Plot

The oil companies are coming to Warren Cariou's home town. Oil sands operations in Alberta are expanding, which prompts Cariou-a writer and professor from Northern Saskatchewan-to journey back to his homeland to find out what might be gained by this oil development, and what could be lost. In Cariou's conversations with the Native people who live in the area, he learns about their hopes for new prosperity and pride, but he also hears their concerns about the environmental and health effects that are associated with oil sands extraction. Seeking a clearer picture of what his homeland might some day look like, he continues his journey into the heart of the oil sands region in Alberta, where Native communities have been living with the oil companies for decades. In Fort Mackay, Alberta, he finds a community divided between wealth and tradition. In his interviews with Elders, local politicians, Aboriginal rap musicians and other members of the community, he learns about the huge economic opportunities provided by the development, but also the terrible risks. Some worry about the health effects of air and water pollution, while others lament the destruction of vast areas of land and the loss of traditional ways of life. In Fort Chipewyan, three hundred kilometers downstream of Fort Mackay and the oil sands refineries, Cariou encounters a community devastated-and galvanized-by environmental toxins, a cancer crisis, and a government unwilling to take responsibility. As he learns more about the human price of oilsands wealth, he asks the citizens of Fort Mackay and Fort Chipewyan what advice they would give to the people of his homeland.—Warren Cariou