In our 2014 audit, we noticed in looking at the monitoring governance system that many First Nations and Métis groups were removed from the table. They were still participating in specific monitoring projects, on the ground, for which they were still at the table, but they were no longer at the big table for planning the joint Canada-Alberta implementation plan for oil sands monitoring. They were withdrawn, as were several NGOs.
We noted that one of the goals of the monitoring program was to obtain stakeholder involvement. But that isn't what we saw when we went to make observations. No, we saw that several stakeholders had been withdrawn from the table. To find out why, you'd have to ask the governments of Alberta and Canada.
So we recommended that Environment Canada — and, in fact, we can make recommendations only to that department, not to Alberta — work hard to reintegrate these stakeholders.