Saskatchewan Advocacy
SK has a long history of environmental social movements opposing the nuclear industry (uranium mining, nuclear reactors, and nuclear waste disposal). The “anti-nuke” struggle is a well-organized, multi-generational struggle that has been successful in limiting the expansion of that industry. In comparison, there is much less civil society engagement with the province’s oil and gas industry. Below is a brief outline of some of the key and emerging groups working toward change in the province’s approach to the oil and gas sector.
- The Saskatchewan Environmental Society (SES) is one key organization that has addressed oil and gas in a coherent, sustained way; yet this issue is certainly not the main focus of the organization. SES’s mandate covers an expansive scope of issues (climate, energy, water, biodiversity, toxic substances, land use planning, and resource conservation) involving multiple sectors (forestry, agriculture, and mining). The SES primarily attempts to influence provincial policy on oil and gas through lobbying the government and contributing to the public debate through research publications and media commentary. In addition, the SES is directly involved in multi-stakeholder government committees shaping oil and gas development. The organization has also made a major contribution to the public debate on environmental policy generally and on oil and gas specifically through research publications. The best example of this is the "Carbon Copy" report on the risks of oil sands development in Saskatchewan (co-authored with Pembina and CPAWS members) which advocated a moratorium until proper regulations are in place and a full public consultation has occurred. The SES has also compiled advice to landowners in dealing with oil and gas development. In addition, the SES acts as a public resource, responding to public queries and connecting the public with appropriate government officials.
- The Saskatchewan Chapter of Canadian Parks and Wilderness Society (CPAWS) has worked in collaboration with ranchers on protecting the Great Sand Hills from oil and gas development and has more recently focused on the protection of community pastures. CPAWS also co-authored the “Carbon Copy” report referenced above.
- The Sierra Club’s Prairie Chapter, operating out of Edmonton, and the national office have also participated in the debate on oil and gas in Saskatchewan. The Sierra Club has helped organize activist training against the oil sands in Saskatchewan, raised awareness about the problems of carbon storage projects (and critiqued government support of these projects), and called on the government to meet emissions reduction targets.
- Nature Saskatchewan’s role in debate on oil and gas has been more indirect, with the organization noting the problem of expanding oil and gas activities as one among many issues threatening species in the province. Nature Saskatchewan was Ecojustice’s client in legal proceedings in 2009 and 2012 to protect the sage-grouse in Alberta and Saskatchewan, protection that is needed primarily due to oil and gas expansion.
- Public Pastures—Public Interest (PPPI) focuses on the conservation of Saskatchewan’s public grasslands. This group argues that the transition of regulatory authority for Prairie Farm Rehabilitation Administration (PFRA) lands (created in the 1935 by the federal government to prevent erosion during the Dust Bowl, then continued to preserve prairie ecosystems) to the provincial government will mean diminished regulatory oversight of oil and gas developments and therefore greater environmental impacts on these lands.
- Saskatchewan Surface Rights Organization , particularly the West Central section, provides advice to citizens on negotiating surface leases and ensuring companies remediate lands, for example after spills.
- Mother Earth Justice Advocates is a more recently formed group focused on indigenous rights and climate change. Members have expressed concern about oil and gas developments.
- Canadian Settler Indigenous Solidarity (CSIS, originally Regina Oil Watch), a coalition formed in 2014, organizes actions to build awareness about climate change and to protest pipelines from the oil sands.
- Saskatchewan Eco Network (SEN), an umbrella organization of environmental non-governmental organizations in the province, affiliated with the Canadian Environmental Network, began to hold strategic meetings on resistance to fracking in the province in 2015.
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The content for this province was peer-reviewed in April 2015. We’d like to acknowledge the assistance of the external reviewers and Brittany McNena who contributed to this webpage content.
