Blog post by Ethan Buckner (@ethanbuckner), US Organizer, ForestEthics
5th Annual Tar Sands Healing Walk, Fort McMurray, Alberta. Photo: Ethan Buckner, ForestEthics
Last weekend, I traveled further north than I’d ever been in my life, to Fort McMurray, Alberta for the 5th Annual Tar Sands Healing Walk. At this time of year in "Fort Mac" (as they call it up there), the sun shines late into the night, so even on a new moon at midnight the sky is dusky and dim but never completely dark.
The healing walk’s camp is located about 35 kilometers (~21 miles) south of town, sitting beside the beautiful and enormous Gregoire Lake, which is surrounded by brilliant green Boreal forest.
Organized by Athabasca Keepers of the Water, the entire weekend was rich with ceremony, prayer, learning, and connection. On Saturday, more than 300 of us gathered at Crane Lake, one of SunCor's so-called "reclamation" sites. We walked in a procession led by Dene drummers around one of the tar sands mines, past toxic tailings ponds, and an enormous bitumen upgrading facility.
Stories of despair and pain, cancer, and corrupt government shared by First Nations leaders echoed in my head as the dense metallic air penetrated my lungs.
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