Cookie Simpson was born in a tent in the Dog Head Reserve, near the shores of Lake Athabasca. Her access to clean drinking water was as good as any city kid's, but it didn't involve a tap. Instead, she scooped water right from the lake with a cup.

"The water was so clear and blue. When you looked down you could see the bottom."

A lot has changed in her 60 years. A major dam on the Peace River reduced the flow of that river and oilsands development sprang up along the banks of the Athabasca River, all of which has been felt in the Peace-Athabasca Delta.

"Now it's just grey and dirty and you can see the oil floating on top. You can't drink it anymore."

She can't remember exactly when she stopped drinking from the lake. Gradually, she saw changes in the water. "It wasn't clean anymore."

"We knew long before the government even said anything, the people in Fort Chip knew that there was something wrong," said Simpson, a former nurse. "They knew that it was industry because that's where the water is coming from."

Simpson says her family used to live on wild foods and ate everything they caught. That included an array of fish, from pike to goldeye. Some of the fish now contain so much mercury that the government warns only limited quantities can be safely consumed each week.

Simpson still eats the fish.