Razing Athabasca: bitumen extraction and the industrial colonization of North-Eastern Alberta, 1967-1983

Longley, Hereward Nicholas James (2013) Razing Athabasca: bitumen extraction and the industrial colonization of North-Eastern Alberta, 1967-1983. Masters thesis, Memorial University of Newfoundland.

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Abstract

This thesis shows that oil price increases and supply threats associated with the Cold War and the OPEC Crisis caused the Alberta and Canadian governments to prioritize the development of the oil sands industry. By taking equity in the Syncrude project the Alberta government emerged with conflicting mandates as both developer and regulator of the resource. By the mid 1970s, the Alberta government's position produced a policy dynamic that contributed to the marginalization of government concern for the environmental impacts of oil sands development. Oil sands development physically colonized Indigenous land and had significant adverse environmental impacts on proximate ecosystems. The degradation of natural resources relied on by Indigenous peoples made affected communities increasingly desperate for employment in the oil sands economy from which they were largely excluded. Indigenous peoples were forced to fight for environmental protection and employment in the industry.

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