Environment committee  The Province of Alberta will not protect any bison outside of the parks, and that is our problem. The bison has been declared threatened in Alberta. It is not only threatened by the hunter but also by development. Their habitat is being destroyed. The bison herd I am talking ab

Environment committee  You've raised something with me that I and the elders haven't even gotten to yet. We're more at the stage right now of preserving the habitats and the species. That's right in the forefront for us. A while ago, when I made a presentation, I asked, “Is there another place where

Environment committee  Yes, my comments about our use of the animals for centuries and thousands of years are very real. The laws that guide us are the laws that the animals themselves have. Animals would not ever let themselves be overpopulated to extinction. Nature controls nature. We all know that.

Environment committee  I am not really clear on your question.

Environment committee  Well, if we were to apply the laws of the first nations, especially mine, we wouldn't see the devastation that's happening up there now. Everything would be sustainable. They have committees like this that can control that, how much development happens. But if you're here in Otta

Environment committee  Thank you. The problem I'm having is that when you have a species such as the woodland bison, it's a threatened species, yet Alberta will do nothing to protect that herd outside its parks. The federal government has parks. Within those parks, the bison are protected. Anytime it'

Environment committee  Previous to that, I don't think we've.... I don't remember this committee, anyway, being there. As far as Alberta is concerned, they leave most of the consultation to a third party, so you never see the Alberta government in the community.

Environment committee  Well, you've been in the community of Fort Chipewyan; I think it was last summer.

Environment committee  I can't remember. I don't think you were ever there.

Environment committee  I agree. But the thing that this committee has to understand is that when you transfer the power to do the consultation to another party, like the Alberta government, which in turn transfers it to another third party, which is industry, to do the consultation, the industry player

Environment committee  I've been involved in a lot of organizations in the Fort McMurray area, all of these organizations that monitor the environment. The government really holds them to task--or so it seems--to make sure that everything is protected, and that no species will be lost and stuff like th

Environment committee  I'd have to say that the federal government is not enforcing any of the rules that everybody else works by in Fort McMurray. The Alberta government sets out the rules and gives the approvals. Once that happens, all the things that should be protected by the federal government go

Environment committee  Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Chairman and members of the committee, my name is Pat Marcel, elder and former chief of the ACFN. I address you today because of my grave concern, and the concern of my first nation, about the effects of industrial development, primarily oil sands de