EDMONTON — Syncrude Canada faces charges from both Alberta and the federal governments in connection with the deaths of 500 ducks on one of the company’s tailings ponds north of Fort McMurray last spring.

The provincial government laid charges under the Alberta Environmental Protection and Enhancement Act, accusing Syncrude of failing to have proper deterrents in place at the facility.

Environment Canada charged Syncrude under the federal Migratory Birds Convention Act for one count of allegedly depositing or permitting the deposit of a substance harmful to migratory birds in waters or an area frequented by birds.

Alberta Environment Minister Rob Renner said Monday both charges will be dealt with during the same court hearing.

"I don't know if circumstances such as this have ever happened," Renner said. "This is the first of its kind for charges to be laid in this manner in Alberta."

Alberta Justice Minister Alison Redford said the investigation was a joint investigation between Alberta Environment and Environment Canada.

"This has been done hand in hand," she said.

The maximum penalty for the provincial charge is a $500,000 fine, and the maximum on the federal charge on summary conviction is a fine of $300,000 or six months imprisonment, or both. Redford said that if the province is successful in getting a conviction, it will be seeking an alternative penalty against Syncrude that involves "creative sentencing" around what the company may have to do in terms of technical development or environmental program work.

About 500 ducks landed on the Aurora mine tailings pond north of Fort McMurray on April 28. They became covered in oily residue floating on the surface and quickly sank to the bottom of the pond. Only a handful of waterfowl were recovered. The company said it delayed its normal deployment of scare cannons at the pond due to a late spring snowstorm.

The deaths caused an international uproar and critics said it gave Canada, and particularly Alberta, a black eye. Environmentalists have branded oil from the oilsands “dirty” and lobbied governments to refuse to buy it or use it.

Renner said it was important to the credibility of the environmental regulatory system to lay charges in this widely publicized incident.

"I think we have an obligation to enforce our legislation," he said. "If we believe there has been an infraction committed under our legislation I think we have an obligation not only to the environment, but to the public and to the credibility of our system."

Syncrude is not saying how they will plead to the charges.

“It’s really early in the process right now, so we’re very much in review mode,” said Alain Moore, a company spokesman. “We’ll be looking at the charges, understanding the charges and how they apply. And our legal team, after the analysis, are hoping to decide the appropriate path forward and that will be taking place over the next few weeks.”

Meanwhile, the company is working on preventing a repeat incident.

“The system had worked well for decades, but obviously last spring showed it didn’t work as well as intended, so changes had to be made. Since then we’ve had a thorough investigation to help understand what barriers we encountered and how we can help incorporate steps to prevent it from happening again. We’re in the process of finalizing those changes. And we committed to our stakeholders to communicate those changes prior to spring migration and we’ll be doing so.”