The chief of the Ocean Man First Nation, Connie Big Eagle, says an oil spill on the band's land had to have occurred earlier than Friday, when the ministry of environment said it became aware of it.
Big Eagle said a vigilant band member who has been working in the oil industry most of his adult life had reported smelling a strange odour and took it upon himself to seek out the source. Big Eagle said she was told that the person smelled the odour each time he drove by the area of the spill.