Unambiguous legal demand for clean-up of Crowsnest selenium delivered to governments and coal mine owner
Piikani conservation leader Trevor Bastien launches legal action to assert First Nation treaty and constitutional rights to a safe, healthful fishery in the Crowsnest River system
Piikani Prayer Ceremony Saturday April 4 to ask Creator’s blessing of the Crowsnest River watershed and its creatures. Photo David McIntyre.
This case is about unambiguous rights and responsibilities. Section 35 of the 1982 Constitution Act guarantees indigenous people the unambiguous right to conduct ancestral practices on public lands and waters, including hunting and fishing.
Unambiguous archaeological evidence proves 8,000 years of indigenous fishing on Crowsnest Lake. The Alberta Government last year advised that all fish from Crowsnest Lake are contaminated with coal-mine selenium to the extent that they are unfit to eat, thus denying Piikani First Nation its right to a constitutionally guaranteed ancestral practice.
The same unambiguous science shows that the source of selenium poisoning is the derelict Tent Mountain coal mine owned by the Australian company Evolve Power, which has an unambiguous legal duty to halt the runoff of selenium from its waste rock dumps.
The Alberta Energy Regulator has an unambiguous legal duty to force Evolve Power to cease selenium runoff into Crowsnest Creek — a duty it has neglected for years.
The Alberta Environment has an unambiguous legal duty to ensure that the Alberta Energy Regulator enforces provincial environmental law in the oversight of coal mines, active or derelict.
Environment and Climate Change Canada has an unambiguous legal duty to ensure that Alberta Environment is properly executing its delegated powers to enforce the federal Fisheries Act.
Each of these parties has unambiguously failed in enforcing their own water quality laws protecting the Crowsnest fishery and in protecting the constitutional rights of Piikani People.
By knowingly allowing the poisoning of Crowsnest fish with coal-mine selenium, all four parties are violating Trevor’s unambiguous aboriginal rights.
The cease-and-desist letters were delivered to the offending parties at the beginning of April demanding that they immediately halt the selenium runoff from Tent Mountain and begin to remove contaminated sediment from the bottom of Crowsnest Lake.
The parties have been given until April 30 to respond, failing which Trevor will seek legally binding injunctions against them in the Alberta Court of King’s Bench.
Crowsnest Headwaters is supporting Trevor Bastien’s legal action by raising funds for his legal fees. This support aligns with our vision to ensure our creeks and rivers will be passed on to our children in better condition than they are today.
This initiative is a true partnership between Piikani and non-indigenous people. We appreciate whatever contribution you can manage to keep this case moving forward.
We thank you for donating directly to Trevor’s retainer account by Interac eTransfer to info@ackroydlaw.com (no security word is required) with a separate email to afryk@ackroydlaw.com and funding@crowsnestheadwaters.ca specifying that the donation is for the Trevor Bastien trust account #162345.
It’s free.
Yes! Let them prove their "new" approaches to prevent selenium poisoning by rehabilitating something first.
If a company as Teck couldn't do it, no one else will be able to. This is a complete smokescreen by the mining companies and provincial governments.