A walk to heal the tar sands, Alberta First Nations and supporters trek annually to heal toxins on their land by Kristin Moe, August 21, 2012, Straightgoods.ca
They come to heal not only the land, but themselves. Among the walkers were several residents of Fort Chipewyan, one of the communities hit hardest by industrial contamination of water and air. Cancer rates there are abnormally high. From passing company trucks, mine workers honked their approval of the march. … For indigenous communities, it’s not about real estate. It’s about a culture and an identity that is woven so tightly into the physical landscape such that the two cannot be separated. When one is poisoned, as this land is, the other cannot survive.
“If we do nothing, it will all be gone”