A Pipeline Is Also a Commitment to Tar Sands and Toxic Tailings Expansion
Edmonton | Amiskwaciy Waskahikan | July 22, 2026 – As wildfires and toxic smoke once again threaten communities across Canada, the governments of Canada, Alberta, British-Colombia, and Ontario are advancing a new west coast oil pipeline that would lock in more tar sands production and worsen the climate conditions driving hotter, more destructive wildfire seasons. The Canadian Association of Physicians for the Environment, Keepers of the Water, Alberta Wilderness Association, Athabasca Chipewyan First Nation, Ecojustice and Friends of Fish warn that framing the project primarily around trade, economic growth, energy security and market access ignores its profound consequences for human health, Indigenous rights, water and the climate.
A pipeline is not simply a transportation project. It is a long-term commitment to increased tar sands extraction, toxic tailings and pollution, setting the stage for more dangerous wildfires and less healthy environments for generations to come.
Growing scientific evidence
Every pipeline approval is also a decision to continue concentrating the health and environmental burdens of tar sands production in the same downstream communities that already deal with these impacts. That is not an incidental by-product of development; it is a political choice about who bears the costs of Canada’s resource economy. Continuing to approve this project is, in effect, a decision to perpetuate a sacrifice zone rather than eliminate one.
A growing body of evidence links naphthenic acids, found in tailings, to a host of health risks, including endocrine disruption and reproductive health. Despite this, Canada is currently undertaking a formal assessment to determine whether these substances meet the legal definition of “toxic” under federal law, while no proven large-scale solution exists for treating or permanently managing tailings, and governments continue to support policies that will generate even more of them. This stands in tension with Canada’s commitments to uphold the Right to a Healthy Environment, advance Environmental Justice, and strengthen the Community Right to Know.
A Pipeline Decision Is a Public Health Decision
The direct and indirect costs for the public’s health, environment, healthcare systems and tax dollars are the most significant and enduring costs of a new pipeline. For Indigenous communities downstream of the tar sands, the costs of a pipeline are not hypothetical. Cancer rates are reportedly 25% higher in Fort Chipewyan just downstream of the tar sands, which the Mikisew Cree First Nation and members of its neighbouring communities believe are linked to oil and gas operations.
Systemic issues concerning the adequate regulation of the oil and gas industry have been exacerbated by the priorities of the provincial government and the mandates set by both the Prime Minister and Premier Smith. To date industry has only collected $1 billion of the estimated $57 billion cost of cleaning up their operations in Alberta, Canada is moving away from its net-zero commitments and therefore, its global role in mitigating catastrophic climate change. Tar sands producers have also increased withdrawals of freshwater from the Athabasca River at a time of drought for Albertans.
A Pipeline Decision is a Decision to Expand Environmental Injustice
These concerns are particularly difficult to reconcile with the federal government’s recent commitments to address environmental injustice. Canada is developing an Environmental Justice Strategy, investing millions of dollars to better understand environmental health concerns in Fort Chipewyan, studying contaminants associated with tar sands tailings, strengthening efforts to track pollution, and recognizing the need to address Canada’s growing inventory of toxic tailings.
If governments believe environmental justice requires understanding and addressing the impacts experienced by Indigenous communities today, then those same concerns must meaningfully inform decisions about future expansion. Environmental justice cannot simply mean studying harm after it occurs while simultaneously creating the conditions for even greater impacts tomorrow.
Indigenous Rights Must Come Before Political Commitments
We are also deeply concerned by the approach to Indigenous consultation. The fact that many of the communities bearing the greatest risks from expanded oil sands production are Indigenous Nations is not incidental. It highlights why meaningful consultation and free, prior, and informed consent must occur before governments commit to expanding production. Indigenous ownership should never be presented as a substitute for meaningful consultation or consent. Some Nations may choose to pursue economic opportunities associated with major projects, while others may prioritize protecting their lands, waters, rights, and community health. Both choices are expressions of Indigenous self-determination and deserve respect.
People in Canada also deserve greater transparency about the full costs of expanding tar sands production. Public discussions should account not only for construction jobs, export revenues, and private investment, but also for growing environmental liabilities, water use, tailings management, public health impacts, and the financial burden of reclamation that future generations may ultimately bear.
Quotes
Dr. John O’Connor, Canadian Association of Physicians for the Environment: “If governments intend to significantly increase production, Canadians deserve a full assessment of the full consequences of that decision including environmental, health, and financial costs that come with expanding extraction”.
Dr. Julia Sawatzky, emergency medicine resident physician, co-chair of Canadian Association of Physicians for the Environment – Alberta Committee: “The greatest costs of this pipeline will not appear on a balance sheet. They will be borne by the health of downstream communities, by taxpayers who inherit growing cleanup liabilities, and by future generations left to manage expanding toxic tailings”.
Cameron Hunter, Conservation Specialist, Alberta Wilderness Association: “Governments cannot separate the impacts of a pipeline from the impacts of the increased oil production that pipeline is designed to carry.”
Dene Lands and Resource Management, Athabasca Chipewyan First Nation: “Canada is investing millions of dollars to better understand whether tar sands pollution is harming downstream communities while simultaneously pushing infrastructure intended to substantially increase the very activity under investigation. Canadians deserve to know how these two decisions can be reconciled.”
About CAPE
The Canadian Association of Physicians for the Environment (CAPE) is a physician-directed charitable organization working to secure human health by protecting the planet. Since its founding in 1994, CAPE’s work has achieved substantial policy victories in collaboration with many partners in the environmental and health movements. From coast to coast to coast, the organization operates throughout the country with regional committees active in most provinces and all territories. cape.ca
For more information or to request an interview, please contact:
Loujain Kurdi, Canadian Association of Physicians for the Environment, media@cape.ca, 647-762-9168
Talon Giroux, Communications Coordinator, Keepers of the Water, Communicaitons@keepersofthewater.ca, 587-921-3574
Cameron Hunter, Conservation Specialist, Alberta Wilderness Association, cs3@abwild.ca, 403-283-2025
Jay Telegdi, Senior Manager of Intergovernmental Affairs, Athabasca Chipewyan First Nation, jay.telegdi@acfn.com, 780-881-7062
Allie Kampman, Ecojustice, akampman@ecojustice.ca, 416-368-7533 Ext. 566
Ian Peace, Friends of Fish, airtime@agt.net, 403-805 5185