Mr. Speaker, it is an honour to rise today on the traditional territory of the Algonquin Nation Anishinabe people, and I do so with humility and gratitude. Meegwetch.
I am rising tonight during Adjournment Proceedings to pursue a question that I originally asked in question period on March 10 of this year. It is in relation to the tailings ponds maintained by Imperial Oil, and the Kearl mine is the one in question.
Imperial is owned by Exxon in the United States, and this mining project has been in place for some decades. The question of the suitability of that terrain and the suitability of their plans for holding vast amounts, millions of litres, of toxic effluent in those ponds was a subject of some concern in the initial environmental assessment hearings, which I attended at the time as an intervener on behalf of Sierra Club Canada. There were many promises made in those hearings, and I remember them well. Everything was going to be world-class technology, and Imperial was going to be very careful to make sure that the toxic materials were maintained within containment.
Of course, what I raised on March 10 in question period was that, at that point, we knew for nine months that the Kearl mine had been leaking toxic effluent on the lands and waters of the Athabasca Chipewyan First Nation. At the time, Imperial had been lobbying for more subsidies from Canada while failing to inform just about anyone that this was occurring. It was discovered in May 2022, and the first nation discovered that this had been going on for some time in January and February of this year, 2023. However, what is really incredible is what we have learned since then.
The Standing Committee on Environment and Sustainable Development has heard from Chief Allan Adam of the Athabasca Chipewyan First Nation, from the Mikisew Cree, from Métis and also from the Alberta regulator. We also know now that we are not talking about something in the past tense. Initially, media coverage said that this had been going on for some time, and it is still going on as far as know. The containment in the tailings ponds is not working.
In fact, parenthetically, the CEO of Imperial, Brad Corson, is now the highest paid CEO in the energy sector. His salary actually doubled last year and is now more than $17 million. However, it was officials from the Alberta regulator who said that the correct word to use was more “seep” than “leak”, as it is seeping out through the sides. The approach that Imperial Oil is taking to this seeping of toxic effluent is to try to capture it through piping and return it to the place where it is leaking.
When I asked when the Government of Canada was going to get tough on these corporate criminals, the response from the hon. parliament secretary, the hon. member for Winnipeg South, was that the thoughts of the government are with the families and the well-being of the Athabasca Chipewyan First Nation and other affected communities and the Minister of Environment was looking at reaching out to the Alberta government and these first nations. In effect, he said that they want to better understand the situation. Well, we better understand it all right now.
The late Dr. David Schindler testified on May 12, 2009, to the parliamentary committee that there was enough evidence to charge Imperial with violations of the Fisheries Act then. What are we waiting for?