Indigenous-led water protection in the North

·28 min·2 clips

Jesse Cardinal saw animal populations decline and water levels drop as tar sands extraction boomed in 2006.

The episode begins with host Scott Nye introducing Jesse Cardinal, executive director of Keepers of the Water, who describes witnessing environmental changes from resource extraction in 2006. Cardinal is a Métis woman who grew up on a Métis settlement in Alberta with a land-based upbringing, hunting, fishing, and gathering. Keepers of the Water is an Indigenous-led organization focused on protecting the Arctic watershed, which includes the Athabasca, Peace, Slave, and Mackenzie (Decho) rivers. The primary threat is resource extraction, especially the Alberta tar sands, which divert water from the Athabasca River, lowering levels and disrupting Indigenous travel for hunting. In 2006, Dene elders and community members issued the Keepers of the Water Declaration, leading to the organization's founding. Cardinal explains the historical displacement of Métis people, who were excluded from both First Nations reserves and white communities. She details the geography of the watershed, noting the colonial renaming of the Decho River to Mackenzie River. The organization's work includes raising awareness, organizing healing walks, and opposing the dumping of treated tailings ponds into the Athabasca River, which Cardinal says remains toxic. They also focus on food security, Indigenous involvement in the Canada Water Agency, and pursuing legal personhood for the Decho. Cardinal discusses the criminalization of Indigenous activism and the need for alternative economies like solar and wind energy. She highlights the Tar Sands Healing Walk, which drew international participants by 2014. The episode concludes with Cardinal urging listeners to donate, follow their website, and connect with Indigenous history and land.

As heard by us

A grounded account of extraction's effects on water, food, wildlife, wetlands, forests, and Indigenous-led protection work.

Indigenous-led water protection is framed through the effects of resource extraction in Alberta and the Northwest Territories, then rooted in Jesse Cardinal's land-based upbringing and her work as executive director of Keepers of the Water.

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Why you'd press play

You want to hear Jesse Cardinal connect drained wetlands, altered animal life, and resource extraction to Indigenous-led water protection.

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