Click this link to access pdf file for printing
A pastoral Letter on the Athabasca Oilsands
Pastoral letter to the People of the Diocese of Athabasca
Dear Friends in Christ,
I am writing to you today on a very important issue that directly affects the life of our Church community. I refer to the impact that the negative environmental publications are having on the life and welfare of the people that are directly involved in working in the Athabasca Oil Sands development. Everything from politicians using the negative images of the oil sands development to enable their election to power, to the publication of the National Geographic that purposely highlights the devastating images of the mining process and the tailing ponds, complete with the unfortunate images of dead water fowl, is being used to drive the environmental agenda which is vilifying one of the most exciting and challenging projects in Canadian history.
As one person who has been involved in regular visitations to Fort McMurray over the past twenty five years, through the ministry of my Church both as Executive Archdeacon, Bishop and Metropolitan Archbishop allow me share my reflections. Twenty five years ago Fort McMurray was just beginning to move out of the boom town mentality. Gradually as people found new employment opportunities and a new sense of hope for their family’s future. People from all over Canada and the world began to set down roots and a new sense of community was developed. New Schools, churches and hospitals were built and all of the amenities of a modern city began to emerge. This was largely due to the courage, commitment and hard work of the leadership and members of the community who were prepared to call Fort McMurray home.
Leaders such as Jim Carter, the recently retired president and CEO of Syncrude Canada one of the largest projects in the Oil Sands worked diligently to involve the indigenous community both as employees and participants in the project itself. I believe that the level of indigenous employees stands at 13 percent of the total population which is higher than the per capita ratio. This was achieved through the support of many people and generally through the encouragement of a challenge to the indigenous community which they accepted. On this very point I have been asked to send letters of congratulations to the graduates of grade twelve in Fort Chipewyan which I perceive as a sign of real hope for the future.
There is no question that when you view the mining process it gives a very devastating picture, which is what we have all seen in the reporting of the National Geographic article. Nowhere did I see any reference to the reclamation area complete with lakes, fish, birds and buffalo. The Buffalo herd in this area is being managed by the Fort McKay band and I do believe there is hope to replace the diseased Buffalo in Wood Buffalo National Park with this herd.The important point is that there are honest, and very expensive, efforts to deal with returning the landscape to something like or better than before the mining process began. This point needs to be acknowledged in the present dismissal of the Oil Sands as an environmental failure.
There is no question that there needs to be a fair assessment of the approach that is presently being taken. The former Premier of this Province, Peter Lougheed has made this very point. However I do believe that there needs to be some balance in that assessment and less judgment through the media. Under current atmosphere it is so easy to dismiss the commitment of those many, many people who have made Fort McMurray their home and have used their God given talents and work to benefit the whole of Canadian society. It is so easy to forget that the real resource of the north is not found in its minerals, forest, or water but in the caliber of its people. From what I have witnessed over the past twenty five years we are blessed in that category.
It is time for all us across the Diocese of Athabasca and the Canadian Church to support the good work of the people of the City of Fort McMurray and not allow the agenda to be driven by the sensationalism of the National Geographic approach. It is time for all of us to be proud of what people have accomplished and, by the grace of God will accomplish in the future of Fort McMurray.
The Most Rev’d. John R. Clarke,
Bishop of Athabasca