FORT CHIPEWYAN, AB, Oct. 2, 2026 /CNW/ -- Mikisew Cree First Nation, Athabasca Chipewyan Déné First Nation and Fort Chipewyan Métis Nation are raising serious concerns about the oversight and level of assessment for the future of how Alberta manages oil sands process-affected water and the proposed treat and release into the Athabasca Watershed.

Since 2019, we have reduced the cumulative red tape count by 22.4% (or 9218 requirements) while maintaining rigorous environmental and safety oversight¹.

Despite this claim, in July 2026, the Alberta Energy Regulator's (AER) decided that an environmental assessment is not required for a proposed activity involving the potential release of approximately 10 million cubic metres of treated Oilsands tailings and process water annually into the Athabasca River.

This decision raises fundamental concerns about the adequacy of Alberta's regulatory oversight and the protection of the Athabasca River, constitutionally protected Section 35 and Treaty rights and downstream communities.

"This is a textbook example of an unreasonable decision", said Chief Adam "The Alberta Energy Regulator didn't even issue reasons. They simply accepted Suncor's submission that there would be 'no environmental issues or impacts' from releasing treated tailings wastewater into the Athabasca. The proponent gets to decide 'there'll be no impact' and the regulator just says 'ok, we believe you. Albertans, Indigenous people, and everyone living downstream don't even get to know how they reached those conclusions."

Oil sands process-affected water is not simply another industrial wastewater stream. The scale and significance of this activity demand's a level of scrutiny that matches the potential consequences.

The Athabasca River is not an industrial disposal corridor. It is a living watershed that supports drinking water, fish, wildlife, harvesting, culture and communities throughout northern Alberta and beyond. The health impacts facing Fort Chipewyan are already terrifying. We have expressed longstanding concerns about water quality, contaminants and the health impacts of cumulative development for years.

This is not just a Fort Chipewyan issue. The Athabasca River continues north toward into the Northwest Territories as part of the Mackenzie River Basin. This has the potential of transboundary impacts and a potential breech of transboundary agreements that our northern neighbors should be questioning.

The decisions being made now have the potential to inform the process and establish expectations for future applications.

It is deeply concerning that a decision of this significance took the AER only 14 days and was made when there is no federal legislation authorizing the activity nor an Alberta directive or regulatory framework to assess against.

The significance of the AER's decision extends beyond one application. Other oil sands operators will be watching how regulators and government approach this.  

The level of assessment applied is an extreme failure of oversight that risks establishing a regulatory pathway by default and the Alberta Government has a statutory responsibility to investigate.

"We will not accept a regulatory system where the absence of rules becomes the justification for lowering the level of assessment." – Chief Lepine

Mikisew Cree First Nation, Athabasca Chipewyan Déné First Nation and Fort Chipewyan Métis Nation have been raising concerns about the health of the Peace-Athabasca Delta and the cumulative impacts of upstream development for years.

"In 2014, Mikisew went to UNESCO because governments were failing to protect the Peace-Athabasca Delta from the cumulative impacts of development upstream. More than a decade later, we continue to fight to protect our Delta and our Way of Life. Canada and Alberta are creating legislation and consultation processes that further weaken impact assessments, the Honour of the Crown and allow for unprecedented proposals to discharge treated tailings water into the Athabasca River. Our Treaty Rights, our water and the future of the Delta will not be sacrificed to accelerate project approvals."

— Chief Melody Lepine, Mikisew Cree First Nation

"Since 2016, the World Heritage Committee has requested that Canada do a systematic risk assessment of tailings management. That has never happened," said President Ladouceur of the Fort Chipewyan Metis Nation. "Alberta does require modeling to predict downstream concentrations of chemicals, but their most recent assessment did not go as far downstream as the Delta. Alberta's model is improperly validated, shows poor behavior for parameters that have been validated, and would not be accepted in any other jurisdiction. This whole process is beginning to feel like kangaroo court."

The management of oil sands process-affected water and fluid tailings requires a long-term approach involving governments, industry, Indigenous Nations, scientists, downstream communities and neighboring jurisdictions.

We cannot allow the regulatory bar to be lowered for an activity that has risk of severe impacts for our people but also potentially far-reaching consequences for the Athabasca River and Peace-Athabasca Delta.

SOURCE Athabasca Chipewyan First Nation