Grants and Contributions:

Grant or Award spanning more than one fiscal year (2017-2018 to 2018-2019).

Although the oil sands industry provides significant economic benefits to Canada, the development of thisx000D
resource has not been without controversy. Indeed, there have been a number of concerns regarding the impactx000D
of the oil sands industry on the environment and human health. As a result, in 2012 the Joint Oil Sandsx000D
Monitoring (JOSM) program was established; this monitoring program is paid for by oil sands producersx000D
including the 13 member companies of the Canadian Oil Sands Innovation Alliance (COSIA). Despite the factx000D
that concerns about adverse reproductive outcomes resulting from oil sands activities have been raised byx000D
scientists, environmental groups and community organizations, there have been no assessments of reproductivex000D
outcomes as part of this program. There is clear evidence from laboratory studies that exposure to chemicalsx000D
and metals which are related to oil sands activity can have profound effects on reproduction in mammals. It hasx000D
been suggested that river otters may serve as indicators for individual and population-level health risks to bothx000D
wildlife and humans. Therefore the goal of this project is to determine if reproductive outcomes can bex000D
determined in otters that are being collected as part of the JOSM hunter-trapper harvested wildlife toxicologyx000D
monitoring program.