Opposition to nuclear waste facility at ground level

By Mike Stimpson
Local Journalism Initiative
Reporter
Thunder Bay Source

THUNDER BAY – Nuclear power producers want to put spent fuel rods below ground near Ignace, but some grassroots groups continue to oppose the idea.

An informal gathering of critics of the proposed DGR, or deep geological repository, is set for Wednesday beginning at 5:30 p.m. in the north-side coffee shop and “no-alcohol bar” Howl at the Moon.

The Nuclear Waste Info Nite – billed as a chance to “chat with regional activists” – was primarily organized by Neecha Dupuis, a member of the Ojibway Nation of Saugeen northwest of Savant Lake.

“I wanted to create a space where Indigenous people and supporters can come together and talk about nuclear waste,” Dupuis explained to Newswatch.

“There’s a lot of issues that we’re bringing up that have already been brought up, such as free, prior and informed consent of all the affected First Nations,” she continued.

“The First Nations people along the transportation route and downstream, they were excluded from the decision making. First Nations who use the Revell Lake area (where the DGR could get built) to exercise their rights were also excluded, like from Eagle Lake First Nation.

“And you know what, the Nuclear Waste Management Organization had 15 years to get consent from the affected First Nations and they completely failed.”

The NWMO’s regional spokesperson could not be reached for comment Wednesday, but the organization has said in the past that site selection followed extensive community engagement and the consultation of First Nations.

The NWMO on Nov. 28 chose a location south of Highway 17 between Ignace and Wabigoon Lake as the site for a proposed deep-underground repository for spent fuel from Canada’s nuclear power plants.

The decision was announced some four months after Ignace township council voted to continue as a potential host community for the DGR, and about two weeks after Wabigoon Lake members’ referendum gave the green light to continuing as the DGR’s potential host First Nation.

Eagle Lake First Nation is seeking a judicial review of the industry-funded NWMO’s site decision. The First Nation’s court application, filed in December, asserts that the selected site is in Eagle Lake’s traditional territory as well as Wabigoon Lake’s.

The court application also says the NWMO’s process violated Indigenous rights under the 1982 Constitution Act and the necessity under the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples to obtain “free, prior and informed consent.”

The Land Defence Alliance, a coalition of First Nations in Northwestern Ontario, has repeatedly expressed opposition to building a DGR in the region.

The chief of one First Nation in the alliance resigned from Grand Council Treaty #3’s environment committee last September because the regional council “has chosen to accept money from NWMO that will open the door to nuclear waste being buried near our lakes, rivers and waterways.”

Activists in Manitoba are lobbying that province’s government to stand against the DGR project.

The Manitoba Energy Justice Coalition has written to Premier Wab Kinew on the issue and started an online to “stop storage of nuclear waste upstream of Manitoba waters.”

Water at the proposed DGR site flows west from Treaty 3 territory into Treaty 5 and Manitoba waterways, explained Anne Lindsey of the coalition and No Nukes Manitoba.

Some of the water finds its way to the Shoal Lake reservoir where Winnipeg gets its drinking water, she added.

Kinew hasn’t directly responded but Manitoba’s environment ministry said it will follow the project “because of the joint watershed issues,” Lindsey said.

The ministry also said the coalition should take its concerns to the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission.

Lindsey said the response was disappointing. “We thought that it would behoove the provincial government of Manitoba to pay more attention to this, to be more concerned about it.”