Re. The Proposed Expansion of the Jack Pine Mine in Fort McKay, Alberta.
Here is a letter I wrote to the Joint Review Panel.
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I wish to state that I am writing to the Joint Review Panel, as a citizen of Canada, to demand that my public servants, who are answerable to me, stop further development in Alberta because this is in the best interests of Canada, and all life on Earth.
I support the Athabaska Chipawa constitutional challenge to the expansion of the Shell-owned Jack Pine Mine, tar sands project. My reasons are as follows:
1) As a Canadian citizen and friend of First Nations, I am concerned about the health and quality of life of the next seven generations of humans, other animal and life forms and the fragile biosphere on which we rely for our very existence. Fossil fuels must be kept in the ground, or all life on Earth will cease to exist because of pollution and climate change.
2) At all levels of government, (international [UN], national and provincial), there is a legal "duty to consult".* For this to be done in a respectful way, discussions must take place before plans are made and deals signed between governments and corporations. The First Nations know that they have the power to make decisions concerning their environment and the future. I, as a "newcomer", wish to support them because I and many of my fellow citizens realize that we all rely on Earth for our life, health and future existence.
3) It is a well known fact that governments work with corporations. The mandate of the Prime Minister of Canada, (MP's, ministers, and civil servants), is to act in the best interests of the Peoples of Canada. (Tax-payers, voters and citizens - the lawful owners of Canada). The Prime Minister and the others mentioned are public servants - the servants of the public. Corporations do not vote in elections in Canada. The mandate of corporations is to make profits for their shareholders.Governments will make legal decisions under the directions of the people of Canada.(voters, taxpayers and sovereign citizens).
4) I am concerned with the proposed destruction of the natural water supply, the boreal forest, the Muskeg River, the loss of habitat (caribou, wood bison, Canadian lynx, different birds and fish etc) and the creation of yet more tailings ponds.
5) The Chipawan people have the right to live in their traditional lands and they have treaty rights. There are serious health problems in Fort Chipewa already, caused by past and current tar sands developments.
6) The transportation of bitumen in pipelines and tankers is potentially highly dangerous to water aquafirs, boreal forrests, coastal waters, rivers, lakes and the sea. Bitumen should not be transported over vast distances. The proposal is that bitumenn will be extracted from underground and then transported thousands of miles. The citizens of the whole world will be the ones to decide what to do with fossil fuels, not the corporations.
The citizens of a country are the stewards of their own environment.in their own country. They have a moral and legal right to decide what is to happen to any fossil fuels they own. Their governments, elected and employed and paid by the Peoples, will.do what they are told to do by the people who voted them into office. Governments will not do what they are told to do by corporations because they do not have any mandated moral or legal right to do this.
I urge the Joint Review Panel, (and a group of independent observers ) to ensure even-handed and broad discussion and decision-making with regard to the present situation concerning the extraction of fossil fuels in Alberta in the broad context of the future of life on Earth.
Yours faithfully.
Frances Oommen
* The United Nations Declaration of the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.
Any citizen can write and give their opinion Before December 2012 to:
The Joint Review Panel Secretariat,
Canadian Environmental Assessment Agency,
160 Elgin Street, 22nd Floor,
Ottawa, Ontario K1A 0H3
Your letter will go in the public record.
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