"[Canada's] federal government is trying to stop NAFTA's environmental oversight commission from investigating environmental damage caused by tailings ponds in Alberta's oil sands.

Canada has already stopped NAFTA twice from investigating its environmental record in the past year. The trade organization’s environmental oversight commission seeks to review public complaints that Canada is ignoring its fishery laws by not acting strongly enough to protect the Athabasca River from industry pollution.

Environmental Defence is one of the complainants to the NAFTA review process, and says the Harper government is "blocking" science from getting out about the oil industry's harm to the watershed."

Jenny Uechi and Mychaylo Prystupa report for the Vancouver Observer January 12, 2015. [2]