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FORT MCMURRAY, Alta. — Anglican archbishop Desmond Tutu has called Alberta’s oil sands “filth” created by greed, and has urged all sides to work together to protect the environment and aboriginal rights.

“The fact that this filth is being created now, when the link between carbon emissions and global warming is so obvious, reflects negligence and greed,” Tutu told more than 200 rapt attendees a conference on oil sands development and treaty rights in Fort McMurray.

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“The oil sands are emblematic of an era of high carbon and high-risk fuels that must end if we are committed to a safer climate.”

“Oil sands development not only devastates our shared climate, it is also stripping away the rights of First Nations and affected communities to protect their children, land and water from being poisoned.”

Tutu has criticized the oil sands before.

The archbishop, who won the Nobel Peace Prize for his role in the fight against apartheid, has taken strong stands on climate change and against projects such as the Keystone XL pipeline. Tutu has signed a petition against the project. In an opinion column earlier this year in the British newspaper the Guardian, the 82-year-old called the Keystone proposal to move oil sands bitumen from Alberta to the U.S. appalling.