What I presented today is what you see as the plight of the elders in the community. We are part of Syncrude and Suncor and we have companies that operate on site, but it does not address the need we have at home. We're talking about houses that are 80 years old, about to be demolished. We're trying to talk to industry and government to say that we need a lot more. I don't know how you can put a dollar figure on the total destruction of our heartland and our traditional lands where there are still trap lines. They're being overrun by recreational vehicles and everything, and that grows every day; it doubles every year.
Even though we have socio-economic benefits from industry in the approvals--we do the EIAs--that's where it stops. We have to bid for jobs on site like anybody else in Canada. There are only one or two specific jobs you get when you do the approval--menial work like janitorial or something. We're talking here about self-efficiency for the band, and I don't see anything happening in my lifetime.
I've talked to the Alberta government about sustainability, and it's the most argumentative government I've seen in my life. I say that to them every time we meet. I say, “Why can't you see me at my level? You're up here with industry.” Yet when we talk about environmental impacts, it's as if you know you're going in there to negotiate something. But even if you didn't, if you went against them on intervention, just short of going to the courts, you still wouldn't stop anything. We have to put pressure on industry and come with an MOU, so that for the life of the project they have to talk to us. It's only now starting to come together, where we're actually talking to industry.
If you were to see my community and the conditions in which my people live, you would realize what I'm talking about. We don't see any benefits from the oil sands here. It's not happening for my people. There might be 10 or 12 young people who benefit because they've got work and education, but there are a lot of people back home who cannot survive in Fort McMurray by working for $15 an hour. Unless you've got a good paying job, you'll never live in Fort McMurray. The cost of living is terribly high--the price of food and everything. People have to live in Chip and try to commute back and forth. Then the trouble starts. When a family man leaves for an extended time, you create more tension and anguish in that family.
We're slowly putting things together, but we need some help in telling the Alberta government not to forget the people whose land it is they're getting the tar sands from and all the development there. They're my traditional lands. We can't go anywhere beyond the socio-economic and environmental agreements we have. That's as far as we go. The contracts are menial, and we won't see a self-sustaining people for a long time.
That's all I have to say for now.