Anti-Oilsands Crusader Visits Onion Lake

Anti-Oilsands Crusader Visits Onion Lake

Tuesday, February 03, 2009 at 14:41

The Onion Lake First Nation was the first stop yesterday for a Dene band member warning Saskatchewan residents about the dangers of oil development.

Mike Mercredi is a member of the Athabasca Chipewyan First Nation, which is downstream of Fort McMurray.

Mercredi claims that, since 1999, 108 people in Fort Chipewyan have contracted cancer — an abnormally high statistic — and he blames pollution from the oilsands as the main culprit.

He says elders in his community are against the drilling, and he takes their word over any of the “experts’.

Mercredi believes alternative energy sources like solar and wind power should be explored instead of oil and gas.

Some of the communities he’s visiting this week include Saskatoon, Little Pine, Thunderchild and Turtleford.