Violet Clarke
Violet Clarke is a First Nations woman who lives on a reservation (known as a reserve in Canada) in the town of Anzac, about a half-hour drive from the mining boom town Fort McMurray.
Though 86 years old, she recalls her childhood in this region vividly. Sitting in the eat-in kitchen of a mobile home that, from the outside, looks ramshackle, she recounted hunting for moose and collecting blueberries in birch bark baskets. They fished in Willow Lake. Her father made only two visits a year to the nearest town, Fort McMurray, where he bartered for supplies like cloth and baking soda.
By some measures, life is better now. She has a cell phone, running water, electricity and a heated home. But she says she was better off then. She says today the moose are gone, scared away by nearby tar sands (also called called oil sands) prospecting, extraction, processing and transport. She says the berries are not safe to eat. Mercury contamination has made Willow lake's fish inedible. Even her water has to be trucked in now.
Listen to an unedited audio interview with Violet. http://bit.ly/RrKgGo