‘They’re destroying us’: Indigenous communities fear toxic leaks from Canada oil industry

Leaks from the oil sands operations have drawn attention to the transformation Canada’s largest industry has had on Alberta. Photograph: Bloomberg/Getty Images

Alice Rigney was born on the northern shores of the Athabasca River, a mighty body of water that flows from Canada’s western ice fields and terminates in the far reaches of the province of Alberta.

Alongside her 16 siblings, she spent her youth harvesting berries and drying white fish in a tiny village known as Jackfish Lake.