About film

For years, residents of the northern Alberta community of Fort Chipewyan have been plagued by rare forms of cancer. They were concerned that toxins from oil sands production might be to blame. Industry and government, meanwhile, claimed production in the oil sands contributed zero pollution to the Athabasca River. But in 2010, new and independent research measured pollution in waters flowing through the oil sands and discovered higher-than-expected levels of toxins, including arsenic, lead and mercury, coming from industrial plants. The age of innocence for the oil sands is over. Leading a campaign to the boardrooms of global oil companies, demanding change, was Dene Elder Francois Paulette.  From New York to Copenhagen to Oslo and to the oil sands, the camera followed Paulette on his relentless search for allies.