Canada's oilsands, situated in Northern Alberta, represent one of the largest oil deposits in the world. In recent decades the Canadian government committed to dramatically increasing oil production in the region, catalysing a national controversy over the country's greenhouse gas emissions, the destruction of vast portions of the world's last intact boreal forest, and the oil industry's aim to build several oil export pipelines.
Amid the controversy one family physician, Dr. John O'Connor, began to see disturbing levels of disease and cancer in small communities downstream of the oilsands. Acting as a messenger on behalf of these communities, O'Connor was the first to raise questions about the human health impacts of one of the world's largest industrial projects. Since the, he says, his life has never been the same. This three-part series tells O'Connor's story.
