"In early February, Chief Allan Adam of the Athabasca Chipewyan First Nation in northern Alberta started fielding calls from community members after the provincial regulator revealed toxic wastewater had been leaking for months from a tailings pond at Imperial Oil's (IMO.TO) Kearl oil sands mine.

Many in the community hunt and fish downstream of Canada's huge bitumen mines, and wanted to know if the game meat in their freezers was safe to eat.

"I just told them throw the meat away," Adam said. "Don't even feed it to your dog."

The seepage was discovered by Imperial, a unit of Exxon Mobil (XOM.N), last May but local communities only learned the water contained tailings in February, after a second leak occurred."

Nia Williams reports for Reuters April 27, 2023. [2]