“It’s definitely a concern expressed by community members seeing changes in water, traditional foods and changes in their health. “More data and information is necessary to answer these questions… but there are toxic sludge and tailings ponds here… these leak into the watershed,” said Lepine. Last summer, APTN News reported on a story where Keepers of the Water, an Indigenous environmental group, raised alarm over the proposed dumping of treated tailings pond water from the Alberta oil industry into the Athabasca River.

A boil water advisory that was affecting between eight and 12 households in Mînî Thnî has been lifted as of Oct. 15. Indigenous Services Canada posted the boil water advisory Oct. 11 as a precautionary measure in lieu of planned maintenance at the East Morley Water Treatment Plant, separate from the main plant supplying water to the townsite. Simon Sihota, regional manager of environmental public health for Indigenous Services Canada in Alberta, said the work involved replacing older pipes and distribution headers within the treatment plant, which involved taking the water plant offline and depressurizing the system.

At one time, the little blue cabin on the shores of the Athabasca River was brimming with life: a mother, a father and their 15 children coming together to hunt and gather, share family meals and tackle the many chores. “We prayed as a family, we picked berries as a family,” recalls 71-year-old Alice Rigney, whose childhood was spent in the two-bedroom structure in a place called Jackfish, a northeastern Alberta fishing spot.