Thank you, Mr. Chair, and thank you to the chief for joining us.
I live in the community of Fort Providence in the Northwest Territories. We're the first community on the Mackenzie River, and we share a lot of your concerns. For years, we were very worried about water quality, because every project in Alberta and B.C. affects us. We're downstream, just as you are. Every farm that dumps into the river or takes water from the river, every sawmill.... The oil sands are something you mentioned, and they concern us also. Spills are happening and we're not being informed.
We have voiced concerns for years and years, but now we're also concerned about the quantity of water. The Site C dam has come on stream. It's holding back water and will be holding back water for the next four months. This is on top of the drought conditions that we're experiencing in the Northwest Territories and B.C. and Alberta.
Even though everybody's telling us that it's not going to impact us, you can come to my community and you can see all the rocks sticking out of the Mackenzie River, one of our biggest rivers in the country. Waterfalls are going dry; they're just trickling now. There are no more majestic falls in and around my community.
All these things are happening and nobody's talking to us in the Northwest Territories. The indigenous governments have been saying for years they have no avenue for a voice.
Because you're saying that the system is not working as it's designed now, and the leaders in my communities are also saying the same thing, I wanted to know how closely you work with communities further downstream in the Northwest Territories.