Announcement of a joint statement from Indigenous Climate Action, Keepers of the Water, and Environmental Defence Canada on April 17, 2023.

Rally for Justice in the Tar Sands Event Poster - Join us for a solidarity rally in Ottawa, hosted by Keepers of the Water and Environmental Defence, to support the Indigenous Nations impacted by the recent Imperial Oil toxic tailings disaster.

If you missed this event live you can still watch the replay of this vitally important collaborative webinar!

Here’s What is Happening This Week with Keepers of the Water!

Keepers of the Water and Indigenous Knowledge Wisdom Center are pleased to present this two-day in-person gathering. Indigenous people have stewarded the land since the beginning of time, we hold the answers to protecting water and this will be discussed by looking further at the following topics; UNDRIP, Doctrine of Discovery, Free Prior and Informed Consent, Criminalization of Indigenous people on our lands, The Indian Act, Canadian Legal System vs. Indigenous Legal Systems, Alberta Regulatory System, Before Contact, Looking at how much Canada spends fighting Indigenous people in the colonial court systems, and The Alberta Tarsands Tailings Ponds and the threats to Water and how this infringes on Indigenous Rights.

In 1884, traditional Indigenous ceremonies such as the potlatch, ghost dance, shake tent, and sundance were banned under the 1876 Indian Act. Our people were arrested for conducting or participating in traditional ceremonies and the Canadian government forcibly took their ceremonial materials away. Our songs, prayers, sacred items, and ceremonies were hidden in order to be secretly kept alive until such a time comes for our Peoples to return to our Land and live our traditional ways in a modern world. The ban on our traditional ways remained in effect until 1951.

Keepers of the Water, Board of Directors Co-Chair, Cleo Reese

Treated tailings from Alberta’s tar sands operations may be flowing into NWT waters as early as 2025. Tailings are a toxic, liquid by-product of bitumen extraction and upgrading. This industrial waste is stored in man-made lakes that have grown to an unfathomable size of 1.1 trillion litres.