The chief of Smith's Landing First Nation near Fort Smith, N.W.T, is calling on the territorial government to speak out against a northern Alberta mining project. "The government of the Northwest Territories is strangely silent … on the oil sands projects," Chief Gerry Cheezie said. Cheezie said that N.W.T. Premier Caroline Cochrane should be hosting meetings with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Alberta Premier Jason Kenney to make sure the Indigenous communities living within the Mackenzie water system will not be affected by the controversial $20.6 billion Teck Frontier mining project that is proposed for a site 110 kilometres north of Fort McMurray, Alta.