Canada Works on Tailings Risk Assessment for World Heritage Site

Parks Canada is working on an assessment to evaluate the risk of oil sands tailings to Wood Buffalo National Park, as demanded by Indigenous communities in the area. The evaluation was recommended by Unesco inspectors who visited the park in 2022 to determine if it should be added to the list of World Heritage sites in danger.

Chief Melody Lepine of the Mikisew Cree First Nation stated that progress on the project is 'long overdue,' describing the downstream risks Alberta oil sands tailings pose through incidents such as dam breaches and seepage. She referenced spills at Imperial Oil's Kearl site, north of Fort McMurray, as examples of harm caused by the industry.

Parks Canada has an action plan to protect the park from various threats. Janna Jaque, action plan manager for Parks Canada, said that draft terms of reference for the tailings risk assessment were distributed to partner First Nations for feedback in July. She stated that the project will move to a contract phase once those terms have been finalized.