SECTION 1.0 INTRODUCTION

1.0 Introduction

Teck Resources Limited (Teck) has proposed a new 290,000 barrels per day (46,106 m3/d) surface mine within the area historically used by several Aboriginal communities, including the Métis people of Fort McKay. The border of the development area is approximately 50 km north of Fort McKay.

The proponent requires approvals from the Energy Regulator, Alberta Environment (AENV), Fisheries and Oceans, and Transport Canada in order to receive permits for construction and operation of the Project. An Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) was conducted in 2011 to meet the requirements of the Canadian Environmental Assessment Act (CEAA) and the Alberta Protection and Enhancement Act (EPEA). With respect to Aboriginal peoples, the CEAA requires that EIAs include an assessment of how changes in the environment resulting from a proposed project may impact health and socio-economic conditions, physical and cultural heritage, the current use of lands and resources for traditional purposes, or any structure, site or thing that is of historical, archaeological, paleontological or architectural significance (section 5.1(c) of CEAA 2012). In August of 2011, a Traditional Land Use assessment (TLU) was completed for the Frontier Mine Project by the Fort McKay Sustainability Department (FMSD) on behalf of Métis and First Nation community members living in Fort McKay. This assessment fulfilled some CEAA and community requirements. To help fulfill requirements related to potential social, cultural, economic and some stress-related health effects, Teck agreed to support the Fort McKay Métis Community Association (FMMCA) in conducting a community- specific Integrated Cultural Assessment (ICA) for the proposed Frontier Mine Project.

The following report presents the results of the ICA that was completed for the proposed Frontier Mine Project. It is based on the views and perspectives of Fort McKay Métis members who have grown up watching oil sands development, and who continue to live in Fort McKay. It reflects their unique Métis culture and their efforts to maintain that culture in the face of multiple oil sand projects being developed around their community.

The Métis people of Fort McKay are recognized as a distinct historic and contemporary Métis community by the Alberta government (Government of Alberta 2007). “Métis” refers to people of mixed First Nation and European ancestry who, in addition to their mixed ancestry, developed their own customs, and recognizable group identity separate from their Indian or Inuit and European forebears (R. v. Powley, 2003 SCC 43). The Métis are one of the “aboriginal peoples of Canada” within the meaning of section 35(2) of the Constitution Act, 1982. The Métis people living in Fort McKay were born out of the Canadian fur trade, where livelihoods combined subsistence harvesting with seasonal

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employment and commercial enterprise. Hunting, trapping, fishing and harvesting plants, berries and medicines are an integral part of the Métis lifestyle, but Métis people have always been entrepreneurial and involved in commerce work. Fort McKay Métis families have historically been involved in the fur trade, river boat freighting, road building, forestry, selling berries, handicrafts and providing other services to various sectors. Fort McKay Métis families continue to work, own and operate businesses servicing oil and gas, forestry sector and the community while maintaining ties to a subsistence lifestyle.

The Fort McKay Métis have always lived, worked and harvested food along the shores of the and its major tributaries. As such, the Fort McKay Métis have also always been part of the oil sands story in the Athabasca Region. Fort McKay Métis families seasonally camped and worked at Bitumont during the 1930s and 1940s, where the earliest commercial oil sand development site in the Athabasca Region was established (Highwood Environmental Management 2001). Since the 1960s, surface oil sand mining has concentrated on lands historically used by Métis families from Fort McKay. The Frontier Mine Project will be one of 51 oil sand developments proposed within the lands used by the people of Fort McKay (28 existing and approved + 23 proposed developments). Appendix A provides a map and list of Existing, Approved and Planned Developments within lands traditionally used by Fort McKay (First Nation and Métis) families in 2015.

The Fort McKay Métis have been intimately and uniquely affected by cumulative oil sands development. It is acknowledged that external forces, beyond the oil sands, have also affected the way traditional activities are carried out, however Fort McKay Métis members believe that a major factor affecting their culture, is the proximity and rate at which environmental, social and economic impacts from oil sand development have occurred. Oil sands development continues to exert significant pressures that threaten efforts to maintain a healthy, vibrant Métis community and culture.

Fort McKay Métis members were active participants in all phases of this study. All information contained in this report remains property of the FMMCA. The HEG would like to acknowledge the contributions of the twenty-two Fort McKay Métis members who participated in the six days of focus group meetings held for this study. This group accounts for a little less than half of the Fort McKay Métis members who live full-time in Fort McKay. There were twelve males and ten females: six Elders (ages 50 – 80), eleven adults (ages 25 – 50) and five youth/young adults (less than 25 years old) in the focus groups. This report is their story.

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1.1 History of Fort McKay Métis

The following timeline presents a brief historical overview of Fort McKay and its Métis people. It has been adapted from Campbell et al. 2005.

The work of Matsui and Ray (2014) presents an analysis of Hudson’s Bay Company (HBC) district reports and post journals in the 18th and 19th centuries, and suggests there were several intersecting regional Métis communities in Northeastern Alberta and Northwestern at that time. These included a -Métis community that extended from the Lesser , southeast to Calling Lake, Lac La Biche and Moose Lake and to the northeast along the Peace and Athabasca Rivers to the Little Red River (now the MacKay River), and a -Métis community in the vicinity of (Clark et al. 2014). Oral histories confirm that these regional Métis communities are all part of the larger extended Métis “family” in Northeast Alberta and Northwest Saskatchewan. Fort McKay Métis members identified a number of communities in the region where they had previously lived, camped, or visited family members. Map 1 shows some of the communities and places that are important to Fort McKay Métis families.

The Athabasca region was widely regarded as one of the best places in Canada for furs (Campbell 2005), and Métis settled throughout the Athabasca district along rivers and portages that served the fur trade (Clark et al. 2014). In 1778-1788, Venant St. Germain established a small trading post between Fort Chipewyan and Fort McMurray on behalf of the Northwest Company to supply provisions and to serve Aboriginal fur traders. This post became known as the Pierre au Calumet post in the 1790s. The Pierre au Calumet post was located on the east side of the Athabasca River across from the mouth of Calumet Creek (Campbell et al. 2005, p.69).

Opposite of Pierre au Calumet, on the west side of the Athabasca River, Thomas Thomas established a HBC trading post in 1815 (Campbell et al. 2005, p. 69). This HBC post was established specifically to compete with the Northwest Company’s control over the Cree fur trade. In 1821, the HBC and the Northwest Company merged and the Pierre au Calumet post was closed.

Missionaries began visiting the Little Red River area for short periods of time in the mid-1840s (Skolorood 1978, p.21 in Campbell et al. 2005) and began to extend their reach working with the company throughout the second half of the 19th century. Around 1870, Old Red River House was built by HBC. In 1897, HBC decided to close its trading post in Fort McMurray but maintain its post at Little Red River (Fort McKay). At that time, Fort McKay was receiving almost twice as much income from the fur trade as Fort McMurray (Campbell et al. 2005).

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Map 1 – Métis Communities in the Athabasca District

Fontaine Ya Lake R te Colin ive s Beaverlodge e r eas Lake Lake r er G Riv

o S

ffal l

u er a B iv Wood Buffalo National Park v

R e Lake R Richards i Athabasca on v Riou ont e Lake P r er Wentzel Lake Riv Margaret Lake Lake O th ers l id e r Davy e River z e t v n i Lake e R ce River Fort Chipewyan Pea W Mamawi Lake Lake O Claire ld R F iv o e rt Big Point r Douglas Birch River Channel R iver Embarras m Hunter lia r il e Creek iv Point Brule W R e e R n n r Mayson r ich a e o ard l v t e Poplar Point s r i s v o i a Lake e Riv n R

e p

F R r i

c

P

a Firebag River M Mikkwa Lobstick Point Mirro er McClelland Forrest r Riv Riv Lake er Ta r Lake River F Cree ire ba Lake Namur Bitumount g R iv Lloyd Lake er Ells Lake River Fort McKay Little Red River r n Wa e b Careen v o r Ri as i o e ver c R L a Lake Black iv k r ati R ve Birch dj Ri r) u MacKay ive Lake M d R iver Wasekamio (Little Re Fort McMurray ater R Clearw Lake Waterways Spear Turnor Lake Gordon Lac la Lake Lake Loche L

a Frobisher

L Kimowin R Lake tikuma o U w River iv c ver usk a e he Ri M r River rchill W Peter u North ine Churchill h r fr Pond C e Rive e iv Dipper Wabasca 63 d Lake UV r R Lake in Lake a Utikuma Lake lt r u e n a iv Lake Sandy illo H R Christ a D er Lake i n iv River R Dillon Lac

Lake Vermette r Île-à-la-Crosse

Conklin e v

Lake i Kazan Lesser R Ile a La Crosse r Lake Winefred e

Slave k oe Churchill Lake s Lake n r Le 881 u a e River ss U C v V C e i Slav r bas c e R ha ca R i At M ve R Ca r iv Calling llin Cold Lake Air Weapons Range e R g r ive Philomena Sand Lac la K r Lake r iche e e a B R iver Arsenault R Plonge v L e i er i iv v l

R Pitlochrie Lake e R e

y r D n Primrose Imperial Mills o a R r w Heart Lake Lake i é S Keeley v Lac la e Biche Lac La Biche Lake r

Sled River

en Waterh Waterhen C r ow Rive Lake R an Clarke e r iv Moose B aver e er Lake iv Lake R R ive r w o C

d hitek SASKATCHEWAN ALBERTA Delaronde a R a e iver in katche Lake rth Sas w M b No an Pem r Cowan ive iver ± R R Lake

NORTHWEST TERRITORIES LEGEND 1:2,800,000 Community Provincial Border 0 40 80 Kilometers Map 1: Fort McKay Métis and First Nation Traditional Territory To w n s h ip B ou n da r y First Nation Reserves Waterbody Created: December 11, 2015 Fort McKay Métis Fort MacKay! ! Fort McMurray Metis Settlements Watercourse Coordinate System:

Communities NAD 1983 UTM Zone 12N Grande SASKATCHEWAN Prairie ! Protected Areas Major Road Base Features: AltaLIS, IHS, Geogratis Cold Lake Air Weapons Range Railway The McKay Métis !

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The Treaty and Scrip Commissions came to the Athabasca district at the turn of the 20th century (Campbell et al. 2005, p.61). “Conceptually, treaty had been intended only for the Indians of the region, and scrip for the Métis. However it was decided to offer scrip in place of treaty to any northern resident with elements of indigenous ancestry, for so many did not know whether or not they had any traces of European Blood” (Leonard in Mair 1999, p. XXIX quoted in Campbell et al. 2005, p. 62). Scrip was problematic in the Athabasca District, because even though it was intended that people use it to get their own land, it was not easy to use this way: “Scrip could only be applied to the surveyed townships, so it had little practical benefit for Métis communities north of the planned settlement belt” (Tough 1999, p. 62 quoted in Campbell et al. 2005, p. 62). After Scrip, Métis people continued to work seasonally and make a living on the rivers and out on the land. Métis River Lots became the foundation of the river transport system all along the Athabasca River during the second half of the 19th century.

In 1904, Father L. Croise of the Oblates of Mary Immaculate (OMI) established a permanent mission at Little Red River. In 1912, Old Red River Post and the Little Red River were renamed to honor Dr. MacKay, a physician and fur trader in charge of the Athabasca district for “his valuable service of 34 years as surgeon and factor to the company” (Comfort 1974, p. 256 quoted in Campbell 2005, p. 54, 55). At this time, the settlement of Fort McKay included two stores, a warehouse, the church and half a dozen houses (Marino 1975, p. 16 quoted in Campbell 2005, p. 56). In 1915, Fort McKay township lands were established.

In 1939, the provincial government created the registered fur trap line system. Before this, many people hunted on areas of land that had been used by their families for generations. Although the requirement to register trap lines was not widely enforced in the area until the 1960s, it added to the level of government involvement in Métis life (Balazs 1976; Fortna 2015).

Métis, Cree and Chipewyan people had been living with and around each other for many years, but when the school opened in 1949, people began to settle more permanently in Fort McKay. At about the same time (1945), the federal government introduced a national program to provide monthly government payments to families with children. For a family to receive this payment, their children must have been registered in school. The combination of these two events resulted in many families living apart from each other, with fathers living for extended periods on their trap lines and mothers and children remaining in Fort McKay.

As a small, isolated community, the people in Fort McKay relied on one another. They harvested food together, worked together, helped each other birth babies and looked after each other when they were sick. In the 1950s, the distinction in legal status mattered little: Métis, Cree and families intermarried and

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shared many aspects of their culture and lifestyle. The community itself is a network of relations and kinship ties that extend from Fort Chipewyan to Lac La Biche. As described by Alice Boucher (in Campbell et al. 2005), “I used to live across on the Reserve at that time. ...in 1949 I moved this side. There used to be no school. We moved this side just to come... I spent about ten years at that reserve across from here. It wasn’t all Bouchers there. Some of them were Powders like that, all mixed...” (Alice Boucher in Campbell et al. 2005, p.7)

When I grew up in McKay everyone [Métis and First Nation] was the same. There was no reserve side, there was no Métis side, everyone lived all together. We all had the same lifestyle, we all ate basically the same food, we went to the same school, so it’s hard to say different [between Métis and First Nation]. There was no difference, and I don't know why it is now, the segregation, the invisible wall there. (FMM002-WS1)

What’s different between Métis and others? Different name. Like me, that’s different name, eh? Métis are different people and Chip are different people. But they make the same living. You know, there is no difference. (Zachery Powder in Campbell et al. 2005, p. 44)

Treaty or Métis they’re all the same, they’re all people. You know. So these people here they all grow up together. Fort McKay people, they live here all their lives. (Emma Faichney in Campbell et al. 2005, p. 45)

In 1952, Fort McKay Indian School was taken over by the Department of Indian Affairs with mandatory attendance. Payment of the federal government’s family allowance was only made to families in Fort McKay whose children were in school.

The 1960s marked a major change in the development of the area, as oil sands projects began on a large scale, first with the Great Canadian Oil Sands, and then in the early 1970s with the initial Syncrude Project.

The events that occurred prior to oil sands development that affected the Métis way of life, such as Scrip, provincial and government policy related to forest and wildlife management, systems of education and local political structures, have had a strong influence on culture (FMTA 1983; Van Dyke 1978; HEG 2009; FMIRC 2010; FMSD 2011). While acknowledging the significance of these factors, the people of Fort McKay believe the most significant effect on their culture has come from the immense use of land and water for oil sands development, with the associated air and water pollution, the influx of non-Aboriginal people into the region, and changes in access to clean, healthy land since the 1960s.

More than 1/3 of current Fort McKay residents were alive in the 1960s when Great Canadian Oil Sands (later to become Suncor) opened its first mine, when an all-

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weather road was first built between Fort McKay and Fort McMurray, when the last residential school in the region closed, and when the population of Fort McMurray was less than 2,000 (FMSD 2011a).

This report is an ICA for the proposed Frontier Mine Project. Potential project impacts to Fort McKay Métis culture will be described and assessed within the context of cumulative industrial development that has occurred since the 1960s. The Frontier Mine Project ICA will use the Fort McKay Métis Cultural Model as a framework to assess the potential effects resulting from this development. The following sections provide information related to:

• Frontier Mine Project ICA Methods. • Fort McKay Métis Cultural Model and Integrated Cultural Assessment Approach. • A section for each cultural activity that includes: o Pre-Development and Contemporary Baselines o Project Specific Impact Assessment for the Frontier Mine Project. o Recommendations Section. o Residual Impact Assessment for the Frontier Mine Project. • An Impact Assessment Summary. • A Summary of Recommendations.

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