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ATHABASCA
AND FIREBAG

RIVER LANDS

First Nations have used the Firebag and Athabasca rivers as an Coffey Pit falls within an area classified by Fort McKay as
important food source, transportation and trading network dating designated for Indigenous use and to practice Fort McKay Treaty
back 9,500 years. and Aboriginal (Indigenous) Rights. The location and surrounding
area of Coffey Pit are valued for habitation, subsistence, trapping
As First Nations migrated with seasonal food sources, they and transportation purposes, and there are more than 50 known
would make their settlements along the land next to the river. Indigenous Use sites within two kilometers or less of the proposed
Ancient campsites have yet to be researched and protected in gravel pit.
these areas. To preserve this cultural heritage and protect the
ecological importance of these river lands, FMFN will not allow The entire Coffey Pit area (with the exception of a small portion
any development which impacts these lands. of the access road) overlaps a Fort McKay community
member-held trapline. Fort McKay members value the area
FMFN is disappointed by the Government of Alberta’s recent where Coffey Pit is located for its importance to FMFN’s culture
decision to allow the development of a gravel pit (called Coffey such as transfer of knowledge about Traditional Land Use (TLU),
Pit) in a sacred traditional archaeological site at Coffey Pit Lake. history and spirituality.
This is an area which the Government of Alberta itself has deemed
as ecologically sensitive. All of this is being done despite the
Government’s refusal to provide any valid economic data to show
that an additional gravel pit is actually needed in the area.

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