Mining Injustice Solidarity Network

September 3, 2009, OTTAWA – The tar sands are creating severe environmental, economic and social problems in the Ontario – Michigan Great Lakes Region according to a new Polaris Institute report.

The report, “Toxic Trail Exposure,” is the result of an Ontario youth delegation that traveled together to Sarnia, Detroit and Windsor to uncover and expose the connections between the Great Lakes Region and tar sands developments.

Some of the key findings include:

Residents of Sarnia, Windsor and Detroit are located near five major tar sands oil refineries, are reporting disproportionately high rates of respiratory illness, cancers, skin disorders, and kidney problems.

Across the Great Lakes Region – in both Canada and the United States – youth are concerned about the impacts of ongoing tar sands developments and actively working to expose the dangers.

“Our findings clearly show that the tar sands are not just concerning for communities in Alberta, but a troubling national issue,” explains Tanya Roberts-Davis, report author and Polaris Institute Campaigner. “Here in Ontario, refineries that process tar sands oil are contaminating our watersheds with toxic chemicals, increasing air pollution levels, and polarizing our communities.”

Together the youth delegation and Polaris Institute are calling for a moratorium on all tar sands developments – from the pits in Alberta to the pipes and smokestacks in the Great Lakes Region.

The full report is available online at: http://www.tarsandswatch.org/files/TarSandsToxicTrail_0.pdf

Photos from the Toxic Trail Exposure tour are online at http://allan.lissner.net/tracking-the-tar-sands-toxic-tour/

For more information contact:
Tanya Roberts-Davis, Polaris Institute – 613-237-1717 x106
Elly Adeland, Polaris Institute – 613-237-1717 x104

From Al Jazeera English:

People & Power speak to native and environmental groups, as well as government and oil industry spokespeople about the impact Alberta’s oil sands development is having on the environment.

Alberta’s oil sands now make Canada America’s major oil supplier, but the billion-dollar industry extracts a terrible price: some of the cleanest water on earth is used to make the dirtiest oil in the world, with catastrophic results.

Please join Amnesty International’s Business and Human Rights Group on Tues, Sept. 29 from 4-6:30pm at the Shell station at King and Spadina where we will help Shell “clean up” by sweeping and mopping, and asking drivers and pedestrians to sign postcards and petitions. Don your best overalls and bring along a mop, bucket, broom or brush!

For more info please email: business@aito.ca

Clean Up Shell

International Human Rights Program, University of Toronto Faculty of Law
Presents

Ken Wiwa
“Creative Justice: Shell and the Ogoni in Niger Delta”

Monday September 21
12:30-2:00 pm

FLB

A light lunch will be served.

Ken Wiwa is an internationally acclaimed writer and journalist. Currently serving as a Special Assistant to the President of Nigeria, he was previously a weekly columnist for the Globe and Mail. His first book “In the Shadow of a Saint” was published worldwide and won the 2002 Hurston/Wright Foundation’s Legacy Award for non-fiction. A Fellow of the University of Toronto, he was selected in 2005 as a Young Global Leader by the World Economic Forum.

Ken will discuss the settlement he won against Shell Oil in June. The Center for Constitutional Rights in New York brought lawsuits against Shell Oil, its Nigerian subsidiary, and the head of its Nigerian operations, charging them with complicity in human rights abuses against the Ogoni people in Nigeria. The charges include the arrest and execution of Ken’s father, along with eight other environmental activists, in 1995 for protesting the environmental practices of Shell Oil in the Niger Delta. On 8 June 2009, on the eve of trial, the parties agreed to a settlement which provides a total of $15.5 million to compensate the plaintiffs, establish a trust for the benefit of the Ogoni people, and cover some of the legal costs associated with the case.

Please RSVP by contacting Kara Norrington at kara.norrington@utoronto.ca