[IPSM] The Richest First Nation in Canada

[Macdonald Stainsby]

The Richest First Nation in Canada

by Macdonald Stainsby / July 10th, 2007

The primarily indigenous and mostly Cree (also ‘Chipewyan Dene’) 
community of Fort MacKay — just north of the internationally famous tar 
sand “boom” city of Fort McMurray — is said to be the “richest First 
Nation in Canada.” The question should be asked: How well does this 
reach the entire community, and does the economic benefit outweigh the cost?

Let me describe the approach to Fort MacKay from “Fort Muck.” The only 
official community north of McMurray on the highway is MacKay, a 
community of about 500 people 40-odd kilometers down the mighty 
Athabasca River. On a highway like this one, a person would normally see 
car traffic every few minutes. On this particular road, the traffic is 
every few seconds. At shift change — with several of these every day of 
the year, around the clock– the highway is bumper to bumper the entire 
route. Where two generations ago there was nothing but muskeg forest, 
there is now sandy wastelands. Where there were rivers, there are now 9 
storey-deep holes, often filled with useless mounds of treated earth. 
Where there were lakes with fish, there are tailings ponds with 
cancer-causing waste. In short, where there was life there is now death.

Fort MacKay is literally surrounded by (and on top of) the tar sands 
occurring naturally here.

full:
http://www.dissidentvoice.org/2007/07/the-richest-first-nation-in-canada/

-- 
Macdonald Stainsby
Coordinator, http://oilsandstruth.org
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