What is less than rubble?
This question came to mind last week while Neil Young’s Honour the Treaties tour was playing in four Canadian cities.
He was performing in support of a legal challenge of the Jackpine Oilsands expansion project in Alberta.
The Athabasca Chipewyan First Nation which lives downstream from the mine is taking the Government of Canada to court.
During a press conference Mr. Young declared that the legacy of the tar sands is worse than the aftermath of Hiroshima.
He evoked a very graphic visual image among his listeners but he was ridiculed and mocked by critics who accused him of spreading dangerous misinformation.
I was curious so I decided to check for myself.
Hiroshima after the nuclear blast was reduced to rubble, mostly small chunks of debris, with no sign of life of any kind – plant, animal or human.
It’s hard to imagine a more devastating scene until you see the bleak remains of the tar sands.
Some of the images from northern Alberta display a flat and barren landscape without any sign of life or evidence that anything alive ever existed.
There is absolutely nothing – no sticks, no stones, no hope. It really is less than rubble.
Mr. Young’s perspective is not as far-fetched as his opponents suggest and he is not the crackpot portrayed by government officials and oil patch executives.
Anybody who is familiar with Neil Young’s music and lyrics can easily recall his passionate words and feelings about Mother Nature.
So it comes as no surprise that he has chosen this battle to take a stand.
The Canadian Government has just approved a tar sands expansion project for Shell Oil and the Athabasca Chipewyan First Nation is challenging that decision.
Young’s Honour the Treaties tour has been organized to raise money in support of this challenge, based on Treaty 8, signed in 1899.
There are many environmental and health issues that have been ongoing for years but this court challenge is about honouring treaty rights.
Along the way Mr. Young has made a few offhand comments about the oil industry, the lack of government integrity and of course, that atomic bomb thing.
It was clearly designed to stir up the pot a little and make his critics respond in a way that made them look scared and defensive.
He was attacked from all directions as government and industry played into his hand.
One petroleum association claimed Young doesn’t understand the close relationship between the oil industry and First Nations groups in Canada.
Saskatchewan Premier Brad Wall called his Hiroshima comments insensitive and ignorant.
One University of Alberta professor says he may be doing more harm than good.
That remains to be seen. Tickets were selling for $500 and the original goal of $75,000 was surpassed after the first two shows.
Journalists used his own songs against him – in particular Old Man and The Needle and the Damage Done, taking cheap shots at his expense.
Unfortunately, most have overlooked his 1970 release After the Gold Rush, which shows pretty clearly that he’s seen this dilemma coming for a long time now.
Technicians and bureaucrats don’t really understand what Neil Young is saying because he is a musician speaking a foreign language.
It is a language based on vision, emotion and spirituality – a great fit with First Nations if you ask me.
It may not be spoken in boardrooms and government chambers but in auditoriums all across the country Neil Young commands respect and attention with this music.
I agree with Neil, Fort McMurray is the new Hiroshima.
