Information sharing with Alberta has improved since Kearl tailings spills, says N.W.T. minister

The N.W.T.'s environment minister says communication with the Alberta government has improved since a pair of oil spills several years ago. 

"The information sharing from that point forward has been really good," Minister Jay Macdonald told reporters Friday afternoon. 

The news conference at the Explorer Hotel had been organized at the end of an annual meeting of environment ministers from around the country – a group called the Canadian Council of Ministers of the Environment – that had, this year, been held in Yellowknife. Rebecca Shulz, Alberta's minister of environment and protected areas, was among those at the summit.

"Our transboundary water agreements … are working quite well and allowing us to have that communication," said Macdonald. "We don't necessarily agree on all points but we're certainly having regular conversations and working together to finding solutions that work for all of us." 

Last year, the N.W.T. government had suggested changes to that bilateral water agreement so that the territory would be more aware of spills that could flow downstream into its waterways. But at the time, the territory was still waiting for a full response from Alberta. 

Macdonald did not mention on Friday whether those changes had been made.

Communication was a sticking point between the N.W.T. and Alberta, particularly after two releases of toxic oilsands tailings water from the Kearl mine in northern Alberta in 2022. It took nine months for Imperial Oil and the Alberta Energy Regulator to tell First Nations and other governments about it. 

Shane Thompson, the N.W.T.'s environment minister at the time, had been shocked to learn about the spills from news reports and said it was unacceptable and a breach of the territory's water management agreement with the Alberta government. 

Schulz on Friday agreed that communication after those spills was unacceptable and said that Alberta's relationship with the N.W.T. is one the province takes seriously. 

"We know that there [are] a lot of eyes and a lot of focus on oilsands mine water specifically, it's something our government has made a priority, and I have committed to Minister Macdonald that we would have an open line of communication about what we're doing there," Schulz said.

Macdonald said the ministers also talked about climate change and reconciliation and had endorsed stronger air quality standards for fine particulate matter. According to a news release, the ministers also spent time meeting with Indigenous leaders to to talk about remediation and the management of contaminated sites.