Oil extraction from Canada's Tar Sands is being called 'the most destructive project on earth'. It risks climate change and local ecological disaster, with profound consequences for the indigenous communities living on its doorstep.

Hear first hand about the local impacts and global consequences from three indigenous representatives who are visiting Oxford on a UK tour, and get involved in the new UK campaign to halt one of the world's fastest growing causes of climate crisis.

Featuring, from the Indigenous Environmental Network in Canada:

• Eriel Tchekwie-Deranger
• Melina Laboucan-Massimo
• Heather Milton-Lightening

In conjunction with the New Internationalist.

Cost: £3 . We recommend booking in advance at www.scienceoxfordlive.com/visit-us/events-list Some free tickets are available for students and unwaged people. Please contact: Protected email address

The tour is also visiting: Bristol Arnolfini, Rossport (Ireland), London - including Parliament, Centre for Alternative Technology (Machynlleth, Wales), Manchester – including Shared Planet conference.

For more information, see: tarsandsinfocus.wordpress.com/tour/

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About the Tar Sands

'We are seeing a terrifyingly high rate of cancer in Fort Chipewyan where I live. We are convinced that these cancers are linked to the Tar Sands development on our doorstep. It is shortening our lives. That's why we no longer call it “dirty oil†but “bloody oilâ€.'

George Poitras, a former chief of Mikisew Cree First Nation

The world is sliding into climate crisis. Now attempts to avert it are being threatened by a single, massive project in the Canadian wilderness.

What are the Tar Sands?

The Tar Sands are a vast reserve of oil in Alberta, Canada – the second largest in the world. As other sources of oil dry up, major oil companies, banks and investors are pouring billions of dollars into Tar Sands extraction. The tar sands development in Alberta, Canada, is being called 'the biggest environmental crime in history': Millions of barrels of oil a day are now being extracted from what is currently the largest industrial development in the world. It covers an area the size of England, and the toxic tailings ponds are so huge they are visible from space. Extracting oil from these sludgy deposits in the heart of Canada's ancient forests produces three to five times as much greenhouse gas as conventional oil. Local indigenous communities, on whose land Tar Sands extraction has been imposed, are seeing high rates of rare forms of cancer and respiratory disease. Tar Sands extraction is extremely resource intensive, using enough natural gas every day to heat 3.2 million Canadian homes for a year. The Canadian Government is blocking progress in international talks to curb greenhouse gas emissions because it wants to dramatically expand Tar Sands production over the coming decades. How is the UK involved?

While all this is happening in Canada, decisions are being driven from London's financial Square Mile. Shell is heavily involved. BP is about to go into its first Tar Sands extraction project, 'Sunrise' – in partnership with the parent company of Superdrug. Both Shell and BP are financially backed by most major UK pension funds. Meanwhile, London's investment banks have helped finance a wide range of Tar Sands projects, with RBS, HSBC and Barclays being amongst the world's fifteen biggest Tar Sands investors.

Meet the visitors from Canada!

We are really lucky to have three incredibly inspiring young women visiting us for the evening:

• Eriel Tchekwie Deranger , a Dene woman belonging to the Athabasca Chipewyan First Nation of Northern Alberta, is the Freedom from Oil Campaigner for the Rainforest Action Network.
• Heather Milton-Lightening , from the Pasqua First Nation in Saskatchewan, has been organizing with the Native Youth Movement since 1995. She is now the tar sands organizer for the Indigenous Environmental Network.
• Melina Laboucan-Massimo is Lubicon Cree from Northern Alberta. She has been working as an advocate for Indigenous rights for the past 9 years.

Tar Sands links

UK

People and Planet's Ditch Dirty Development Campaign: peopleandplanet.org/ditchdirtydevelopment

Platform: www.platformlondon.org

The Ethical Consumer's Oil Sands Boycott: www.ethicalconsumer.org/Oilsandsboycott.aspx

The Co-Op Bank's Toxic Fuels Campaign: www.goodwithmoney.co.uk/Toxic-Fuels-campaign

Art Not Oil: www.artnotoil.org.uk

North America

Indigenous Environmental Network' s Canadian Indigenous Tar Sands Campaign: www.ienearth.org/cits

Oil Sands Truth website: www.oilsandstruth.org

Rainforest Action Network: www.ran.org

Greenpeace Canada: www.greenpeace.org/canada/en/campaigns/tarsands

Dirty Oil Sands: www.dirtyoilsands.org