We are bringing your attention to a recent CBC story on a study and comments by University of Alberta ecologist, David Schindler on the effects that the tar sands oil developments appear to be having on the Athabasca River in northern Alberta.

The Athabasca has supported a subsistence fishery for first nations communities for centuries, and since the development of the tar sands, cancerous and mutated fish have been seen in rising numbers, naturally raising concerns about human and food safety.

Since the Federal Government has chosen the Alberta tar sands as the economic engine of Canada, it has coincidentally (?) begun a systematic elimination of scientific resources available to academics, like Dr. Schindler and others, as well as the general public, that could provide hard evidence of the ecological, health and social impacts of its policy decisions. [Read more…]