Standing on Sacred Ground: Profit and Loss

Description
Reviews
Citation
Cataloging
Transcript

If you are not affiliated with a college or university, and are interested in watching this film, please register as an individual and login to rent this film. Already registered? Login to rent this film. This film is also available on our home streaming platform, OVID.tv.

From New Guinean rainforests to Canada's tar sands, PROFIT AND LOSS exposes industrial threats to native peoples' health, livelihood and cultural survival. In Papua New Guinea, a Chinese-government owned nickel mine has violently relocated villagers to a taboo sacred mountain, built a new pipeline and refinery on contested clan land, and is dumping mining waste into the sea. In Alberta, First Nations people suffer from rare cancers as their traditional hunting grounds are stripmined to unearth the world's third-largest oil reserve. Indigenous people tell their own stories-and confront us with the ethical consequences of our culture of consumption.

Featuring Winona LaDuke (Anishinaabe), Oren Lyons (Onondaga), Satish Kumar and activist Clayton Thomas-Muller (Cree).

136-page Teacher's Guide (PDF) for the Standing on Sacred Ground series

'The striking parallels between the Chinese metallurgical development of Papua New Guinea and the Canadian self-destruction involved in the oil sands project are brought out well and poignantly in this film. Indigenous voices include workers on both projects, and multiple points of view are represented as communities struggle with the tensions between 'trickle down wealth' and environmental destruction.' Marjorie Mandelstam Balzer, Research Professor, Center for Eurasian, Russian and Eastern European Studies, Department of Anthropology, Georgetown University, Author of Shamanic Worlds, Editor of Anthropology and Archeology of Eurasia

'This monumental film series is superb. For many indigenous cultures throughout the world, sacred places are arenas of peace, power, and reverence. Standing On Sacred Ground sheds light on cases where religion and identity are under attack, where sacred places are being recklessly transformed into a focus of conflict, power struggles, desecration, and the violation of human rights. The films will prove to be of special interest to a wide range of scientific and academic disciplines, government and NGO personnel, and the general public. They will be most relevant for university, college, and high school classrooms covering subjects in anthropology, ecology, economic development, environmental studies, globalization, government, history, human rights, indigenous studies, law, social justice, sociology, political science, and religion.' Dr. Leslie E. Sponsel, Professor Emeritus of Anthropology, University of Hawaii at Manoa, Author, Spiritual Ecology: A Quiet Revolution

'Standing on Sacred Ground is a tour de force! This is one of the most powerful documentary series ever made on indigenous peoples and their resistance to environmental exploitation. Toby McLeod has woven stories of first nations peoples resilience amidst images of searing beauty and unimagined destruction. An awakening call indeed that should be heard around the world.' Mary Evelyn Tucker, School of Forestry and Environmental Studies, Yale University, Co-author, Ecology and Religion

'Nothing like this riveting series of four desperately-urgent films about the fate of our planet has ever been seen...Patiently, lucidly and devastatingly, director Toby McLeod and his team have traveled the globe and painstakingly tracked eight stories of struggles by indigenous peoples to save the ancestral landscapes that have given them sustenance and spiritual anchoring for thousands of years. Standing on Sacred Ground is a magnificent, one-of-a-kind achievement...Containing face-offs at strategic sites, incontrovertible visual documentation of environmental wastelands, poignant voices of clarity and appeal that speak with the grave, quiet wisdom of cultures that have survived centuries of crusades to convert, exterminate, or assimilate them - these four dramatic films keep us on the edge of our seat and at the edge of tears. They absolutely must be seen by every citizen on earth.' Peter Nabokov, Anthropologist, Professor of World Arts and Cultures, University of California - Los Angeles

'An extraordinary film series highlighting the struggles, losses, and strengths of indigenous peoples working today to protect their sacred places in an industrialized world. Through beautifully filmed case studies where indigenous leaders speak for themselves, this series illustrates how history, law, science, and religion converge in the indigenous world and how critical these struggles are for the well-being of the planet as a whole.' Dr. Melissa K. Nelson, (Turtle Mountain Chippewa), Associate Professor of American Indian Studies at San Francisco State University, President of The Cultural Conservancy, Author of Original Instructions: Indigenous Teachings for a Sustainable Future

'From the local to the global, from the ancient world to the modern world, from developers to ecological preservationists, from indigenous peoples to outsiders, Standing on Sacred Ground explores the many sides of resource development on indigenous lands...The series provides considerable insight into the issues Indigenous Peoples face, and shows how and why they are fighting to preserve their sacred lands, their traditions, their life-ways, and their cultures. No study of contemporary ecological issues would be complete without hearing and seeing this aspect of ecology and development controversies.' Thomas D. Hall, Professor Emeritus of Sociology and Anthropology, DePauw University, Co-author, Indigenous Peoples and Globalization: Resistance and Revitalization

'Standing on Sacred Ground is one of the most powerful educational films, reminding us that Indigenous peoples are the true guardians of Mother Earth and their wisdom needs to be heeded - our future depends on it. Beautifully produced. Outstanding Indigenous commentary on the sacredness of Mother Earth and how we need to stop the plunder before we all vanish.' Dr. Julian Kunnie, Professor of Religious Studies/Classics, University of Arizona, Author, Indigenous Wisdom and Power: Affirming our Knowledge Through Narratives

'This important educational documentary demonstrates the unsustainable cost of rampant resource extraction and development and the devastating impacts on those who hold sacred the duty to protect the earth, Indigenous peoples. In documenting cases from the Pacific to the remote mountains of Altai and across the Americas, it demonstrates the vital importance of traditional Indigenous knowledge in the preservation of biodiversity and shows that, far from being a primitive relic from the past, Indigenous knowledge is vital to the recovery of the biosphere and to our collective future existence. This is a well-executed documentary, suitable for post-secondary educational programs.' Makere Stewart-Harawira, Associate Professor of Theoretical, Cultural and International Studies in Education, University of Alberta, Author, The New Imperial Order: Indigenous Responses to Globalization

'Beautifully illuminates indigenous peoples' resistance to environmental devastation and their determination to protect our common future.' Robert Redford

'Words that seem most appropriate in characterizing this documentary include awesome, beautiful, ugly, dramatic, revealing, disturbing, heroic, moving, and inspiring...A unique and historic achievement...The film exposes contemporary cultural, ecological, religious, and political realities, transcending the usual 'just-so-stories' of the ethnographic present dominating many textbooks. The film both tests anthropological viewers' adherence to cultural relativism and challenges any scientism because for indigenes nature is alive and spiritual with its sacred foci of power, reverence, and healing...This educational film series is most relevant for instructors and students in universities, colleges, and high schools for a wide variety of disciplines, topics, and courses. The four DVDs will allow instructors to easily use any of the individual eight cases, each 25 minutes long, making the series ideal for classroom use, or for students to pursue their individual interests.' Anthropology News (April 2014)

'Standing on Sacred Ground does well to not only allow the voices and experiences of actual Indigenous peoples, scholars, and activists shine throughout the films, but also calls out to viewers asking them what they can do for the land so 'the land can love them back.' This film series is thorough, critically engaging, inclusive, and very well produced. The eight case studies of Indigenous communities around the world offer the viewer a glimpse into the everyday lives of these people and can therefore be an excellent educational tool for students and activists of most ages. I highly recommend this film series for anyone who wants to learn about Indigenous cultures across the globe, as well as anyone who wants to fully understand how and why the earth is slowly being destroyed by the efforts of 'progress,' along with what they can do to help reverse the process of ecological destruction.' Jennifer Loft, University at Buffalo, Educational Media Reviews Online

Citation

Select a citation style:

Main credits

McLeod, Christopher (film director)
McLeod, Christopher (film producer)
Huang, Jennifer (film producer)
Huang, Jennifer (screenwriter)
Greene, Graham (narrator)

Other credits

Edited by Marta Wohl; director of photography, Andrew Black; composer, Jon Herbst.

MARC Record See Worldcat record

Keywords

Papua New Guinea, Alberta tar sands, loss of land, loss of water, loss of health, mining, oil industry, Canada, industrial threats, native peoples' health, livelihood, cultural survival, Chinese nickel mine, relocating villagers, taboo sacred mountain, pipeline, refinery, dumping mine waste in sea, rare cancers, stripmining traditional hunting grounds, oil reserves, culture of consumption, Winona LaDuke, Oren Lyons, Satish Kumar, Clayton Thomas-Muller; "Profit and Loss"; Bullfrog Films,doc,env; science; sociss

00:00:01.485 --> 00:00:05.940
(FROG CROAKING)

00:00:19.800 --> 00:00:24.255
(MUSIC PLAYING)

00:00:27.720 --> 00:00:31.680
(SINGING)

00:00:33.170 --> 00:00:36.450
You know them when
you see them, places

00:00:36.450 --> 00:00:43.690
on the Earth that are set
apart, places that transform us,

00:00:43.690 --> 00:00:44.890
sacred places.

00:00:44.890 --> 00:00:48.698
(SINGING)

00:00:52.555 --> 00:00:54.554
When you're connected to
the land and everything

00:00:54.554 --> 00:00:56.506
that's out here, and you know.

00:00:56.506 --> 00:00:58.350
You know you don't own it.

00:00:58.350 --> 00:01:01.070
It owns you.

00:01:01.070 --> 00:01:03.910
But now, the relentless
drive to exploit

00:01:03.910 --> 00:01:07.740
all of the Earth's riches has
thrust people across the globe

00:01:07.740 --> 00:01:13.745
into a struggle between ancient
beliefs and industrial demand.

00:01:13.745 --> 00:01:15.870
Indigenous people are faced
with the largest mining

00:01:15.870 --> 00:01:18.780
corporations of the world,
have been for years.

00:01:21.340 --> 00:01:23.950
In Papua New Guinea,
villagers resist

00:01:23.950 --> 00:01:27.320
forced relocation and
destruction of sacred sites.

00:01:27.320 --> 00:01:28.262
This is my land.

00:01:28.262 --> 00:01:29.500
I'm standing on my land.

00:01:29.500 --> 00:01:31.230
You have no right.

00:01:31.230 --> 00:01:34.260
And in northern Canada,
First Nations people

00:01:34.260 --> 00:01:37.070
are divided over the
oil sands industry

00:01:37.070 --> 00:01:41.530
that provides jobs but
threatens rivers, forests,

00:01:41.530 --> 00:01:43.990
and their lives.

00:01:43.990 --> 00:01:45.580
What am I supposed to do?

00:01:45.580 --> 00:01:51.170
We're scared to eat the
fish, and that's all I know.

00:01:51.170 --> 00:01:56.040
Native people have a sacred
relationship with the Earth.

00:01:56.040 --> 00:01:59.620
We must keep restoring
that relationship

00:01:59.620 --> 00:02:02.867
and that power of place.

00:02:02.867 --> 00:02:07.340
(SINGING)

00:02:08.831 --> 00:02:12.807
(MUSIC PLAYING)

00:02:50.610 --> 00:02:52.930
We've been here in
this village settlement

00:02:52.930 --> 00:02:54.880
for 6 and 1/2 thousand years.

00:02:59.500 --> 00:03:02.740
The river and the environment
and the biodiversity

00:03:02.740 --> 00:03:05.800
provides for us and
sustains our life.

00:03:05.800 --> 00:03:09.590
We, in return, regard the
land, the environment,

00:03:09.590 --> 00:03:12.700
and the river as sacred.

00:03:12.700 --> 00:03:14.950
The canal is a big significance.

00:03:14.950 --> 00:03:21.130
Being river people,
we use normal canoes

00:03:21.130 --> 00:03:23.190
for fishing and farming.

00:03:23.190 --> 00:03:25.030
Then we have ceremonial canoes.

00:03:25.030 --> 00:03:28.390
(CHANTING)

00:03:28.390 --> 00:03:30.333
Making and launching
of a ceremonial canoe

00:03:30.333 --> 00:03:33.760
is a very big communal practice.

00:03:33.760 --> 00:03:37.494
(SINGING)

00:03:49.810 --> 00:03:52.910
The chanting signifies
the development

00:03:52.910 --> 00:04:00.370
of the ceremonial canoe,
and we have blessings

00:04:00.370 --> 00:04:01.680
during initial maiden voyages.

00:04:11.450 --> 00:04:14.210
Bozeman villagers have been
preparing for the canoe's

00:04:14.210 --> 00:04:16.620
maiden voyage for two months.

00:04:16.620 --> 00:04:20.620
(CHATTER)

00:04:32.074 --> 00:04:36.554
(CHEERING)

00:04:37.054 --> 00:04:41.038
(CHANTING)

00:04:53.380 --> 00:04:56.450
Traditionally, the
villagers would throw spears

00:04:56.450 --> 00:05:00.170
to prepare the men for war.

00:05:00.170 --> 00:05:03.130
Today, the barrage of
fruit is a celebration

00:05:03.130 --> 00:05:08.730
of the bounty of the land and
a reminder to the warriors

00:05:08.730 --> 00:05:10.510
to continue defending the river.

00:05:16.120 --> 00:05:20.190
Just north of Australia lies
the country of Papua New Guinea,

00:05:20.190 --> 00:05:22.420
until recently
one of the world's

00:05:22.420 --> 00:05:25.560
last unexplored regions.

00:05:25.560 --> 00:05:28.730
With more than
800 languages, PNG

00:05:28.730 --> 00:05:31.740
is a place of stunning
cultural diversity.

00:05:31.740 --> 00:05:35.740
(MUSIC PLAYING)

00:05:37.480 --> 00:05:40.960
Its many islands were
colonized and Christianized

00:05:40.960 --> 00:05:45.740
by Germany, Britain,
and Australia,

00:05:45.740 --> 00:05:49.250
but first contact with the West
didn't come to some regions

00:05:49.250 --> 00:05:50.550
until the 1930s.

00:05:50.550 --> 00:05:54.180
(MUSIC PLAYING)

00:05:56.020 --> 00:05:59.450
When the country gained
independence in 1975,

00:05:59.450 --> 00:06:01.790
it took a radical step.

00:06:01.790 --> 00:06:04.740
It recognized the land rights
of its indigenous people

00:06:04.740 --> 00:06:07.460
in its new constitution
and pledged

00:06:07.460 --> 00:06:10.780
to protect the environment
for future generations.

00:06:10.780 --> 00:06:12.350
There is a lot of
connection that we

00:06:12.350 --> 00:06:16.380
Papua New Guineans as indigenous
people have with our land.

00:06:16.380 --> 00:06:18.970
That's where our
culture is based.

00:06:18.970 --> 00:06:21.270
Land is equivalent to
money in Western societies.

00:06:21.270 --> 00:06:23.000
It is our life support system.

00:06:23.000 --> 00:06:27.770
Without land, we
are non-existent.

00:06:27.770 --> 00:06:30.600
Land is something
that people talk to.

00:06:30.600 --> 00:06:33.920
A Papua New Guinean doesn't
just drop a seed in the garden.

00:06:33.920 --> 00:06:35.650
He's uttering some words.

00:06:35.650 --> 00:06:38.350
He's praying to the spirits.

00:06:38.350 --> 00:06:41.480
We believe that our
spirit lives on with us

00:06:41.480 --> 00:06:44.500
where we are on the
land, and really, just

00:06:44.500 --> 00:06:46.540
in the caves, and the
trees, and in the seas.

00:06:49.710 --> 00:06:52.910
And because of debt, we protect
our land and our environment,

00:06:52.910 --> 00:06:54.683
and it is sacred to us.

00:06:59.780 --> 00:07:04.100
Like the villagers in Bozeman,
85% of Papua New Guineans

00:07:04.100 --> 00:07:07.474
still live off the land.

00:07:07.474 --> 00:07:11.340
(SINGING)

00:07:25.790 --> 00:07:28.198
In our culture, food
is the center of life.

00:07:32.320 --> 00:07:34.586
All riches have
developed from food.

00:07:38.520 --> 00:07:43.940
We farm largely on the
banks of the Ramu River.

00:07:43.940 --> 00:07:47.200
Ramu becomes the center for us.

00:07:47.200 --> 00:07:51.250
In our language, we say
it's a modest breast.

00:07:51.250 --> 00:07:54.070
We're able to drink
from it freely.

00:07:54.070 --> 00:07:58.030
We're able to fish, and
we're able to feast.

00:07:58.030 --> 00:08:01.090
We're able to produce
new life because of Ramu.

00:08:04.240 --> 00:08:07.780
But many people want to
leave this life behind.

00:08:07.780 --> 00:08:11.440
People are just living
like our forefathers,

00:08:11.440 --> 00:08:13.924
no change in their lives.

00:08:13.924 --> 00:08:15.700
Government services
have not reached them.

00:08:15.700 --> 00:08:20.350
Medicine, schools, hospitals,
infrastructure, nothing.

00:08:20.350 --> 00:08:22.080
They want to develop
like other people.

00:08:22.080 --> 00:08:25.680
They want to come
out of the bush.

00:08:25.680 --> 00:08:27.820
Now the promise
of infrastructure

00:08:27.820 --> 00:08:30.290
that has been elusive in
the jungles and highlands

00:08:30.290 --> 00:08:34.049
is coming from an
unexpected source.

00:08:34.049 --> 00:08:37.090
China Metallurgical
Group, or MCC,

00:08:37.090 --> 00:08:40.159
broke ground on a nickel
mine above the Ramu River

00:08:40.159 --> 00:08:45.110
in 2008, naming it Ramu NiCo.

00:08:45.110 --> 00:08:48.370
The mining project, with
an expenditure of billions,

00:08:48.370 --> 00:08:52.341
is going to bring in everything,
all the education that we need,

00:08:52.341 --> 00:08:54.550
all the health services.

00:08:54.550 --> 00:08:56.485
This generation of people
may have never gone

00:08:56.485 --> 00:08:57.820
to a supermarket to buy food.

00:08:57.820 --> 00:08:59.570
Tomorrow, I want them to
go to the supermarket.

00:08:59.570 --> 00:09:01.361
Tomorrow, I want them
to have an education.

00:09:03.550 --> 00:09:07.800
MCC's mine site lies
75 kilometers southwest

00:09:07.800 --> 00:09:10.120
of the provincial
capital of Madang,

00:09:10.120 --> 00:09:14.350
on a highland plateau
called Kurumbukari.

00:09:14.350 --> 00:09:17.080
About 1,000 villagers'
homes and gardens

00:09:17.080 --> 00:09:19.200
were on top of one of
the richest mineral

00:09:19.200 --> 00:09:20.330
deposits in the country.

00:09:24.110 --> 00:09:25.620
(NON-ENGLISH SPEECH)

00:11:00.614 --> 00:11:04.470
(MUSIC PLAYING)

00:11:04.470 --> 00:11:07.730
They have ordered
the villagers to move

00:11:07.730 --> 00:11:11.110
into their sacred
mountain, and everyone

00:11:11.110 --> 00:11:15.470
has left except two brothers.

00:11:15.470 --> 00:11:16.980
All the people in
the village know

00:11:16.980 --> 00:11:20.370
it's a taboo area
and a no-go zone,

00:11:20.370 --> 00:11:24.640
and so the people didn't
feel right to move to a land

00:11:24.640 --> 00:11:27.050
that they see as sacred.

00:11:27.050 --> 00:11:29.070
(NON-ENGLISH SPEECH)

00:12:34.505 --> 00:12:38.465
(SINGING)

00:12:41.440 --> 00:12:44.570
If people are being asked to
move away from their land,

00:12:44.570 --> 00:12:48.220
how do we talk about this?

00:12:48.220 --> 00:12:52.040
Because if our government is
not going to talk on our behalf,

00:12:52.040 --> 00:12:53.890
who do we talk with?

00:12:53.890 --> 00:12:57.056
(SINGING)

00:13:06.220 --> 00:13:07.080
(NON-ENGLISH SPEECH)

00:13:40.911 --> 00:13:45.240
(MUSIC PLAYING)

00:13:50.540 --> 00:13:51.770
(NON-ENGLISH SPEECH)

00:14:17.960 --> 00:14:20.349
I am very happy.

00:14:20.349 --> 00:14:21.640
What's everybody unhappy about?

00:14:21.640 --> 00:14:23.140
I'm very happy.

00:14:23.140 --> 00:14:25.280
David (INAUDIBLE)
signed the agreement

00:14:25.280 --> 00:14:28.690
leasing the Kurumbukari
land to the nickel mine.

00:14:28.690 --> 00:14:32.180
He promised new houses would be
built for the people on Snake

00:14:32.180 --> 00:14:33.066
Mountain.

00:14:33.066 --> 00:14:33.940
It's got electricity.

00:14:33.940 --> 00:14:34.565
It's got water.

00:14:34.565 --> 00:14:35.665
It's got septic toilet.

00:14:35.665 --> 00:14:36.820
It's a very good house.

00:14:36.820 --> 00:14:39.090
It's like a hotel.

00:14:39.090 --> 00:14:43.227
For the people in this area,
this project is a lifesaver.

00:14:43.227 --> 00:14:43.852
It's a godsend.

00:14:46.470 --> 00:14:49.020
People have been
colonized, and one

00:14:49.020 --> 00:14:51.590
of the mindset
that people have is

00:14:51.590 --> 00:14:55.540
that they expect
outsiders to come and deal

00:14:55.540 --> 00:14:59.944
with your problems, but
this is not the case.

00:14:59.944 --> 00:15:01.610
Outsiders are coming,
and they're taking

00:15:01.610 --> 00:15:04.230
advantage of those people.

00:15:04.230 --> 00:15:06.450
OK, you.

00:15:06.450 --> 00:15:10.640
John Chitoa and Rosa Koian are
leaders of the Bismarck Ramu

00:15:10.640 --> 00:15:13.670
Group, a grassroots
organization that

00:15:13.670 --> 00:15:16.980
works to educate communities
about the issues surrounding

00:15:16.980 --> 00:15:19.160
development.

00:15:19.160 --> 00:15:22.610
At Bismarck Ramu, we try to
make Papua New Guineans believe

00:15:22.610 --> 00:15:24.390
in themselves.

00:15:24.390 --> 00:15:25.200
So we have media.

00:15:25.200 --> 00:15:26.240
We have the court.

00:15:26.240 --> 00:15:29.440
We are also working with
people on the ground.

00:15:29.440 --> 00:15:31.230
Our philosophy is that
we want development

00:15:31.230 --> 00:15:34.060
that our indigenous people,
our people in the country,

00:15:34.060 --> 00:15:37.100
can take control.

00:15:37.100 --> 00:15:40.050
From Kurumbukari,
the mined ore travels

00:15:40.050 --> 00:15:44.190
through a 135-kilometer
pipeline to a new refinery

00:15:44.190 --> 00:15:45.110
at Basamuk Bay.

00:15:49.250 --> 00:15:52.530
Here, along the Rai
coast, Ramu NiCo

00:15:52.530 --> 00:15:55.388
encountered another
dispute over a sacred site.

00:15:58.310 --> 00:16:02.071
This has been our site
where our cemetery has been.

00:16:02.071 --> 00:16:04.210
They have entered our
country, Papua New Guinea,

00:16:04.210 --> 00:16:06.770
and without respect
for our environment,

00:16:06.770 --> 00:16:10.470
our cultural sites, which has
been clearly marked and known

00:16:10.470 --> 00:16:13.380
to them before they
set foot to this land.

00:16:13.380 --> 00:16:15.470
Look at what they
have done to our land.

00:16:15.470 --> 00:16:19.030
We just can't accept it.

00:16:19.030 --> 00:16:21.820
While Mellombo was
visiting the cemetery site,

00:16:21.820 --> 00:16:24.760
Ramu NiCo security
ordered him to leave,

00:16:24.760 --> 00:16:26.850
saying he was trespassing.

00:16:26.850 --> 00:16:29.150
I was here on the
12th of December

00:16:29.150 --> 00:16:33.270
last year, telling not to remove
the cemetery and (INAUDIBLE).

00:16:33.270 --> 00:16:34.050
We get to this.

00:16:34.050 --> 00:16:35.790
And the Mineral
Resource Authority

00:16:35.790 --> 00:16:37.856
wrote to him to say do
not remove the cemetery.

00:16:37.856 --> 00:16:39.650
Do you understand that?

00:16:39.650 --> 00:16:42.380
The governor immediately wrote
to the provincial administrator

00:16:42.380 --> 00:16:45.050
and directed him to
speak to the Chinese

00:16:45.050 --> 00:16:48.070
and tell them that they
couldn't dig this up.

00:16:48.070 --> 00:16:48.970
That didn't happen.

00:16:48.970 --> 00:16:51.160
The Chinese just went
ahead and dug it up anyway.

00:16:51.160 --> 00:16:52.160
This is my land.

00:16:52.160 --> 00:16:53.160
I'm standing on my land.

00:16:53.160 --> 00:16:54.160
You have no right.

00:16:54.160 --> 00:16:56.160
Go back to Mongolia.

00:16:56.160 --> 00:16:57.294
Go back to Mongolia.

00:16:57.294 --> 00:16:58.210
This is our mine site.

00:16:58.210 --> 00:17:03.350
The permit actually says you
can't disturb the sacred sites,

00:17:03.350 --> 00:17:07.409
but there has been no
consequences of this breach.

00:17:07.409 --> 00:17:08.450
This is Papua New Guinea.

00:17:08.450 --> 00:17:08.950
I think so.

00:17:08.950 --> 00:17:10.302
This is your country.

00:17:10.302 --> 00:17:12.198
But here, this
(INAUDIBLE) working area.

00:17:12.198 --> 00:17:14.031
But you have no right
to remove my cemetery.

00:17:14.031 --> 00:17:15.970
It's a protected
right to government.

00:17:15.970 --> 00:17:16.470
No!

00:17:16.470 --> 00:17:19.480
When the Chinese or the MCC
came into Papua New Guinea,

00:17:19.480 --> 00:17:23.030
they thought that the land
was owned by the government.

00:17:23.030 --> 00:17:25.340
97% of the land in
Papua New Guinea

00:17:25.340 --> 00:17:27.640
is owned by native people.

00:17:27.640 --> 00:17:29.840
Only 3% of it is owned
by the government.

00:17:29.840 --> 00:17:32.090
I shed tears for this cemetery.

00:17:32.090 --> 00:17:34.090
So when they come in and
establish the refinery,

00:17:34.090 --> 00:17:36.330
they can dig out
anything under it

00:17:36.330 --> 00:17:38.190
and think that
nothing would happen.

00:17:38.190 --> 00:17:39.500
Now, that's not the case here.

00:17:39.500 --> 00:17:42.650
So go and talk to them, not me.

00:17:42.650 --> 00:17:47.410
But Sama Mellombo and MCC were
fighting an even bigger battle,

00:17:47.410 --> 00:17:51.920
a lawsuit threatening to
halt its operations entirely.

00:17:51.920 --> 00:17:56.310
The Chinese want to dump 5
million tons of hot mine waste

00:17:56.310 --> 00:18:01.340
tailings into the sea at
a depth of 150 meters,

00:18:01.340 --> 00:18:06.490
and they call that deep
sea tailings placement.

00:18:06.490 --> 00:18:09.180
MCC is the fourth
mine in the country

00:18:09.180 --> 00:18:12.150
to direct its waste
pipe into the sea,

00:18:12.150 --> 00:18:15.420
saying that gravity will pull
the mining waste to the ocean

00:18:15.420 --> 00:18:17.500
floor.

00:18:17.500 --> 00:18:21.340
With Bismarck Ramu Group's
support, Mellombo, and later,

00:18:21.340 --> 00:18:25.010
more than 1,000 landowners,
hired Tiffany Twivey

00:18:25.010 --> 00:18:26.950
to sue the mine.

00:18:26.950 --> 00:18:30.470
It is likely that this
deep sea tailing disposal

00:18:30.470 --> 00:18:32.800
of 5 million tons of
hot tailings each year

00:18:32.800 --> 00:18:35.366
for a period of 20
years will commit

00:18:35.366 --> 00:18:36.900
gross environmental harm.

00:18:45.860 --> 00:18:48.500
First to be impacted
by the tailings waste

00:18:48.500 --> 00:18:50.980
will be the village of
(INAUDIBLE), directly

00:18:50.980 --> 00:18:53.457
across the bay
from the refinery.

00:18:53.457 --> 00:18:54.290
(NON-ENGLISH SPEECH)

00:19:05.730 --> 00:19:08.670
They're very concerned
because the sea is basically

00:19:08.670 --> 00:19:11.300
their life support system.

00:19:11.300 --> 00:19:12.320
They fish from the sea.

00:19:12.320 --> 00:19:13.770
They wash from the sea.

00:19:13.770 --> 00:19:16.370
Their daily lives entirely
depend on the sea.

00:19:19.310 --> 00:19:21.990
We catch fish down
at 400 meters,

00:19:21.990 --> 00:19:25.340
and the tailing would be
dropped at about 150 meters.

00:19:25.340 --> 00:19:29.070
It would be disastrous
for the people.

00:19:29.070 --> 00:19:30.350
We will lose the environment.

00:19:30.350 --> 00:19:32.850
We will lose the sea.

00:19:32.850 --> 00:19:37.090
If ever fish die in the ocean,
if ever somebody goes sick,

00:19:37.090 --> 00:19:39.595
project stops, and a
full-scale investigation

00:19:39.595 --> 00:19:43.980
will be done as to
what caused that.

00:19:43.980 --> 00:19:47.230
Deep sea tailings disposal
is used by mining companies

00:19:47.230 --> 00:19:50.300
because it's the cheapest
method, because they

00:19:50.300 --> 00:19:53.380
can pump it into the sea and
it's out of sight, out of mind.

00:19:57.250 --> 00:20:00.660
How on Earth is it going to be
contained once it's in the sea

00:20:00.660 --> 00:20:01.956
and sloshing around?

00:20:05.430 --> 00:20:07.460
Critics of Ramu
NiCo fear it will

00:20:07.460 --> 00:20:11.710
follow the historic precedent
of Ok Tedi, a copper mine that's

00:20:11.710 --> 00:20:14.190
been disposing its
tailings directly

00:20:14.190 --> 00:20:17.690
into a river for decades.

00:20:17.690 --> 00:20:21.460
It is considered one of the most
destructive industrial sites

00:20:21.460 --> 00:20:23.250
in the world.

00:20:23.250 --> 00:20:26.380
I always look at the Fly River,
which is Papua New Guinea's

00:20:26.380 --> 00:20:27.730
largest river.

00:20:27.730 --> 00:20:30.850
The Fly River is
where the Ok Tedi

00:20:30.850 --> 00:20:34.400
mine is-- that river is dead.

00:20:39.570 --> 00:20:45.400
In 2011, PNG's Supreme Court
approved the Ramu mine's plan

00:20:45.400 --> 00:20:47.806
to dispose its
waste into the sea.

00:20:50.930 --> 00:20:54.460
We have not reaped the full
benefit of all this mineral

00:20:54.460 --> 00:20:56.990
(INAUDIBLE) taking
place in the country,

00:20:56.990 --> 00:21:00.200
and I don't think Ramu
will make us any better.

00:21:00.200 --> 00:21:02.400
So where is all the money going?

00:21:02.400 --> 00:21:05.260
The money is certainly not
coming to Papua New Guinea.

00:21:05.260 --> 00:21:07.200
And look at the
state of the country.

00:21:07.200 --> 00:21:09.460
Just look at the
state of the country.

00:21:09.460 --> 00:21:11.970
A majority of population
is living in poverty.

00:21:11.970 --> 00:21:13.870
Surely you can see
the frustration

00:21:13.870 --> 00:21:15.470
that Papua New Guineans feel.

00:21:15.470 --> 00:21:19.020
We brought in the Chinese
early on for this Ramu NiCo

00:21:19.020 --> 00:21:23.962
because that's $800
million US development.

00:21:23.962 --> 00:21:27.400
No country can reject it,
particularly a developing

00:21:27.400 --> 00:21:28.320
country like ours.

00:21:28.320 --> 00:21:31.140
But that funding doesn't seem
to go down to the ground.

00:21:31.140 --> 00:21:32.680
It doesn't go to the ground.

00:21:32.680 --> 00:21:36.610
It's not my job as a politician
to hand them the money.

00:21:36.610 --> 00:21:40.161
Your job as prime minister is
to ensure that your people are

00:21:40.161 --> 00:21:40.910
well looked after.

00:21:40.910 --> 00:21:41.700
I know.

00:21:41.700 --> 00:21:44.270
In many other
places, they starve.

00:21:44.270 --> 00:21:46.152
They die on the streets.

00:21:46.152 --> 00:21:47.860
Papua New Guineans
don't die the streets.

00:21:47.860 --> 00:21:49.380
People will--

00:21:49.380 --> 00:21:54.310
In 2011, Somare was found
guilty of tax evasion.

00:21:54.310 --> 00:21:57.360
Since leaving office, he
has come under investigation

00:21:57.360 --> 00:22:01.160
for misuse of public funds.

00:22:01.160 --> 00:22:04.940
PNG's auditor has estimated
that government officials

00:22:04.940 --> 00:22:10.830
steal $356 million a
year from state coffers.

00:22:10.830 --> 00:22:12.740
Greed.

00:22:12.740 --> 00:22:16.370
Money is the biggest
driving force.

00:22:16.370 --> 00:22:21.070
God put everything here, and
there's plenty for everyone,

00:22:21.070 --> 00:22:23.780
but one man wants
it all for himself.

00:22:23.780 --> 00:22:27.560
And none of us can
stand aside or stand up

00:22:27.560 --> 00:22:30.330
and say you've had enough.

00:22:30.330 --> 00:22:31.200
You've got enough.

00:22:34.990 --> 00:22:37.790
(NON-ENGLISH SPEECH)

00:22:37.790 --> 00:22:40.585
The Ramu nickel operation is
no longer a development issue.

00:22:40.585 --> 00:22:43.440
It's more a moral issue
now because you're dealing

00:22:43.440 --> 00:22:45.280
with the lives of the people.

00:22:45.280 --> 00:22:48.580
In Bismarck Ramu, we're
using modern technology

00:22:48.580 --> 00:22:52.640
to tell the world, please
don't take our land.

00:22:52.640 --> 00:22:54.037
This is our life.

00:22:54.037 --> 00:22:57.700
(NON-ENGLISH SPEECH)

00:22:57.700 --> 00:23:02.090
Poin Caspar, a Bismarck
Ramu organizer from Bozeman,

00:23:02.090 --> 00:23:04.830
is working with villagers
to record information

00:23:04.830 --> 00:23:09.240
about their sacred site
along the river, a taboo area

00:23:09.240 --> 00:23:12.400
no one is allowed to enter.

00:23:12.400 --> 00:23:15.010
Scientists now see
these forbidden places

00:23:15.010 --> 00:23:18.590
as sanctuaries, where
traditional knowledge protects

00:23:18.590 --> 00:23:22.560
biodiversity and natural wealth.

00:23:22.560 --> 00:23:27.670
We have a process which is
focused on people empowerment.

00:23:27.670 --> 00:23:30.690
When and if the
people are in control

00:23:30.690 --> 00:23:32.830
of the land and
resources, they can

00:23:32.830 --> 00:23:36.660
withstand those external
threats that are coming in.

00:23:36.660 --> 00:23:39.580
Although Ramu NiCo won't
be dumping directly

00:23:39.580 --> 00:23:44.820
to the river, when the
mine-- when rain falls,

00:23:44.820 --> 00:23:47.260
all the chemicals which
are used out there

00:23:47.260 --> 00:23:50.420
is going to be washed
into the tributaries,

00:23:50.420 --> 00:23:53.240
and from the tributaries, it
ends up in the Ramu River.

00:23:55.980 --> 00:23:59.700
About 100,000 to 200,000 people
live around the Ramu River,

00:23:59.700 --> 00:24:03.170
and they depend on it
for their survival.

00:24:03.170 --> 00:24:06.370
Ramu River-- it's
our livelihood.

00:24:06.370 --> 00:24:09.800
Once it's gone, that's it.

00:24:09.800 --> 00:24:14.650
MCC acknowledges that
erosion is a major concern.

00:24:14.650 --> 00:24:18.680
The company says it is planting
grasses to stabilize the soil

00:24:18.680 --> 00:24:19.740
and reduce runoff.

00:24:23.260 --> 00:24:25.594
They are actually
trying to kill the Ramu.

00:24:25.594 --> 00:24:27.635
We have been told already
there are contaminants.

00:24:27.635 --> 00:24:29.790
They already entered the river.

00:24:29.790 --> 00:24:30.540
We are frightened.

00:24:33.600 --> 00:24:36.630
The richness in PNG
is like a curse.

00:24:36.630 --> 00:24:39.430
The government must
decide to what extent

00:24:39.430 --> 00:24:43.030
we sacrifice our land and our
environment for the purpose

00:24:43.030 --> 00:24:45.886
of economic development.

00:24:45.886 --> 00:24:47.260
The way we are
going, we're going

00:24:47.260 --> 00:24:51.652
to fail our responsibility
to the next generation.

00:24:51.652 --> 00:24:52.360
We're in despair.

00:24:52.360 --> 00:24:54.130
We're sinking.

00:24:54.130 --> 00:24:57.092
Nobody in the world was
concerned about us, nobody.

00:24:57.092 --> 00:24:58.800
Maybe this project
has got its negatives.

00:24:58.800 --> 00:25:01.510
Maybe it's got some positives.

00:25:01.510 --> 00:25:04.580
But very, very important
is something is happening.

00:25:07.950 --> 00:25:11.570
These mines are not
for Papua New Guinea.

00:25:11.570 --> 00:25:13.850
They are not saving Papua
New Guinea's interests,

00:25:13.850 --> 00:25:18.150
and Papua New Guineans
are not stupid anymore.

00:25:18.150 --> 00:25:22.445
Papua New Guineans know enough,
and we know what is coming.

00:25:25.420 --> 00:25:28.480
MCC is interfering with
the Ramu and its right

00:25:28.480 --> 00:25:30.168
to live and breathe.

00:25:30.168 --> 00:25:34.000
(CHANTING)

00:25:35.440 --> 00:25:37.850
We're fierce, and
if you're going

00:25:37.850 --> 00:25:40.350
to cut off the very
source of life,

00:25:40.350 --> 00:25:45.015
we are most likely to
fight, and we will fight.

00:25:45.015 --> 00:25:49.470
(DRUMMING)

00:26:32.249 --> 00:26:33.790
I believe that people
should not have

00:26:33.790 --> 00:26:36.590
to trade their ecosystem
for running water,

00:26:36.590 --> 00:26:38.810
for electricity, and a clinic.

00:26:38.810 --> 00:26:40.150
What do we mean, development?

00:26:40.150 --> 00:26:40.760
For what?

00:26:40.760 --> 00:26:42.220
For whom?

00:26:42.220 --> 00:26:45.400
Is it going to contribute to us?

00:26:45.400 --> 00:26:48.510
From Papua New Guinea
to Northern Canada,

00:26:48.510 --> 00:26:51.330
foreign demand drives
the industrialization

00:26:51.330 --> 00:26:53.710
of native lands.

00:26:53.710 --> 00:26:55.720
Nickel from the
Ramu NiCo mine will

00:26:55.720 --> 00:26:59.290
become stainless steel
appliances, cell phone

00:26:59.290 --> 00:27:03.600
batteries, and jet engines.

00:27:03.600 --> 00:27:06.560
A world away in
Alberta, native people

00:27:06.560 --> 00:27:09.200
who have lived off the
bounty of boreal forests

00:27:09.200 --> 00:27:11.730
and abundant rivers
find themselves

00:27:11.730 --> 00:27:15.160
at the center of the
global oil industry,

00:27:15.160 --> 00:27:18.225
mining the tar sands
to fuel American cars.

00:27:21.130 --> 00:27:23.900
We have run out of places to
conquer, new places to mine,

00:27:23.900 --> 00:27:26.217
new places to dam.

00:27:26.217 --> 00:27:28.050
The remaining oil
resources are still there,

00:27:28.050 --> 00:27:29.466
but they are the
places that it is

00:27:29.466 --> 00:27:31.890
untenable or difficult to get.

00:27:31.890 --> 00:27:35.400
They are now coming to
those most remote places.

00:27:35.400 --> 00:27:39.630
The Ramu nickel mine,
tar sands of Alberta.

00:27:39.630 --> 00:27:42.600
What we're seeing happening is
the largest development ever

00:27:42.600 --> 00:27:45.170
in the history of mankind.

00:27:45.170 --> 00:27:48.605
Tar sands is the civil rights
issue of my generation.

00:27:54.352 --> 00:27:56.310
Right out of high school,
they start recruiting

00:27:56.310 --> 00:27:58.370
us to work in the tar sands.

00:27:58.370 --> 00:28:00.720
And growing up, I
never knew anything

00:28:00.720 --> 00:28:03.280
about the environmental effects.

00:28:03.280 --> 00:28:06.860
When you're 16 and 17 and
you're getting 15 to 2,000 bucks

00:28:06.860 --> 00:28:10.175
every two weeks, it's like,
I know what I'm going to do.

00:28:10.175 --> 00:28:13.387
You got the taste for the money.

00:28:13.387 --> 00:28:15.720
When I got in there, I was
amazed-- you know, mesmerized

00:28:15.720 --> 00:28:17.500
by-- oh, look at this plant.

00:28:17.500 --> 00:28:19.540
Wow, it looks like a city.

00:28:19.540 --> 00:28:22.610
I remember when I first
got on a heavy hauler,

00:28:22.610 --> 00:28:25.300
and this was the biggest truck
in the world on the biggest

00:28:25.300 --> 00:28:27.040
construction project in history.

00:28:27.040 --> 00:28:28.810
I was just like, my holy cow.

00:28:28.810 --> 00:28:33.540
I'm way up there, and pickup
trucks were like this big.

00:28:33.540 --> 00:28:35.275
Everything was tiny.

00:28:35.275 --> 00:28:38.140
I was just like,
wow, this is awesome.

00:28:38.140 --> 00:28:39.460
I like driving big trucks.

00:28:39.460 --> 00:28:41.080
I like driving trucks.

00:28:41.080 --> 00:28:43.480
I was just like, oh,
man, I love my job.

00:28:43.480 --> 00:28:46.310
I'll come to work,
do this every day.

00:28:46.310 --> 00:28:48.210
And then it started
losing its thrill.

00:28:51.590 --> 00:28:55.330
600 miles from the Arctic
Circle in northern Canada,

00:28:55.330 --> 00:28:59.190
ancestors of the Athabasca
Chipewyan, Mikasew Cree,

00:28:59.190 --> 00:29:03.930
and Metis have lived for
more than 10,000 years.

00:29:03.930 --> 00:29:07.430
Their boreal forest and
wetlands, a diverse and fragile

00:29:07.430 --> 00:29:10.380
ecosystem, store
twice as much carbon

00:29:10.380 --> 00:29:13.260
as a tropical rain forest.

00:29:13.260 --> 00:29:15.940
For millennia, the
First Nations people

00:29:15.940 --> 00:29:18.960
didn't know that the land
beneath their feet, where they

00:29:18.960 --> 00:29:22.070
fished, hunted, and
buried their dead,

00:29:22.070 --> 00:29:25.404
would become a treasure coveted
by people around the world.

00:29:28.370 --> 00:29:30.320
And they didn't
anticipate the cost

00:29:30.320 --> 00:29:33.710
of unearthing that treasure
for their communities,

00:29:33.710 --> 00:29:36.584
their health, and the
land they hold sacred.

00:29:36.584 --> 00:29:38.750
The next thing you know, I
started hearing the calls

00:29:38.750 --> 00:29:39.510
from back home.

00:29:39.510 --> 00:29:41.621
Oh, this person's sick.

00:29:41.621 --> 00:29:44.030
And oh, this person--
we just buried a person.

00:29:44.030 --> 00:29:45.150
Oh, this person's dead.

00:29:45.150 --> 00:29:46.892
Are you going to
come to the funeral?

00:29:46.892 --> 00:29:48.350
Oh, you better come
see your uncle.

00:29:48.350 --> 00:29:49.966
He's on his deathbed.

00:29:49.966 --> 00:29:52.435
And I'm like, what the
hell is going on here?

00:29:55.690 --> 00:29:59.640
The First Nations communities of
Fort Chipewyan and Fort McKay,

00:29:59.640 --> 00:30:03.930
once frontier trading posts for
beaver fur and muskrat pelts,

00:30:03.930 --> 00:30:06.950
are now at the center of
the third-largest petroleum

00:30:06.950 --> 00:30:09.980
deposit on Earth.

00:30:09.980 --> 00:30:14.280
Corporations from France,
Norway, China, the United

00:30:14.280 --> 00:30:16.610
States, and dozens
of other countries

00:30:16.610 --> 00:30:21.120
have applied for licenses
to extract the oil.

00:30:21.120 --> 00:30:25.080
The bitumen mixed with the
soil of ancient hunting grounds

00:30:25.080 --> 00:30:28.450
is called oil
sands or tar sands.

00:30:28.450 --> 00:30:31.510
Oil sands are basically,
in very simple terms,

00:30:31.510 --> 00:30:35.310
oil found in dirt
beneath the surface.

00:30:35.310 --> 00:30:37.990
And we use different
processes to remove the oil

00:30:37.990 --> 00:30:38.960
from the sand.

00:30:38.960 --> 00:30:40.729
The potential is huge.

00:30:40.729 --> 00:30:42.270
What we talk about
that's recoverable

00:30:42.270 --> 00:30:44.940
is about 170 billion barrels.

00:30:44.940 --> 00:30:48.640
Canada is right now the
largest supplier of oil and gas

00:30:48.640 --> 00:30:49.690
to the United States.

00:30:49.690 --> 00:30:52.770
And I'm pretty proud of
the fact that our industry

00:30:52.770 --> 00:31:00.105
provides the dignity and respect
of a job to 456,000 people.

00:31:00.105 --> 00:31:03.840
I went to work, and
I looked around.

00:31:03.840 --> 00:31:05.640
And I was just like, holy crap.

00:31:05.640 --> 00:31:08.920
There's no trees for miles.

00:31:08.920 --> 00:31:12.400
And I was just like this
and thinking, how do they

00:31:12.400 --> 00:31:13.850
get used to this smell?

00:31:13.850 --> 00:31:16.849
How did I get used
to this smell?

00:31:16.849 --> 00:31:18.640
And I thought, I've
got to get out of here.

00:31:18.640 --> 00:31:20.319
It's just that
overwhelming anxiety.

00:31:20.319 --> 00:31:21.360
I had to get out of here.

00:31:21.360 --> 00:31:24.220
And I left, and I put my
badge down, and I said I quit.

00:31:24.220 --> 00:31:28.108
(MUSIC PLAYING)

00:31:29.570 --> 00:31:32.100
The oil sands region
is a territory

00:31:32.100 --> 00:31:35.140
the native people gave
up in an 1899 peace

00:31:35.140 --> 00:31:36.990
agreement called Treaty 8.

00:31:39.790 --> 00:31:42.880
The Canadian government
promised each indigenous band

00:31:42.880 --> 00:31:45.260
would retain access
to fishing and hunting

00:31:45.260 --> 00:31:46.667
on their traditional lands.

00:31:56.400 --> 00:31:58.570
To me, what is sacred
on Mother Earth

00:31:58.570 --> 00:32:01.880
is whatever we take off
the land, the medicines

00:32:01.880 --> 00:32:04.780
and everything that the
Mother Earth provides us.

00:32:04.780 --> 00:32:08.340
The water is very sacred
because we need that to survive.

00:32:08.340 --> 00:32:12.890
The air is sacred to me because
we breathe in the air to live.

00:32:12.890 --> 00:32:14.810
(NON-ENGLISH SPEECH)

00:32:18.960 --> 00:32:21.500
Our elders are our
traditional scientists.

00:32:21.500 --> 00:32:25.660
They consider everything
sacred, from the water, the air,

00:32:25.660 --> 00:32:28.800
the rocks, the
plants, the trees.

00:32:28.800 --> 00:32:30.570
(NON-ENGLISH SPEECH)

00:32:32.830 --> 00:32:38.714
This is all sacred because
everything there provides life.

00:32:38.714 --> 00:32:40.380
All of this come from
the land, and this

00:32:40.380 --> 00:32:41.421
is what we're protecting.

00:32:44.390 --> 00:32:46.950
After quitting Syncrude,
Mike (INAUDIBLE)

00:32:46.950 --> 00:32:50.560
was hired by his band, the
Athabasca Chipewyan First

00:32:50.560 --> 00:32:54.827
Nation to make maps to
protect sacred sites.

00:32:54.827 --> 00:32:56.410
If we don't do
something about it now,

00:32:56.410 --> 00:32:59.650
this map is going to be totally
different in about 100 years.

00:32:59.650 --> 00:33:00.810
That lake will be smaller.

00:33:00.810 --> 00:33:02.226
That lake will
probably disappear.

00:33:02.226 --> 00:33:04.250
That one will be totally gone.

00:33:04.250 --> 00:33:06.780
Coming up the Athabasca
River is the toxic sludge

00:33:06.780 --> 00:33:08.000
from the tar sands.

00:33:08.000 --> 00:33:08.870
All this goes down.

00:33:08.870 --> 00:33:14.260
They got (INAUDIBLE)
right by Fort Chip.

00:33:14.260 --> 00:33:16.540
And where do we get our
drinking water from?

00:33:16.540 --> 00:33:17.500
The lake.

00:33:17.500 --> 00:33:19.486
We can't go into
any areas to hunt.

00:33:19.486 --> 00:33:20.860
We can't do anything
that's going

00:33:20.860 --> 00:33:23.204
to allow us to practice
our traditional rights.

00:33:23.204 --> 00:33:24.620
That's infringement
on our treaty.

00:33:24.620 --> 00:33:25.744
That's breaking the treaty.

00:33:35.340 --> 00:33:37.990
You can see the smoke coming
out of the smoke stacks.

00:33:37.990 --> 00:33:42.580
You can see it with a
naked eye on a clear day.

00:33:42.580 --> 00:33:45.760
For as far as my
eyes can see, there's

00:33:45.760 --> 00:33:48.990
tar sands under all
of that boreal forest.

00:33:48.990 --> 00:33:52.500
Just by looking at it,
that's about 80 kilometers,

00:33:52.500 --> 00:33:55.300
and a lot of it is for open pit.

00:33:55.300 --> 00:33:56.380
So that's everything.

00:33:56.380 --> 00:33:58.900
All this-- gone.

00:33:58.900 --> 00:34:01.736
So whatever you see at Syncrude
and Suncor around the sites

00:34:01.736 --> 00:34:03.736
there, that's how it's
going to look right here.

00:34:07.900 --> 00:34:11.330
Industry uses heated water
from the Athabasca River

00:34:11.330 --> 00:34:14.989
to separate the
oil from the sand.

00:34:14.989 --> 00:34:19.540
Creating one barrel of oil takes
four barrels of fresh water,

00:34:19.540 --> 00:34:25.320
2,000 cubic feet of natural
gas, and two tons of oil sands,

00:34:25.320 --> 00:34:29.139
and industries' need will only
escalate as it goes deeper

00:34:29.139 --> 00:34:30.670
into the earth.

00:34:30.670 --> 00:34:34.010
The majority of the reserves
are too far under the ground

00:34:34.010 --> 00:34:36.110
to develop through mining.

00:34:36.110 --> 00:34:38.639
And as a result, we need
to look to new technologies

00:34:38.639 --> 00:34:42.110
such as in-situ or SEGD.

00:34:42.110 --> 00:34:46.130
In the SEGD process, steam
liquefies the oil, which

00:34:46.130 --> 00:34:48.730
is then pumped to the surface.

00:34:48.730 --> 00:34:51.239
So it has a lot less
surface disturbance,

00:34:51.239 --> 00:34:55.610
and overall appears to be a lot
less impact on the environment.

00:34:55.610 --> 00:34:57.350
That's completely false.

00:34:57.350 --> 00:34:59.830
They get in there with
high density seismic lines,

00:34:59.830 --> 00:35:02.250
and they cut the
place to shreds,

00:35:02.250 --> 00:35:04.540
so its function as
a natural landscape

00:35:04.540 --> 00:35:08.640
will be lost over a much
greater area of land

00:35:08.640 --> 00:35:11.285
than the surface mining will
ever be able to disturb.

00:35:18.140 --> 00:35:18.790
Howdy.

00:35:18.790 --> 00:35:20.125
How are you doing?

00:35:20.125 --> 00:35:21.015
How are you doing?

00:35:21.015 --> 00:35:25.970
In 2001, Dr. John O'Connor took
an assignment at the clinic

00:35:25.970 --> 00:35:27.320
in Fort Chipewyan.

00:35:27.320 --> 00:35:27.890
Yeah.

00:35:27.890 --> 00:35:29.860
This is where it
hurts, right there.

00:35:29.860 --> 00:35:31.355
As I got to know
the community, I

00:35:31.355 --> 00:35:35.540
began to find serious
cancer cases, some of which

00:35:35.540 --> 00:35:41.380
were occurring in numbers
that were really alarming.

00:35:41.380 --> 00:35:44.510
Given the fact that it was a
traditional community where

00:35:44.510 --> 00:35:49.960
80% of the people lived off the
land, way off the beaten track,

00:35:49.960 --> 00:35:54.758
and its pristine location,
it made no sense to me.

00:35:54.758 --> 00:35:58.530
(MUSIC PLAYING)

00:36:00.820 --> 00:36:03.950
We used to go anywhere around
here in any of the rivers, any

00:36:03.950 --> 00:36:08.210
of the lakes, and we could
take water and make some tea,

00:36:08.210 --> 00:36:10.250
and now we can't do it.

00:36:10.250 --> 00:36:13.000
Even when you boil it,
you can't drink it.

00:36:13.000 --> 00:36:14.840
Once this river
was characterized

00:36:14.840 --> 00:36:23.060
by the elders as a food basket,
and it was a river of plenty.

00:36:23.060 --> 00:36:24.555
Today, the river
has become barren

00:36:24.555 --> 00:36:25.680
in the minds of the people.

00:36:29.970 --> 00:36:32.350
We've always acknowledged
that there are impacts.

00:36:32.350 --> 00:36:35.690
What we said is that
most of it is natural.

00:36:35.690 --> 00:36:37.490
Downstream of the
oil sands mines,

00:36:37.490 --> 00:36:40.100
you cannot measure that impact
from those discharges when it

00:36:40.100 --> 00:36:42.800
gets to fully-mixed conditions
in a large river like

00:36:42.800 --> 00:36:44.970
the Athabasca River.

00:36:44.970 --> 00:36:48.010
Hundreds of tons of
these toxic compounds

00:36:48.010 --> 00:36:50.500
are entering the
system annually,

00:36:50.500 --> 00:36:54.098
and these are not
natural in origin.

00:36:58.160 --> 00:37:01.170
Scientists have
found lead, mercury,

00:37:01.170 --> 00:37:04.960
and other petroleum-based
toxins at much higher levels

00:37:04.960 --> 00:37:07.910
than government and
industry report.

00:37:07.910 --> 00:37:11.470
There's a soup of toxic
chemicals going up.

00:37:11.470 --> 00:37:14.700
If you think of that airborne
pollution coating all

00:37:14.700 --> 00:37:18.590
the vegetation, any animals
that come in there to graze

00:37:18.590 --> 00:37:21.720
are going to be
taking up more arsenic

00:37:21.720 --> 00:37:23.710
and any other pollutants.

00:37:23.710 --> 00:37:26.610
If you're getting a lot of
your food from the moose,

00:37:26.610 --> 00:37:30.335
from fishes, from water
fowl, this is a huge concern.

00:37:37.320 --> 00:37:41.860
There may be a (INAUDIBLE) in
this area here, which is good.

00:37:41.860 --> 00:37:44.930
This is very good stuff.

00:37:44.930 --> 00:37:52.110
(INAUDIBLE) I can dry
this up, crush it up.

00:37:52.110 --> 00:37:55.346
I use this a lot in
the sweat lodge too.

00:37:55.346 --> 00:37:57.480
The most natural wild
tea mint there is.

00:38:03.250 --> 00:38:05.330
First test drill hole
was the big one up--

00:38:05.330 --> 00:38:07.486
it was southeast of here.

00:38:07.486 --> 00:38:09.180
Who was drilling there?

00:38:09.180 --> 00:38:10.190
(INAUDIBLE)

00:38:10.190 --> 00:38:11.340
That's Suncor now.

00:38:11.340 --> 00:38:12.086
Yeah.

00:38:12.086 --> 00:38:12.586
Mm.

00:38:12.586 --> 00:38:14.578
That smells good.

00:38:21.560 --> 00:38:23.896
See where they drilled
the test hole here?

00:38:23.896 --> 00:38:24.395
Mm hm.

00:38:24.395 --> 00:38:26.010
And I trap here.

00:38:26.010 --> 00:38:28.730
So it's a bit disturbance
to animal life.

00:38:28.730 --> 00:38:31.500
And now they're moving away
because of the noise activity

00:38:31.500 --> 00:38:33.704
and vehicles on the road.

00:38:33.704 --> 00:38:34.620
Can we get a waypoint?

00:38:37.207 --> 00:38:39.040
When I first started
doing the sacred sites,

00:38:39.040 --> 00:38:41.530
I was going to each area, and
GPSing it, taking pictures,

00:38:41.530 --> 00:38:42.700
writing a report.

00:38:42.700 --> 00:38:44.960
This information
was put on maps.

00:38:44.960 --> 00:38:46.830
Later, it was kind
of used for this

00:38:46.830 --> 00:38:51.546
is our protected sites that
we need, as a First Nation.

00:38:51.546 --> 00:38:52.920
This says just
how many feet away

00:38:52.920 --> 00:38:55.130
and this is one little section.

00:38:55.130 --> 00:38:57.050
They here-- there's
two things that

00:38:57.050 --> 00:39:01.150
provide sustanance-- cranberries
for human consumption

00:39:01.150 --> 00:39:03.970
and the lichen for the woodland
caribou that are in the area.

00:39:03.970 --> 00:39:07.710
Because now that whole
area-- no caribou or nobody

00:39:07.710 --> 00:39:11.290
will ever go back in that
area to use it again.

00:39:11.290 --> 00:39:14.140
In order to make the
bitumen come out of the--

00:39:14.140 --> 00:39:16.550
For four decades,
government has been

00:39:16.550 --> 00:39:19.360
industry's most
enthusiastic advocate,

00:39:19.360 --> 00:39:21.660
spending billions
of taxpayer dollars

00:39:21.660 --> 00:39:23.850
on research and subsidies.

00:39:23.850 --> 00:39:26.930
Heavy, heavy government
funding on the front end

00:39:26.930 --> 00:39:32.020
to create the research to figure
out how do we, economically,

00:39:32.020 --> 00:39:33.810
harvest this resource.

00:39:33.810 --> 00:39:37.310
It's the fuel that
runs your car.

00:39:37.310 --> 00:39:41.910
Bubble gum, toothpaste--
it all starts right here,

00:39:41.910 --> 00:39:43.950
in the oil sands.

00:39:43.950 --> 00:39:46.270
To address moaning
public concern,

00:39:46.270 --> 00:39:48.970
the Alberta government
launched a $25 million

00:39:48.970 --> 00:39:53.151
PR campaign, targeting their
biggest customer-- the United

00:39:53.151 --> 00:39:53.650
States.

00:39:58.590 --> 00:40:01.710
I'm very excited to know that
our good friends in Canada,

00:40:01.710 --> 00:40:04.390
here, in Alberta, have
an oil supply that

00:40:04.390 --> 00:40:07.330
can help fuel America for
years to come instead of having

00:40:07.330 --> 00:40:10.120
to buy more oil from
Mideast regimes that

00:40:10.120 --> 00:40:11.710
don't like us very much.

00:40:11.710 --> 00:40:14.085
Full speed ahead, when it
comes to oil sands development.

00:40:19.200 --> 00:40:24.240
In June of 2000, I
was hired by Suncor

00:40:24.240 --> 00:40:26.580
as a heavy equipment operator.

00:40:26.580 --> 00:40:32.040
I've operated a grader,
a dozer, a shovel.

00:40:32.040 --> 00:40:33.660
For about six months
now, I've been

00:40:33.660 --> 00:40:37.610
in the drainage department.

00:40:37.610 --> 00:40:43.550
All I know is I take water
samples and the water's good.

00:40:43.550 --> 00:40:46.500
The reason I chose
to work out here--

00:40:46.500 --> 00:40:50.720
you know, it's financial
gain, to begin with.

00:40:50.720 --> 00:40:53.290
I make excellent money.

00:40:53.290 --> 00:40:55.310
Nobody's going to come
out and hand me money

00:40:55.310 --> 00:40:59.570
to put my son through school.

00:40:59.570 --> 00:41:02.210
Our people need
to make a living.

00:41:02.210 --> 00:41:05.900
We wanted to see our
people benefit from what's

00:41:05.900 --> 00:41:09.020
going on in our backyard.

00:41:09.020 --> 00:41:11.540
Combined and between our
joint ventures, last year,

00:41:11.540 --> 00:41:15.260
we did about half a billion
dollars in business.

00:41:15.260 --> 00:41:17.900
I chose to work
here for my family

00:41:17.900 --> 00:41:19.750
to have a better way of life.

00:41:19.750 --> 00:41:21.620
And Suncor has given me that.

00:41:25.950 --> 00:41:27.760
One of the
environmental costs that

00:41:27.760 --> 00:41:30.200
has come with that
better way of life

00:41:30.200 --> 00:41:34.430
is the growth of large
lakes of toxic sludge.

00:41:34.430 --> 00:41:38.870
Sprawling over 65 square
miles, these tailings ponds

00:41:38.870 --> 00:41:43.220
are deadly to migrating
birds and other wildlife.

00:41:43.220 --> 00:41:45.660
There are literally
billions of liters

00:41:45.660 --> 00:41:48.830
of tailings produced annually.

00:41:48.830 --> 00:41:51.740
They're located along
the Athabasca River.

00:41:51.740 --> 00:41:53.380
It's about the worst
place in the world

00:41:53.380 --> 00:41:59.120
you could place a pond that
contains a lot of toxins.

00:41:59.120 --> 00:42:00.285
It's a recipe for disaster.

00:42:07.400 --> 00:42:09.870
As the elders used to
tell me-- everything

00:42:09.870 --> 00:42:12.150
has life on this earth.

00:42:12.150 --> 00:42:15.150
Water has a spirit.

00:42:15.150 --> 00:42:17.130
And once we pollute
that water so much,

00:42:17.130 --> 00:42:21.360
we're going to kill that spirit
and there will be no life.

00:42:21.360 --> 00:42:25.080
So while it's alive, save it.

00:42:25.080 --> 00:42:26.730
And Mother Earth is alive.

00:42:31.650 --> 00:42:34.800
Well, I started into the
commercial fishing industry

00:42:34.800 --> 00:42:37.680
at a very young age.

00:42:37.680 --> 00:42:40.520
Throughout the years,
we had very healthy fish

00:42:40.520 --> 00:42:42.880
in this Lake Athabasca.

00:42:42.880 --> 00:42:46.610
Today, we have deformed
fish on the northern pike,

00:42:46.610 --> 00:42:49.530
the pickerel, even
the white fish.

00:42:49.530 --> 00:42:56.161
So people are very afraid to
use those fish for a meal,

00:42:56.161 --> 00:42:56.660
you know?

00:42:56.660 --> 00:42:57.576
For human consumption.

00:43:02.150 --> 00:43:05.140
And this is the one from
December from (INAUDIBLE).

00:43:05.140 --> 00:43:06.080
Uh huh.

00:43:06.080 --> 00:43:06.580
Boy.

00:43:06.580 --> 00:43:09.620
Look at the tumor on that thing.

00:43:09.620 --> 00:43:13.760
And that's the sort of thing
that people in Fort Chip

00:43:13.760 --> 00:43:18.280
have been complaining
about for almost 20 years.

00:43:18.280 --> 00:43:21.460
And you can imagine how
people seeing a fish like that

00:43:21.460 --> 00:43:23.800
are going to react.

00:43:23.800 --> 00:43:26.360
And basically, they're
going to run to the store

00:43:26.360 --> 00:43:31.550
and buy a bag of chips rather
than eat fish, which, I think,

00:43:31.550 --> 00:43:32.770
is tragic.

00:43:32.770 --> 00:43:34.680
The jury is out
on what's causing

00:43:34.680 --> 00:43:37.210
all of these deformities,
but, certainly,

00:43:37.210 --> 00:43:39.970
one of the very well known
causes of deformities

00:43:39.970 --> 00:43:42.920
are contaminants in the water.

00:43:42.920 --> 00:43:46.270
It's been known for quite a
while that, in some cases,

00:43:46.270 --> 00:43:50.200
the levels of
mercury are 10 times

00:43:50.200 --> 00:43:54.010
above fisher guidelines in the
west end of Lake Athabasca.

00:44:01.360 --> 00:44:04.430
You can taste the
aftertaste of the oil,

00:44:04.430 --> 00:44:08.395
and the mercury,
and stuff like that.

00:44:08.395 --> 00:44:16.660
So when they say they're not
polluting the water-- how can

00:44:16.660 --> 00:44:21.530
you say they're not when
the proof is all there?

00:44:21.530 --> 00:44:25.910
They ask pregnant women here
not to eat more than a couple

00:44:25.910 --> 00:44:29.836
of fish while you're pregnant.

00:44:29.836 --> 00:44:32.380
In my granny's
time, that was not

00:44:32.380 --> 00:44:35.990
heard of-- no-- because
that's what we lived off

00:44:35.990 --> 00:44:36.750
and she lived off.

00:44:39.440 --> 00:44:40.530
What am I supposed to do?

00:44:40.530 --> 00:44:46.600
Be scared to eat the fish
and that's all I know?

00:44:46.600 --> 00:44:51.130
About $4 million a year is spent
in monitoring the Athabasca

00:44:51.130 --> 00:44:52.630
River by the industry.

00:44:52.630 --> 00:44:55.050
In fact, the province of
Alberta continues to rate

00:44:55.050 --> 00:44:58.930
the water quality of the
Athabasca River as good.

00:44:58.930 --> 00:45:03.310
Industrial activity emits
compounds-- contaminants,

00:45:03.310 --> 00:45:04.147
if you will.

00:45:04.147 --> 00:45:05.980
And we just have to
make sure that it's done

00:45:05.980 --> 00:45:10.730
in a managed way that's safe.

00:45:10.730 --> 00:45:14.140
Industry has a big
influence in Alberta.

00:45:14.140 --> 00:45:19.640
If industry wants water,
government gives them water.

00:45:19.640 --> 00:45:21.780
It's just a joke.

00:45:21.780 --> 00:45:24.170
At the end, the rubber stamp
comes out and it's approved.

00:45:27.140 --> 00:45:30.110
The Alberta government hit
the environment department

00:45:30.110 --> 00:45:33.400
and gutted the
scientific personnel

00:45:33.400 --> 00:45:36.420
that were there to police the
activities of the oil sands

00:45:36.420 --> 00:45:37.090
industry.

00:45:37.090 --> 00:45:40.370
So if they don't have
people to police,

00:45:40.370 --> 00:45:42.960
what's going on out here?

00:45:42.960 --> 00:45:46.010
Then the laws and the
regulations are meaningless.

00:45:46.010 --> 00:45:52.490
I did a recent study where we
found over 6,000 incidents.

00:45:52.490 --> 00:45:55.330
Some of these were 10
million leader tailing

00:45:55.330 --> 00:45:57.860
spills or huge pipeline breaks.

00:45:57.860 --> 00:46:00.370
No evidence of enforcement.

00:46:00.370 --> 00:46:04.600
By knitting industry and
government so closely together

00:46:04.600 --> 00:46:07.340
and shutting out
the public, it's

00:46:07.340 --> 00:46:11.460
become a fundamentally
undemocratic and dangerous

00:46:11.460 --> 00:46:14.320
system.

00:46:14.320 --> 00:46:19.240
They do all these tests
and try to minimize it.

00:46:19.240 --> 00:46:21.390
But we're not stupid.

00:46:21.390 --> 00:46:23.880
We see.

00:46:23.880 --> 00:46:25.083
We see and we feel.

00:46:32.930 --> 00:46:34.730
You've been through quite a bit.

00:46:34.730 --> 00:46:35.860
Yes.

00:46:35.860 --> 00:46:41.960
In 1988, I had prostate
cancer and colon cancer.

00:46:41.960 --> 00:46:42.460
Right.

00:46:42.460 --> 00:46:43.720
At the same time.

00:46:43.720 --> 00:46:46.170
And the latest one I've
been diagnosed risk

00:46:46.170 --> 00:46:48.550
is hairy cell leukemia.

00:46:48.550 --> 00:46:49.870
It's cancer in the blood.

00:46:49.870 --> 00:46:50.370
Yeah.

00:46:50.370 --> 00:46:54.740
But the thing that puzzles me
is the cancer that my wife had.

00:46:54.740 --> 00:46:57.430
My wife comes from
a family of 14

00:46:57.430 --> 00:46:59.780
and she's the only
one who got cancer.

00:46:59.780 --> 00:47:02.071
And she's the only one
who lived in Fort Chip.

00:47:02.071 --> 00:47:02.570
Oh.

00:47:02.570 --> 00:47:04.840
So she had lymphoma?

00:47:04.840 --> 00:47:05.530
Yes.

00:47:05.530 --> 00:47:06.715
And did it spread?

00:47:06.715 --> 00:47:07.715
It spread like wildfire.

00:47:07.715 --> 00:47:08.730
Did it?

00:47:08.730 --> 00:47:09.700
She didn't last long.

00:47:09.700 --> 00:47:10.220
Really?

00:47:10.220 --> 00:47:11.070
Right.

00:47:11.070 --> 00:47:12.950
That's a shame.

00:47:12.950 --> 00:47:14.260
Yeah.

00:47:14.260 --> 00:47:15.350
You must miss her.

00:47:15.350 --> 00:47:17.290
Yeah.

00:47:17.290 --> 00:47:20.570
We have uncovered
clusters of illness--

00:47:20.570 --> 00:47:25.500
fatal and non-fatal illness--
that cannot be explained in any

00:47:25.500 --> 00:47:29.750
other way other than that they
come from environmental changes

00:47:29.750 --> 00:47:34.600
that are happening upstream
from the community.

00:47:34.600 --> 00:47:37.584
There's no known sicknesses
in either side of my family.

00:47:37.584 --> 00:47:39.250
The next thing you
know, I see my uncle.

00:47:39.250 --> 00:47:40.960
And the way he looked-- frail.

00:47:40.960 --> 00:47:43.440
Whereas the year
before, he was healthy.

00:47:43.440 --> 00:47:45.440
Then all of sudden, it
came up that Dr. O'Connor

00:47:45.440 --> 00:47:50.480
said it was a rare cancer that's
being found in the community.

00:47:50.480 --> 00:47:53.900
20 kinds of cancer have been
found in this isolated bush

00:47:53.900 --> 00:48:00.780
town, including rare tumors
linked to toxins in petroleum.

00:48:00.780 --> 00:48:03.100
But even though the
Alberta cancer board

00:48:03.100 --> 00:48:06.320
found 30% more
cancer than expected,

00:48:06.320 --> 00:48:08.990
the government says
there is no proven

00:48:08.990 --> 00:48:12.116
link between the oil sands
and these health problems.

00:48:15.650 --> 00:48:17.400
I think the modern
world faces an increase

00:48:17.400 --> 00:48:18.500
in cancer in general.

00:48:18.500 --> 00:48:21.480
And we live in a very
different environment.

00:48:21.480 --> 00:48:23.650
We're surrounded by
development everywhere.

00:48:23.650 --> 00:48:26.330
And I think it's important that
folks in Fort Chip and Fort

00:48:26.330 --> 00:48:27.830
MacKay get all the
answers that they

00:48:27.830 --> 00:48:30.389
need before they make a call
on really what is happening

00:48:30.389 --> 00:48:31.180
in their community.

00:48:39.949 --> 00:48:40.490
I don't know.

00:48:40.490 --> 00:48:44.550
It's just overwhelming,
seeing my family members who

00:48:44.550 --> 00:48:49.570
are sad and, year,
after year, after year,

00:48:49.570 --> 00:48:51.490
passing on from
different illnesses.

00:48:55.660 --> 00:49:00.320
The natural part of death
doesn't seem natural anymore.

00:49:00.320 --> 00:49:02.560
This is all too much.

00:49:02.560 --> 00:49:04.356
Something's not right.

00:49:13.640 --> 00:49:17.330
These guys are coming into our
homeland, taking our resources,

00:49:17.330 --> 00:49:19.310
and now people
are dying from it.

00:49:19.310 --> 00:49:21.970
And the government's
allowing this to happen.

00:49:21.970 --> 00:49:24.610
That's why we say it's
a form of genocide.

00:49:24.610 --> 00:49:26.586
It's smallpox happening
all over again.

00:49:29.980 --> 00:49:33.260
And they're making
money by doing it.

00:49:33.260 --> 00:49:34.890
Canada and the
States are allowing

00:49:34.890 --> 00:49:37.750
this to happen because they
want every single ounce of oil,

00:49:37.750 --> 00:49:41.210
uranium, gold, diamonds--
anything that's in that area.

00:49:41.210 --> 00:49:43.670
They want every ounce of it
at the cost of our lives.

00:49:47.918 --> 00:49:50.170
Wherever the oil
companies went, they

00:49:50.170 --> 00:49:52.750
destroyed the way
of life of people.

00:49:52.750 --> 00:49:55.140
Then that's what they're
doing to us here, too.

00:49:55.140 --> 00:49:58.822
They want to leave
us with nothing.

00:49:58.822 --> 00:50:00.655
Many people in the First
Nations communities

00:50:00.655 --> 00:50:02.820
get discouraged and feel
they've been let down.

00:50:02.820 --> 00:50:05.180
They feel they've been
taken advantage of.

00:50:05.180 --> 00:50:07.250
And I guess I have a
hard time understanding

00:50:07.250 --> 00:50:09.310
that because, for
me, as an individual,

00:50:09.310 --> 00:50:11.470
I'm responsible for my life.

00:50:11.470 --> 00:50:13.140
And it's important
that I take control

00:50:13.140 --> 00:50:16.010
and that I do what I need
to do to make myself happy.

00:50:16.010 --> 00:50:19.240
And I don't know
that they often feel

00:50:19.240 --> 00:50:21.030
they have that
sense of ownership

00:50:21.030 --> 00:50:22.403
to their life to do that.

00:50:25.900 --> 00:50:30.010
The United States imports almost
2 million barrels of crude oil

00:50:30.010 --> 00:50:33.340
from Canada every day.

00:50:33.340 --> 00:50:38.540
Oil sands producers plan
to triple output by 2025,

00:50:38.540 --> 00:50:41.570
requiring the construction
of controversial pipelines

00:50:41.570 --> 00:50:44.952
to meet growing demand
in the US and Asia.

00:50:44.952 --> 00:50:46.410
Where do they get
their gas and oil

00:50:46.410 --> 00:50:50.090
from in the gas tanks in
the gas stations in cities?

00:50:50.090 --> 00:50:51.230
From here.

00:50:51.230 --> 00:50:52.800
For them to drive
their car, it's

00:50:52.800 --> 00:50:54.820
going to be what killed them.

00:50:54.820 --> 00:50:56.700
What's happening here
is going to happen

00:50:56.700 --> 00:50:58.100
to the rest of the world.

00:50:58.100 --> 00:50:59.570
It's just a matter of time.

00:50:59.570 --> 00:51:03.560
It should be a challenge to
every person on this planet

00:51:03.560 --> 00:51:06.730
to look towards
reducing consumption.

00:51:06.730 --> 00:51:08.230
But that said, you
are going to need

00:51:08.230 --> 00:51:10.400
hydrocarbons for quite a while.

00:51:10.400 --> 00:51:14.414
We can't just go back
to the Stone Age.

00:51:14.414 --> 00:51:18.342
When I say stop the,
you say tar sands.

00:51:18.342 --> 00:51:19.324
Stop the--

00:51:19.324 --> 00:51:20.306
Tar sands.

00:51:20.306 --> 00:51:21.288
Stop the--

00:51:21.288 --> 00:51:22.700
Tar sands.

00:51:22.700 --> 00:51:26.010
We want them to say
no to the tar sands.

00:51:26.010 --> 00:51:30.550
They emit more emissions
than entire countries.

00:51:30.550 --> 00:51:33.070
International protesters
have brought the issues

00:51:33.070 --> 00:51:37.252
to the world stage, targeting
investors, consumers,

00:51:37.252 --> 00:51:37.960
and policymakers.

00:51:41.460 --> 00:51:42.395
Tar sands.

00:51:42.395 --> 00:51:42.895
Shut down--

00:51:42.895 --> 00:51:43.395
Tar sands.

00:51:43.395 --> 00:51:45.380
My message is for Chipewyan.

00:51:45.380 --> 00:51:48.336
Being where I live right
now-- take a look around.

00:51:48.336 --> 00:51:49.710
We're not alone
in this struggle.

00:51:57.570 --> 00:51:59.280
I do live in two worlds.

00:51:59.280 --> 00:52:05.190
I work at Suncor for six days
and I come home for six days.

00:52:05.190 --> 00:52:08.320
When I go to work at
Suncor, that is just

00:52:08.320 --> 00:52:09.860
a tiny part of who I am.

00:52:09.860 --> 00:52:11.076
That's not who I am.

00:52:15.080 --> 00:52:17.440
To me, this is home.

00:52:17.440 --> 00:52:21.600
And I come home to rejuvenate
myself, to re-balance myself,

00:52:21.600 --> 00:52:23.020
to come back to nature.

00:52:27.340 --> 00:52:30.780
We're raised off the land.

00:52:30.780 --> 00:52:33.680
We always made moose
meat and dry meat.

00:52:33.680 --> 00:52:35.920
From when I was
little girl, I learned

00:52:35.920 --> 00:52:39.580
to pick medicines with my
kokom, which was my grandma.

00:52:39.580 --> 00:52:41.830
We always picked
berries in the fall.

00:52:41.830 --> 00:52:44.490
That was, basically, our
staple for the winter.

00:52:47.970 --> 00:52:52.750
When I was in the mine and
looking at the earth being torn

00:52:52.750 --> 00:52:56.880
up-- because to us, the
earth is our mother-- I

00:52:56.880 --> 00:53:02.650
found it very difficult.
I would question myself,

00:53:02.650 --> 00:53:05.010
why I was there.

00:53:05.010 --> 00:53:11.872
I know that we're doing
damage to the earth.

00:53:11.872 --> 00:53:15.930
A lot of times I say prayers
and I put tobacco down.

00:53:15.930 --> 00:53:21.262
And I always ask for
forgiveness for what I am doing.

00:53:27.670 --> 00:53:31.740
I was originally asked
to come to Fort Chip

00:53:31.740 --> 00:53:35.310
to do a sacred sites project.

00:53:35.310 --> 00:53:38.290
(SPEAKING CREE) He was
a good, old man, right?

00:53:38.290 --> 00:53:40.420
One of the things I
was told was that it

00:53:40.420 --> 00:53:42.630
was for future
generations, so that we

00:53:42.630 --> 00:53:46.040
have this information archived.

00:53:46.040 --> 00:53:49.640
And that's when I put
everything on a jump drive.

00:53:49.640 --> 00:53:53.710
And I remember holding onto
the actual memory stick

00:53:53.710 --> 00:53:56.460
and thinking, this
is what the future

00:53:56.460 --> 00:54:01.540
is going to have because there's
going to be no more land left

00:54:01.540 --> 00:54:04.790
to go back to.

00:54:04.790 --> 00:54:06.820
And all we can
have of our culture

00:54:06.820 --> 00:54:14.180
would be on this jump drive for
our children to view and see.

00:54:14.180 --> 00:54:17.860
And that was where-- I
knew, from that point,

00:54:17.860 --> 00:54:20.300
that it had to be protected.

00:54:20.300 --> 00:54:23.340
That land had to be more
than just this little piece

00:54:23.340 --> 00:54:23.925
of plastic.

00:54:28.780 --> 00:54:31.792
I thought, this couldn't be
what was left of our future.

00:54:36.180 --> 00:54:38.240
I believe that
power that we have

00:54:38.240 --> 00:54:44.630
as people doesn't come from
us, it comes from the creator

00:54:44.630 --> 00:54:48.760
and from the sources of power
that are there on the land.

00:54:48.760 --> 00:54:52.200
We may not have all the guns,
we don't have all the pens,

00:54:52.200 --> 00:54:56.640
and we don't have all the
courts, but we have that power.

00:54:56.640 --> 00:55:00.600
And that's what keeps
people able to battle for so

00:55:00.600 --> 00:55:04.440
long against such hard odds.

00:55:04.440 --> 00:55:07.810
I want my kids, my grandchildren
to come here and tell

00:55:07.810 --> 00:55:11.660
a completely different
story about this map.

00:55:11.660 --> 00:55:13.637
I want them to tell us
that yeah, industry--

00:55:13.637 --> 00:55:15.470
they worked here at one
time and now they're

00:55:15.470 --> 00:55:17.678
out there cleaning up the
mess that they made so far.

00:55:24.500 --> 00:55:27.280
I vow that my grandchildren
will tell a total opposite story

00:55:27.280 --> 00:55:29.400
than I'm telling right now.