In Northern Alberta, 100km north of the River Peace, the Lubicon Cree Community resides in a small village of less than 500 inhabitants, called Little Buffalo. This Indigenous hamlet has seen the coming and going of oil companies, taking every last drop of lucrative oil, without leaving any of the benefits to the inhabitants of the region. The locals call themselves ‘economic hostages’ as they can hardly find any other jobs than the ones the oil companies offer. However, they are also the first on the receiving end of the impact and the toxicity of the oil extraction, ‘facing environmental and cultural genocide […] industrial landscapes, drained and polluted watershed, and contaminated air.’ Furthermore, the Indigenous community has witnessed the deforestation of the Boreal Forest. Described as ‘the Northern lungs of Mother Earth’ by its inhabitants, parts of the forest have been cleared due to logging, and extraction of oil and gas. The Lubicon Cree community has shared their despair in seeing the landscape change for the worse in the last 35 years, especially when their cosmology holds nature and the environment as essentials for a balanced life. They understand the earth as a giant ecosystem where humans, animals, and plants are called to live in harmony with one another, giving and receiving from each other.
Jiri Rezac for Greenpeace, ‘Aerial view of Suncor Millennium tar sands mining operations north of Fort McMurray.’ Less than 200km east of Little Buffalo (2021).
Melina Laboucan-Massimo – an Extraordinary Path
It is in this environment that Melina Laboucan-Massimo was born into. She participated in her first strike at the age of 7 on a blockade to ‘protect all living beings’ and stop the construction of a road passing through the Indigenous territory. Laboucan-Massimo shared that her dad was ‘raised in the bush until he was 10’ in order to evade the mission schools which Indigenous children were enrolled into by force and ‘treated unspeakably horribly.’1 In 2009, while she was studying at the University of York in Toronto, her mother was diagnosed with cancer after working for a decade in Fort Chipewyan. Despite Fort Chipewyan’s surprisingly high cancer rate, Alberta’s Chief Officer of Health has declared that there is no evidence to link it to the highly polluted area, but Laboucan-Massimo is convinced of the contrary. 2 years later, in 2011, the largest spill of oil in Alberta’s history happened 30km away from the Lubicon Cree community of Little Buffalo. The villagers felt the impact of this environmental disaster, having difficulty breathing and feeling their eyes burning. The school was closed on Friday because of a very strong odour and many of the students complained of dizziness and nausea. It reopened on Monday, however, as the village was not yet told of the events. They were only made aware of the oil spills 4 days after it had happened. These events made Laboucan-Massimo ever more aware of the urgency of the situation and led her to bring renewable energies to the Indigenous communities of Alberta.
Melina Laboucan-Massimo has now worked on climate justice, Indigenous sovereignty, and women’s rights for over 20 years. She is the founder and executive director of Sacred Earth Solar, as well as the co-founder of Indigenous Climate Change Action. She also hosted a TV series called Power of the People profiling renewable energy in Indigenous communities. Finally, she works on the issue of “Murdered and Missing Indigenous Women” after her sister Bella suffered a death under suspicious circumstances. During Laboucan-Massimo's Master’s in Indigenous Governance with a focus on renewable energy at the University of Victoria, she imagined the Piitapan Solar Project as part of her final project in 2015.
Sacred Earth Solar, ‘This Entrepreneur is Installing Solar Power Projects in Oil Country,’ Melina Laboucan-Massimo on the Piitapan Solar Project site (2019).
The Piitapan Solar Project and the Start of the Environmental Transition
The Piitapan Solar Project is a site of 80 solar panels producing 20.8kW for the Little Buffalo Community Health Centre. It was placed at the heart of the village, next to the school to educate the next generation on renewable energies. “Piitapan” means ‘the coming of the dawn,’ calling for ‘a new dawn, a new era.’ The community describes this project as ‘an era where we use energy that is not devastating to our environment.’ Laboucan-Massimo added that it is the ‘blood, sweat, and tears of the community.’ She and her partner David Isaac led the project. They employed 3 experts and 10 people, 5 adults, and 5 young people, from their community to build the solar panels. It was a $50,000 project funded for the most part by Bullfrog Power and Jane Fonda, an actress whom Laboucan-Massimo met at a dinner hosted by Greenpeace. They could not access any governmental funding and very few loans exist in Alberta for renewable energies due to the easy access of oil and gas in the area. This is one of the biggest solar installations in the tar sands, and it was built by a small Indigenous community.
The Lubicon Cree community is using what the earth has given them, the sun, to produce what they need for the Community Health Centre to function. Kaltron Sawan, one of the workers on the Piitapan Solar Project claimed that it ‘represented who we are and where we’re going in the future. […] When you see the work, I can say that I did that, I took part, and I did it right.’ Chief Billy Joe Laboucan of the Lubicon Cree community declared that ‘in getting this project going, we are leaders in solar power and that is what we are teaching our youth. They have to learn how to operate it. They have to learn how to maintain it. They already know how to set it up.’ He continued announcing that his community could now help any neighbours wanting the same kind of infrastructure. In many of the Lubicon Cree ‘ceremonies and songs, the sun is praised.’ This project is the result of the hard work of a community and their belief in the power of nature.
Sacred Earth Solar, ‘Piitapan Solar Project, 2015’ (2015).
Future and Aspirations for a Better Tomorrow
Out of the Piitapan Solar Project, the Sacred Earth Solar organisation was born. Its role is to ‘empower frontline Indigenous communities with renewable energy.’ They wish to work towards a future where we are no longer reliant on fossil fuels,’ ‘reduce greenhouse gas emissions’ and ‘inspire the world to join us in our call to create a healthy planet that sustains all generations to come.’ After the Piitapan Solar Project, they have supported other similar organisation in their transition to renewable energy. A notable example is “Solarizing Nimkii Aazhibikong” constructed in 2021. It serves as ‘a center for language revitalization, intergenerational transmission of knowledge, and communal space for Anishinaabek and surrounding Indigenous communities to gather and practice art and learn cultural teachings.’
From one woman, Melina Laboucan-Massimo and the support of her community as well as wealthy donors, the Lubicon Cree community is changing the landscape of the tar sands one solar panel site after another. They have already supported 5 other similar Indigenous projects in the area. The Lubicon Cree community hopes to teach their children about solar panels, and that the future of their community will consist of a harmonious relationship with nature, where the inhabitants care for their land and the sun gives all the energy needed in endless supply.
1To find out more about the mission schools: Incomindios, ‘Indian Day-Schools: Canada’s Horrific History’ (2022) at https://www.incomindios.ch/en/post/indian-day-schools-canada-s-horrific-history
To find out more about the Piitapan Solar Project, Melina Laboucan-Massimo or Sacred Earth Solar:
Bullfrog Power, ‘Lubicon Lake Band Piitapan Solar Project’ (2015) at https://bullfrogpower.com/projects/lubicon-lake-band-piitapan-solar-project/
Butler, Rhett A., ‘Melina Laboucan-Massimo: Catalyzing and Indigenous-led Just Energy Transition’ (Mongabay, 2021) at https://news.mongabay.com/2021/03/catalyzing-an-indigenous-led-just-energy-transition-qa-with-melina-laboucan-massimo/
Climate Action Network International, ‘Piitapan Solar Project: Solar in the heart of the Tar Sands’ at https://climatenetwork.org/piitapan-solar-project/
Climate Action Network International, ‘Sunshine Story Webinar: Indigenous-Led Energy Transition Across Turtle Island’ (2024) at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n10_t82bnHg
Greenpeace, ‘Everything you Need to Know about the Tar Sands and How they Impact you’ (2021) at https://www.greenpeace.org/canada/en/story/3138/everything-you-need-to-know-about-the-tar-sands-and-how-they-impact-you/
Sacred Earth Solar website: https://sacredearth.solar/
Stewart, Keith, ‘The Rainbow Spill: A Case of Crime and (No) Punishment’ (Greenpeace, 2018) at https://www.greenpeace.org/static/planet4-canada-stateless/2018/06/RainbowPipelineSpill.pdf
The Weather Network, ‘Power to the People: A Path Forward out the Climate Crisis’ (2023) at https://www.theweathernetwork.com/en/news/climate/solutions/power-to-the-people
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