Keepers of the Water

Background of the organization

Founded in 2006, Keepers of the Water (KOW) is an Indigenous-led organization working across the Deh Cho (Mackenzie) River Basin, from the Rocky Mountains to the Arctic Ocean. Grounded in Indigenous law, ceremony, and generations of land-based knowledge, KOW has protected water through community-based monitoring, education, and policy advocacy for over two decades.

Project description

Funding will allow KOW to intervene in decisions affecting water use, industrial activity, and climate policy as the Alberta government continues to advocate for the release of the tailings ponds. Their action will include advocacy related to tar sands tailings management, inter-basin transfers, and large industrial projects, and they will work to proactively develop science-based, Indigenous-informed solutions to the treatment of the oil sands tailings ponds.