Thank you, Mr. Chair.
As a land acknowledgement for the Algonquin, Ojibwa, Mohawk and Cree, we come to your territory.
My name is Chief Allan Adam, and I'm from the Athabasca Chipewyan First Nation. I want to say thank you to Tammie, Lawrence and President Cardinal for coming with us to make our submission here today.
One thing we look at in our community and talk about is climate change as an issue, not knowing that it would turn into a man-made disaster when you look at it from a holistic approach. This is in relation to the community's safe evacuation from a fire that happened in 2022.
We entered a similar situation in 2023, when not only were we up against fires around the community, but there was a low-water drought, which caused significant damage to the community's boat access. We were trying to fix the problem by asking Transport Canada if it could dredge so we could have safe passage if we needed to evacuate for an emergency situation. Transport Canada came back and said that, no, they could not do anything. We went on and said that we needed to get this done and that we were going to do it without Transport Canada's advice.
We learned that if we were to use any kind of machinery to dredge the water out whatsoever, I, as the chief of the Athabasca Chipewyan First Nation, would be put in jail. That is the only solution that Transport Canada sent us—a letter stating that I would be incarcerated and that charges would be laid against me. We have the email that was sent to us.
This is coming from the bureaucratic system. This is when we said we were going to make changes and then go through the system. When we went through the system, we hired a contractor, and the contractor found contaminants based on the research done through Transport Canada, dating back all the way to 1997. How many governments have been in power since 1997? Don't look at the fact that the current government—the Trudeau government—is under the Liberal banner. Both the Conservatives and Liberals have had power since then, based on my recollection.
I'm not here to point fingers at anybody and say that you've done something wrong. I'm here to tell you to come fix the problem that has arisen in our community. Maybe the community wouldn't speak about the cancer issues that are causing people to die constantly in our community from the environmental effects. I've always said that one day our community will be environmental refugees. Thanks to Canada and Transport Canada—alongside your baby sister, the Government of Alberta—we are heading down the path toward being environmental refugees. We cannot drink contaminated water.
Every year, we used to see community members go down to the beach and celebrate with the kids on Canada Day. They celebrated what Canada had to offer us, not knowing the disaster that was laid out before us. We watched our kids and adults all swimming there, having fun. Next year, in 2025, knowing that this is all out in the open, you're not going to see one kid in the water, but this has been going on.
We can't continue to go down this path when you say that we are one of the G7 countries of the world. The water contamination in the community of Fort Chip is at a third world level when it comes to contaminants. It's done by industrial movement components upstream from us.
The spills that happened in the eighties, nineties and recently—at the Imperial site—are starting to accumulate. Nothing will be left unturned. These things have to be fixed. If not, we will continue to embarrass you all. You are the ruling government of this country named Canada. Whether you are Conservative, Liberal, NDP, Green or Bloc, you're all part of the whole situation. Nobody is covered under the Crown. This is your mess. You need to clean it up.
I can't stand there and tell our young kids not to go swimming anymore in our beautiful lake. For years, I swam in the lake down by the big dock, down by the forestry dock. I played on the beaches as a kid. In 1997, I was probably 31 years old. I still swam in those areas with my kids. When is this going to become a major issue for the country of Canada to address? Our community has been speaking about environmental issues and health concerns since 1992. Our people are contracting rare diseases—rare cancers. Autoimmune disease is high in the community. Skin rashes are high and unaccounted for. We can't even find the right medication for the skin rashes kids develop today. What's that from? Is it from contaminated water, which continues to be in the public eye? We need to address this issue and we need to address it immediately—no more pointing fingers at anybody whatsoever.
If it's going to cost $25 million to remediate the big dock, fix it up. Then we will take ownership of the big dock, as Transport Canada wants us to. They've been lobbying me since 2013. In 2013, it was the Harper government in power. They asked us to take over the liability of the big dock knowing full well about all the contamination there. I am glad that we as a community decided not to take ownership of it, because look at the mess we would have taken on. We would have signed off on Canada relinquishing its part—all of your fiduciary duties and responsibilities—to the community of Fort Chip. You are the elected members of Parliament who are supposed to correct wrongdoing on environmental issues.
Do not be mistaken. The Peace River and the Athabasca River, along with Lake Athabasca itself, are listed as among the seven major rivers running through Canada. The Athabasca River runs through Fort Chip and continues down to the Peace River. Just because it's a lake doesn't mean it's not part of a river. The current still goes right through our community. We take our water from it and everything.
We have a lot of concerns in the community. Our people are stressed out. I got phone calls from people this past summer asking me, “Chief, is it safe to go swimming?” Do you know what I told them for the first time? “Don't go swimming in that lake. Stay away from there until we fix it up.” Now I'm asking you to fix it up. Do not let this embarrassment continue. How you guys treat first nations communities up north is a black eye for Canada. Even now, the biggest industrial movement is happening 200 kilometres upstream from us. We're affected downstream by everything that comes there.
We're not saying we're not part of the cause of the problem. We're saying we're going to help fix the problem once and for all, but we need your assistance. If not, we will do it ourselves. If Transport Canada wants to put me in jail, by all means it can go ahead and do so.