Canada will fund an indigenous-led study into the impacts of oil sands mining on the health of local communities, the government said Wednesday, after a tailings water leak at an Imperial Oil site renewed concerns about pollution.

Environment Minister Steven Guilbeault said Ottawa will provide C$12 million ($8.71 million) over 10 years for the Fort Chipewyan health study, which could include a risk assessment of increased cancer rates for communities downstream from the oil sands region. Fort Chipewyan is one of several Indigenous communities in northern Alberta that learned last year that tailings water — a toxic mix of bitumen, sand and bitumen residue — had been flowing from the Imperial’s nearby Kearl mine site for months. For years, these communities have reported higher rates of cancer and other health problems, including autoimmune diseases, skin irritations and severe arthritis, Allan Adam, chief of the Athabasca Chipewyan First Nation, said in a conference call with reporters. He said his community first requested a health study in 1992.

If the study highlights the impacts of the oil sands on communities, it will force federal and provincial governments and companies to adopt stricter environmental and health measures, Mr. Guilbeault told reporters on the same conference call.

“That would be the only sensible course of action,” he said. “I have heard firsthand how the Kearl Mine oil spill has impacted communities, but also that these concerns are not new.

About two-thirds of the 5 million barrels of crude oil produced in Canada per day come from oil sands, and Imperial is one of the largest producers along with Suncor Energy and Canadian Natural Resources Ltd.

Imperial did not immediately respond to a request for comment. The company said in an update on the Kearl leak posted on its website last month that leak control measures installed in 2023 are still in place and continue to work effectively.

The aim of the study is to collect reliable data on the health and environmental impacts of the oil sands, with communities setting specific targets.

Mr. Guilbeault said Ottawa had asked the Alberta government to help fund the study but had not received a response. He added that an independent risk assessment of tailings ponds would be helpful. The Alberta government did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Billy-Joe Tuccaro, chief of the Mikisew Cree First Nation, said during the same conference call that the health study is long overdue.

“From the first shovel of earth, all of this should have been taken into account… but today, 30 or 40 years later, we are making up for lost time because people have died,” he explained.

($1 = 1.3779 Canadian dollars) (Reporting by Nia Williams in British Columbia; writing by Matthew Lewis)