VIDEO about Environment posted on October 17, 2009 by stimulator

H2Oil Panel during VIFF

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Link to video

THE FILM:

Thanks to Alberta’s Athabasca oil sands, Canada is now the biggest oil supplier to the United States. A controversial billion-dollar industry is heavily invested in extracting crude from the tar sands through a process so toxic it has become an international cause for concern. Four barrels of glacier-fed spring water are used to process each barrel of oil.  The water is then dumped, laden with carcinogens, into leaky tailings ponds so huge they can be seen from space. Downstream, the people of Fort Chipewyan are already paying the price for what will be one of the largest industrial projects in history. When a local doctor raises the alarm about clusters of rare cancers, evidence mounts for industry and government cover-ups. In a time when wars are fought over oil and a crisis looms over access to clean fresh water, which resource is more precious? And what price are we willing to pay?

THE PANEL:

The film will be followed by a panel discussion where the audience will hear from people directly involved in community level resistance to tar sands projects as well as learn what the public can do to support these communities and hold governments and the industry responsible. We are honored to have a speaker from the downstream community of Mikisew Cree First Nation, as well as from Wet’suwet’en territories in northern BC along a tar sands pipeline route. Local organizers will also be highlighting the links between the Olympics and tar sands industries.

Shannon Walsh the director of documentary H2Oil.

George Poitras - B.Admin., Consultation Coordinator Government & Industry Relations, Mikisew Cree First Nation.

Mel Bazil - Member of the Wet'suwet'en and Gitxsan Nations.

Tracy Mann- No One is Illegal, Vancouver.

Macdonald Stainsby, OilSandsTruth.org

The event is organized, supported and endorsed by the Council of Canadians, Indigenous Environmental Network, Loaded Pictures, No One Is Illegal - Vancouver, OilSandsTruth.org, Rainforest Action Network, Western Canada Wilderness Committee, Olympics Resistance Network.