I was lucky enough to hear some of my colleagues in the last session speak about this, so I won't repeat a lot of what they said.
I will say that Fort McKay Métis Nation is ground zero for the oil sands and that a rupture or tailings problem is first and foremost going to hit us long before it hits anybody else. It is a psychosocial issue that continues to play on the minds of people. It is a constant issue that comes up in every discussion we have with industry, even with industrial folks who do not have the same type of infrastructure and who don't have external tailings ponds, like in situ operators. What are you doing with your waste? How is it being managed? Will you maintain it on site? Can you keep it out of the actual environment so that my area and my lands are protected?
It is a constant. When you add that constant stressor on top of other social issues like residential school survival and the sixties scoop, you have a stressed community that continues to be stressed about lands they've used for centuries or millennia. That is going to be a challenge and why the trust that Fort McKay has established with industry as a whole has to be maintained in order for it to continue to either support responsible development—the key word is responsible—or provide consent through an impact benefit agreement. That has to be first and foremost the goal.
We see that manifest in different ways in the community, and because of the nature of our Métis nation, we don't get the supports needed in our community. They're delivered through non-profits in Fort McMurray. Services are provided directly through first nations services right now. There's nothing the Métis have of their own to provide for their own from the federal or provincial government outside of a small grant here or there.
We are really left on our own, mostly now funding things through our own-source revenue. It is not a great situation, but it is first and foremost a massive conversation piece when it comes to industrial development. You can't drive to Fort McMurray or Edmonton or go anywhere without driving between the tailings ponds. It is minutes on end to pass them. There are end pit lakes with tailings in the bottom. There are tailings ponds. There are active operations. This time of year, there are bird cannons and everything going off in the community lake. It is an onslaught of sensory overload just from the development alone, not to mention day-to-day life. It is difficult being at ground zero there.