Sela tena.
I want to address this committee.
When we say in our language, “Tu degiha”, it means “Water is sacred”; “Tubeta tsina”, “Water is life”; “Tu nere dela tulahta”, “Water is like our bloodline that flows in Mother Earth”.
I want to say that water, which we're talking about today, versus oil is the subject of what this hearing is about. As the chiefs mentioned before, we have a treaty right to water. The UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, which was passed at the UN, refers to water and the rights to water.
Spring, as we know, brings forth life. It brings forth life, but this poisonous, toxic material that's put into the earth--and you saw it, you flew over it.... When life comes forth like a mother bringing forth life in the spring, you give a needle of that toxic material to a pregnant woman and you will kill her and the child. That is how Dene people see what is taking place.
I was part of the Berger inquiry in the 1970s. I want to talk about two views of the world that we see. One is colonization. The colonizers' perspective is that indigenous people need to be assimilated so that they can become part of a wage economy. That's a very colonial mentality, and it still goes on today. It means that the wage economy must flourish over our Dene chanie, our culture. Literally translated, it means “the path we walk”. It means that our way of life, the way we view the world, is backwards--we lead a simple life, so therefore we need to be colonized.
Our people have now been struggling to decolonize, simply decolonize. The Berger inquiry was a very significant part of that history, and we're doing it again here, but in a very much smaller way. To decolonize simply means to decode and to be in charge of our way of life, so that our culture, our Dene chanie, survives in the future, like every other culture in the history of peoples in the world who have preserved their way of life, protected it, and practised it. I just want to say that our investors ask us not to, and will not allow us to, destroy her future. It's as simple as that.
I live by the Northwest Territories border. I have provided maps of the Slave River. We are known as the Phabettie Dene, meaning “the head of the rapids”. The history of this set of rapids is very rich. All of our existence and survival depend on this part of the world. We are adjacent to Wood Buffalo National Park. The Alberta government recognizes this corridor as a heritage site.
We are polluting the river. Now, ATCO and TransCanada PipeLines are proposing to build a run from the reservoir to obstruct the river so they can produce 1,000 to 1,500 megawatts of power. This is insane. The water is polluted. It is like plugging up your sewer system in this city. You will find very soon that your whole system is polluted. But this is what ATCO and TransCanada are proposing. So the river is now going to be dead—our fish, wildlife, and so on. This beautiful territory that I come from has now been affected by the tar sands. It is real.
I'm by the river, about 180 miles, if not 200 miles, from the tar sands. Two years ago I was up the river, but I forgot to bring fresh drinking water and I was sick for three days because that water is polluted. How is the water? How are the fish? The fish are a species at risk in this river, in this water. We have witnessed green sludge in the water. When people put nets in the water to catch fish, they're catching green algae. We've never seen or witnessed this before. There's foam on the water that is building up, and it has never been seen before. The only monitoring system on the river is where I live, in Fort Fitzgerald. All this monitoring system does is measure the flow and depth of the water. That's all it does.
The finding of the Pembina Institute is that the river has dropped 35% since 1971. I live on the river. I go up and down the river all the way to Fort Chipewyan. This past fall I would say that the water has been down by 40%—that's 40%.
This winter I took part in an NWT water strategy plan. Our job was to consult with the leadership and the chiefs in the Mackenzie Valley. I must say that the chiefs and the elders have a great concern about their river system in the north. They're concerned about the fish, the wildlife. They say that the fish is not normal, that the fish is fleshy when you eat it, when you open it up.
Health is a great concern to the elders because there's a lot of cancer down the river. There's just as much as what's taking place in Fort Chipewyan. In Fort Chipewyan, there is probably more than in other areas of the Mackenzie Valley. The biggest concern they have is that there's absolutely no data on the waters, rivers, or lakes about what's happening. Where I live there is no monitoring. There is no data, except for water flow and depth.
Have I ever seen the provincial government in my community? Never. Have I ever seen a federal official in my community to look at the water? Never.
Wood Buffalo National Park, which is close to me, also doesn't have a system for looking at water. Right now, the way we see it, until things are finalized, there should be no more new projects. There should be a moratorium on projects.
I know that the time is up. I'm used to making...not long presentations, but I'll make it short--