Keepers of the Water: Protecting Water in the Arctic Basin and the current threats to water

Decades of bitumen extraction has created trillions of litres of toxic tailings stored in tailings ponds in northern Alberta. Canada has proposed to deal with this growing crisis by allowing the release of treated, but still toxic, tailings into the Arctic’s largest watershed. Indigenous water protectors are resisting this action which would damage fragile ecosystems and infringe on Indigenous rights.