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Three aboriginal women from Canada are visiting the United Kingdom and Ireland as part of a 10-day tour to raise awareness around human rights issues occurring in the Alberta tarsands.
The tour, made up of two women from northern Alberta and one from Saskatchewan, is timed to create awareness in the run-up to the UN climate talks in Copenhagen in December.
"The [Canadian] government is in an environmental catch-22 predicament," said Heather Milton-Lighting from the Pasqua First Nation in Saskatchewan.
"Its energy policy depends on further expansion of the tarsands and it's the emissions coming from the tarsands that is prohibiting Canada from fulfilling its legal commitments under the Kyoto Protocol to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions."
Milton-Lighting said Canada is affecting the whole world's ability to reach a climate agreement in Copenhagen.
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