It’s an oil rich area in Alberta, and apparently a cause for concern. Oil development in the region has had a huge impact for the people who live there – the Lubicon Cree.

To make a long story short: it’s disputed land, and statistically, the Lubicon Cree’s quality of life has decreased since the oil production began, now it resembles that of a third world country. Federal social service payments went from the primary income source of 10 percent of the population to 90 percent. There is a severe lack of running water and sanitation and health conditions are abnormally high as a result.

Traditionally, trapping was a source of income for a majority of the populace, but after the first year of oil development, wildlife all but disappeared.

I find it disgusting that Canada will repeatedly ignore UN human rights commissions in our never-ending quest for oil. It is another example of how the oil industry takes priority over human decency.

In resource-rich African countries, there is something known as the paradox of plenty, or the resource curse. Nations with billions of dollars of annual revenue from oil, natural gas, or minerals, see their citizens become poorer. There is an economic model of how oil production supports dictatorships, and how once resources run out, the land has already been destroyed, the people have lost their livelihoods, crime has increased dramatically due to unemployment, and corruption is rampant. Typically, the countries who aren’t “blessed” with oil are less violent, have less environmental degradation, and less systematic exploitation.

In Canada, the situation is different, but there are disturbing similarities. The typical enormous profits of the oil industry allow it to fight any kind of legal challenges that may arise, and to wage a PR battle far beyond the means of the grassroots organizers. Also very similar is the cooperation of the government on behalf of the oil companies. In Nigeria, when the people wouldn’t give up their land, the government essentially colonized their own people, and gave the land to oil companies. In return, the industry gives money to government, either directly or through taxation, leaving the civilians entirely out of the process. This seems to be the situation of the Lubicon Cree, and I wouldn’t be surprised if this kind of treatment wasn’t an isolated incident. Sometimes I’m ashamed of my country, and this is one such case.

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Tags: alberta, lubicon cree, oil, oil development

This entry was posted on Thursday, October 29th, 2009 at 10:39 pm and is filed under Activism, Economy. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.