Tansi, edlanet’e, bonjour, and good morning, everyone.
Through the chair, I'd like to start by thanking the honourable members of the committee for this invitation to be here today. It's appreciated. While continued dialogue is very important, I wish this meeting were taking place under different circumstances.
My name is Sandy Bowman, and I'm the mayor of the Regional Municipality of Wood Buffalo. I'm joined here today by our chief administrative officer, Mr. Paul Thorkelsson, who will be here to answer any questions you might have about the municipality's work since learning of this situation.
You are all now aware of the issues at hand and the points that everyone has made. You've heard recently about what's going on, so I won't go too much into that. Today I'd like to provide you with some additional perspective.
The Regional Municipality of Wood Buffalo is often known as being the home of Fort McMurray and the heart of Canada’s energy sector. However, it's much more than that.
The region is on Treaty 8 territory, the traditional lands of the Cree and Dene and the unceded territory of the Métis. It is northern, remote and diverse, geographically and culturally. Included in that is Wood Buffalo National Park. It's Canada’s largest national park.
The region itself is larger than the province of Nova Scotia. It's home to 106,000 residents and nine rural communities, including six Métis communities and six first nations.
As a municipality, we are deeply committed to truth and reconciliation with indigenous peoples and communities and we are proud of our northern and indigenous history and heritage. That heritage was very much on display during the recent 2023 Arctic Winter Games, which we were thrilled to host this year.
In recent decades, we have gone from a small town to a boom town to what is now a hometown. We've all experienced the highs and lows that go along with that journey.
Our people are hard-working, resilient and generous, and we are a representation of Canada’s diverse culture. Aware of what our people have contributed to Canada’s collective economic and social prosperity, we are a place where people come from all around Canada and the world to build a better life for themselves and their families.
One part of the region that is truly special is Fort Chipewyan, where indigenous people have been since time immemorial. As you know, it is home to two first nations—the Athabasca Chipewyan First Nation and the Mikisew Cree First Nation—as well as the Fort Chipewyan Métis community and 847 residents who are part of our municipality.
Fort Chipewyan is the oldest settlement and is only accessible by water and air for nine and a half months out of every year. During the winter, the municipality funds, builds and maintains a winter highway to connect Fort Chipewyan to the rest of the region. It’s no small task for a municipality, but it’s something that is essential and important.
We also work alongside the Fort Chipewyan community to deliver municipal programs and services that are common in many parts of the country. This includes the operation and maintenance of the water treatment plant in Fort Chipewyan. We are the organization that is responsible for providing and maintaining safe drinking water in the community and across the region.
As I've heard from several elders over the last few months, water is life. Everyone in Canada deserves access to safe water, and they shouldn’t have to worry or be concerned about that access. We've continued to provide safe drinking water to Fort Chipewyan and elsewhere, even since learning of the Imperial Oil release.
My regular conversations and meetings with elders, Chief Adam, Chief Tuccaro, President Cardinal, and leaders and community members have made the importance of access to safe, clean drinking water quite clear. They've also made it very clear how understandably concerned they are about what happened and about how the overall process needs to be improved now and in the weeks and months ahead. There is much work to be done, and we are both here to support the community in any way we can on the path moving forward.
Since we've been made aware of the incident, AER has communicated very well with the municipality by phone, by text and by calls. I have to definitely give them a shout-out for what they've done since learning about this.
I'll just note, since I have a couple of minutes left, that it was a big win for the Oilers last night. Everyone is probably pretty happy about that.