Historical photographs show some of the structures along the Snye and Athabasca Rivers that once formed part of Moccasin Flats. (NWT Archives) A study released by the McMurray Métis Thursday implicates Syncrude and various levels of government in the eviction of a First Nations and Métis settlement.
Syncrude has previously denied any involvement in the removal of residents from the area known as Moccasin Flats in Fort McMurray's lower townsite 40 years ago.
In interviews with CBC News, the oil company instead blamed the municipality for carrying out the eviction.
But the study suggests both the oil company and the municipality played a key role in the forced removal of a Métis and First Nations settlement that existed along the banks of the Athabasca and Snye rivers. Moccasin Flats was bulldozed to make way for the apartment building in the background. (NWT Archives) CBC obtained an advance copy Wednesday of the report, entitled The Moccasin Flats Evictions: Métis Home, Forced Relocation, and Resilience in Fort McMurray, Alberta.
Researchers Tara Joly and Hereward Longley said documents suggest a Syncrude-owned development company worked with the town of Fort McMurray on the evictions.
But they cautioned the research does not definitively show Syncrude directly worked to evict the residents and noted there are outstanding questions and documents that could determine Syncrude's full role.
At least 14 Indigenous families were evicted from Moccasin Flats starting in the late 1970s to make way for growth in the rapidly expanding town.
"A lot of the stuff that people have said over the years are actually true," Bill Loutitt, McMurray Métis CEO, said Wednesday.
Pat Shott was one of the most prominent victims of the eviction.
He was one of the last who stood in the face of bulldozers and police refusing to leave. Shott was later arrested.
Thirty-seven years later his son Steve attended a press conference Thursday in Fort McMurray where a report on the evictions was presented. Steve Shott is the son of Pat Shott. His father stood in front of bulldozers as they evicted residents of Moccasin Flats. (David Thurton/ CBC) "The things that surprised me was like how Syncrude had a big impact on it," Steve Shott said holding the report. "It was never ever mentioned. It was stuff like that. And they never to this day brought anything up about it"
The residents were removed to construct several infrastructure projects, including a high-rise building for Syncrude's oilsands employees.
One of the notable findings in the report is a May 1975 letter from the province, which "reprimanded" Northward Developments — which was wholly-owned by Syncrude —for requesting the evictions.
"It should be understood by all parties involved, that I, as Provincial Minister Responsible for Native Affairs, do not, and will not support any form of forceful eviction, of the inhabitants of the area in and around the Snye River," wrote Bob Bogle, who was part of Peter Lougheed's Progressive Conservative government at the time.