After years of requests from residents, a federally funded research initiative will soon investigate the health impacts of oilsands on the people of Fort Chipewyan, an Indigenous village in northern Alberta. The community, positioned over 200 kilometers north of Fort McMurray, has long suspected a connection between cancers in Fort Chipewyan and the industrial projects along the Athabasca River.
The study will delve into current and past health data, analyze local disease patterns, and monitor both the residents and their surroundings. It aims to understand how environmental shifts are affecting the community’s culture and daily routines without assigning blame prematurely.
Dubbed Project Monument Hill, the 10-year, $12-million study was initiated by the federal government in August 2024. The research will integrate Western scientific methods with Indigenous knowledge of the land to gain comprehensive insights into the relationship between environmental conditions, traditional land usage, and the well-being of the community.
Dr. John O’Connor, a vocal advocate for investigating cancer cases in Fort Chipewyan since 2006, expressed satisfaction that the study is underway. However, he highlighted concerns about the lengthy 10-year timeline, emphasizing the urgency of completing the research sooner due to the high number of affected individuals he has encountered as a physician.
Previous reports on cancer in Fort Chipewyan have primarily focused on medical records and health trends of current residents, neglecting individuals who have moved away, including those seeking cancer treatments, as highlighted by Callie Davies-Flett from the Athabasca Chipewyan First Nation. Studies have indicated elevated cancer rates in Fort Chipewyan compared to the rest of Alberta, with evidence of heavy metals and industrial contaminants in local flora and fauna posing risks to human health.
Despite past reports suggesting no direct link between cancers and industrial exposure, the community leaders in Fort Chipewyan have criticized these findings, emphasizing the need for a comprehensive, long-term health study. The new research aims to explore the impact of environmental transformations on Indigenous health, prioritizing environmental changes over lifestyle factors as contributing to the community’s health challenges. Limited publicly available data on the relationship between cancer and oilsands developments further underscores the necessity of this in-depth examination.
