I'd start by saying that it was promised in treaty. When we signed treaty, it was the grass grows, the sun shines, the rivers flow. Those are resources. The land is a resource, and it was healthy. The water is a resource, and it was healthy. The habitat is also a resource—the land—and it provides for us. Over the years we've continued to use those resources, and we still do today.
And degradation, it's true...I go out on the land, and I've heard of my family opening up a moose and seeing the liver full of spots. First of all, that you have to look at the liver.... We never used to have to really inspect our food before.
My aunt was eating fish with me just the other day, and said to me, “Fish from the Athabasca River really smells different.” We had a fish from Saskatchewan just to compare, and it was really tasty. But just cutting and opening that fish, you could smell what was almost an oily smell. You could smell the petroleum.
You shouldn't have to eat that way. That's not what we were promised when we signed treaty. We were promised to continue our livelihood, so why are we eating that? And it's degrading over the years. That's not acceptable. It could impact our health, the health of our people, of my son. I have a son. He's only four months old. What's going to happen to the future of our members if our land's degrading over the years?
So in my opinion as well, it does break treaty. We're not given those resources to continue.