Clara Ho, The Edmonton Journal. Sunday, November 02

Mike Mercredi is ready to fight what he calls the “slow industrial genocide” that oil companies are waging on the people in his hometown of Fort Chipewyan. Last year there were over 20 deaths in the community of 1,200 people. Many were cancer-related deaths, which Mercredi said are linked to the oilsands activities in nearby Fort McMurray.”Let’s put a lid on it and slow things down,” he said. “The graveyard is getting full.”

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Georgia Straight. By Matthew Burrows

George Monbiot wants the Alberta tar-sands industry shut down “as quickly as possible”. The best-selling author, Guardian columnist, and environmentalist told the Georgia Straight he would like to see “large-scale direct actions” to make that happen. When Monbiot granted the Straight an interview in late August, in a small restaurant in the Welsh town of Maccynleth, where he resides, an election had not yet been called. Canadians are now officially headed to the polls on October 14, and Monbiot—who penned the 2006 book Heat, to high acclaim—said Canada must step up on the environmental front.

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Tar Sands Free BC is a campaign aimed at informing the public in BC about tar sands related projects that are currently operating, under construction, or being proposed throughout the province.  The campaign aims to mobilize opposition to these projects throughout the province in order to support the efforts of communities in Alberta opposing the tar sands while supporting the development of grassroots control in local communities over what sort of “development” they feel is beneficial for the people living in the area and the environment. Visit http://tarsandsfreebc.org

Democrats and Republicans are working together to draw up a new Canada-U.S. border management plan for the incoming American administration, and have asked Canadian politicians for their input after years of poor management following 9/11. Work on a new border plan has begun at the request of the speaker of the U.S. Congress, California Democrat Nancy Pelosi.

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September 4, 2008 | 4:00 PM CT. CBC

RCMP have identified the man who died Wednesday in a workplace fatality at Canadian Natural’s Horizon oilsands project, 70 kilometres north of Fort McMurray. Richard Boyd Boughner, 47, from Love, Sask., died when the floating backhoe he was operating fell into a tailings pond that had just gone into operation on Friday. A company official said Wednesday the man was trapped inside the cabin of the backhoe.

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