August 21, 2024, the AER issued a very modest $50,000 fine for the spill.

Clean Up the Mess

Industry needs to clean up its mess starting now. Solutions advanced by government and industry need to meet social justice and ecological criteria. Political will is needed to act quickly and Indigenous communities must have real decision-making power regarding the solutions that are adopted.

Tell the truth

• Corporations and the AER must inform Indigenous communities and the public of spills and other events as soon as they are discovered.
• The governments of Alberta and Canada must ensure adequate monitoring and timely release of reports to ensure that the public and decision makers are up-to-date on the current extent of oil sands impacts.

Stop the harm

• End the ongoing destruction of pristine boreal forests and peat lands
• Stop contaminating the Peace-Athabasca Delta
• Stop violating local Indigenous rights
• Implement a moratorium on tailings expansion
• Stop taking water from the Athabasca River and instead require industry to use only recycled tailings water for the extraction process.

Make polluters pay

• Ensure that the penalties for oil companies that don’t safely manage their toxic waste are sufficient to act as a real deterrence.
• Uphold the Polluter Pays Principle and immediately collect security deposits for all unfunded oilsands cleanup costs.
• Any solution for treatment of oil sands water must meet the highest water quality standards and be approved by the downstream communities.

Respect Indigenous rights

• Include Indigenous communities as full participants in government legislative and policy initiatives that will directly impact the watersheds they live in and rely upon.
• Grant Indigenous Communities veto power over extractive developments.
• Restore access to traditional lands

More Information

View the QR code with your phone camera to get a link to the Edmonton Chapter, Council of Canadians web site where you can find more information about the tailings and the importance of restoring the Athabasca watershed to health.