Thank you, honourable Chair and distinguished members of the committee, for this opportunity to speak today.
Tansi, and good day. My name is Tammie Tuccaro, councillor for the Mikisew Cree First Nation, from Treaty No. 8 territory. I come here representing the voices of our community, many of whom have been impacted by an environmental disaster that wasn't made known for decades. Specifically, I want to address the contamination at the “big dock” in Fort Chipewyan, an issue that was left unchecked by the federal Crown and contributes to the environmental, health and mental health impacts that continue to affect our people, our children, our grandchildren and our way of life.
To start off, I'd like to read a quote from one of our land users:
Why was the community never notified, when all along the government knew about this contamination? This is the water we drink, swim and play in. This dock provides connection to my way of life for survival. Once again, the government failed our First Nation.
For years we were denied critical information about the contamination near the big dock from multiple sources, including a major diesel spill that occurred on Transport Canada property in the 1990s. This was a spill the federal Crown never reported to us nor cleaned up. The question that keeps on coming back up is this: Why did the federal Crown not consult with us on this matter?
Instead of notifying us of the spill and remediating this site, we were left in the dark, which unnecessarily exposed us and our children to a federally classified contaminated site, which we actively used. Our community has elevated rates of rare cancers. This situation undermines our efforts and responsibility to protect our people and evidences a complete disregard by the federal Crown of the health and safety of our community.
The 2017 report that is referred to, commissioned by Transport Canada, confirms the presence of nickel, arsenic and hydrocarbons in the groundwater, soil and sediment around the big dock, including on the big dock itself, and the levels that our people are exposed to exceed safety guidelines. The site is not only a commercial site, as mentioned in reports; it is used recreationally by our children and grandchildren for swimming, fishing and boat launching. They are all being directly exposed to cancer-causing toxins. As I said, we are exposed to many rare cancers in our community, a very small community.
On August 24, we sent a joint letter to the Minister of Transport that requested action to address the situation. This letter went unanswered for two months. This is unacceptable. Not getting answers has created a great deal of panic for our community and caused mental health impacts. The lack of responsiveness is a major setback in our path towards reconciliation as outlined in the TRC.
When we finally did receive a response, there was some promise of action, but it's clear that much more needs to be done. The federal Crown must address not just the environmental hazards but the mental health impacts the situation has caused. The fear, anger, anguish and frustration—all these things—that our community feels are evident, and those emotions are compounded by years of neglect over and over.
On November 1, Transport Canada shared with us eight additional studies on the site, but we have not been provided any type of funding capacity to review these documents. They are 300-page reports. We can't read those. This leaves us again in the dark. How can we make informed decisions about the health and safety of our community when we have been denied the opportunity to review this vital information?
To do our due diligence and as a precautionary measure, we notified members of our community not to swim or fish near the big dock until we have the peace of mind that this area is safe for use. Without context and because TC didn't accept our invitation to come to the community, the posting of these signs has been very alarming to our members. People have used this site regularly for recreational purposes for over 30-plus years, so we are continuously being exposed.
What upsets us even more about this case is that Transport Canada was in talks with our community to transfer ownership of the big dock to our respective nations knowing full well that this site was contaminated. They just wanted to hand this off to us to deal with. This move is seen as an attempt to transfer liability of the site, and it feels like the federal Crown was trying to wash their hands of their responsibilities and off-load the burden onto us.
I'm here today to demand that the work to correct this gets done and on our terms. We need funding for physical and mental health supports, and we need a full, independent, environmental and human health risk assessment completed by the specialists we select. This work is critical to understanding the full extent of the situation and to inform proper remediation efforts. Finally, we need a new dock in the next four months before spring comes and the start of the fire season.
Time is of the essence to address not just the environmental and health concerns, but also the mental health impacts that have resulted from this. This approach must acknowledge the environmental racism our community is continuously affronted with. The work will require dedicated resources, financing and streamlined regulatory processes. We expect all that will be provided to us.
We are not just asking for justice; we are demanding it. Our people have lived with this for far too long. It is time for the federal Crown to take responsibility, do the right things, right the wrongs and ensure that this never happens again. We will not stay silent on this matter.
Thank you.