Episode Details

To kick off Season 2 of The Gravity Well podcast, I am joined by Edna Ann Fairbrother (Little Moustache), (Wynonna) Inez Smith, and Nicole (Weasel Woman) Johnston of the Mountain Valley Child Society. They explain the more than a decades long fight against the expropriation of mineral resources (gravel and coal) and water from the Piikani Nation, in southern Alberta. Nicole, Edna, and Inez discuss the impacts of coal mining on their communities, highlighting the lack of proper consultation and the environmental and cultural consequences. They stress the importance of preserving water, biodiversity, and future generations, advocating for informed decision-making and community involvement. The episode underscores the need for collaboration and continued efforts to protect the land and its inhabitants.

Edna, Inez, and Nicole Introductions

Alex:

Welcome to The Gravity Well Podcast with Alex and Jenny. Here you break down heavy ideas with us to understand their complexities and connections. Our mission is to work through your dilemmas with you in conversation and process making our world a better place for all.

Jenny :

We acknowledge that we live on the traditional territories of treaties, 4, 6, 7, 8, and 10. The ancestral homelands of diverse First Nations, Inuit, and Metis. Peoples whose ancestors have walked this land since time immemorial and whose histories, languages, and cultures continue to influence our vibrant communities. We pay respect to indigenous people through our ethical relationship building efforts. Our community agreement asks for genuine conversations, real hearts, open minds, and different perspectives in conflict. Let’s rely on our six W system and live participant feedback. What matters most is finding common ground.

Alex :

We dedicate this podcast to our children, nieces, nephews, grandchildren, and all future generations. The gravity well is on YouTube and streaming wherever you get your podcasts. Join us at thegravitywell.net.

Jenny:

Welcome, welcome. Happy New Year, if I can say that in February. I’m grateful to have the Mountain Child Valley Society with me today. I’ll let everybody do a proper introduction in a second here. This is our first episode of the year. We’ve been busy since November. These ladies especially have been in the courtroom, on the streets, helping organise our communities in southern Alberta with respect to coal and water safety, quality and security. It’s been a lot happening that’s been thrown at us. We’re going to take some time to dissect what it is, what the problem is, what we’ve been dealing with, and then we’ll get into some ideas around what comes next, what we’re doing together from this work. I’m just going to quickly introduce myself. I’m Jenny Yeremiy, I am a geophysicist by background and I worked in the oil and gas industry for 22 years.

Jenny:

I started in development, I was drilling oil and gas wells and then started looking at liability: the cleanup of oil and gas sites. In 2020 I was really proud to have the opportunity to work with the money that was injected into the industry to address the abandonment and reclamation work in the province. As it turns out, I was a lobbyist for indigenous led closure work in the province. I’m really proud to say that in fact in all three provinces, that was something I was advocating for. With that understanding, here I am doing this podcast trying to make sure that people understand the issues that we have on the landscape and who are the faces of the battles that we’re having to try and make sure that we preserve our water and our biodiversity and our communities. I’m going to stop there. Nicole, you’re first on my screen. If you wouldn’t mind introducing yourself please and we’ll go from there.

Nicole:

Okay. Hello, my name is Weasel Woman. My English name is Nicole Johnsto