First Nations document opposition to any nuclear waste disposal sites across Northern Ontario
From Northern Ontario Business
First Nations reiterate opposition to nuclear waste storage
By: Northern Ontario Business staff - 1/9/2012
The Nishnawbe Aski Nation (NAN) and the Anishinabek Nation have united in their opposition to the storage of nuclear waste in Northern Ontario.
The two organizations, which combined represent 88 First Nations communities across Northern Ontario, issued a pair of press releases this week, opposing the plan by the Nuclear Waste Management Organization (NWMO) to secure a site for spent nuclear fuel bundles.
Communities that have expressed interest in hosting the waste include Elliot Lake, Blind River, the Township of the North Shore, Ignace, Nipigon, Schreiber, Wawa and Hornepayne, as well as one Saugeen Shores in southern Ontario, and three in Saskatchewan.
In November 2009, the NAN Chiefs-in-Assembly passed a resolution declaring NAN territory a “nuclear waste-free zone,” and rejecting the NWMO's nine-step selection process.
“We do not support the NWMO nine-step selection process and continue to oppose nuclear waste sites in Northern Ontario,” NAN Grand Chief Stan Beardy said in a news release. “We have a mandate from the Creator to protect our lands and water and have been doing so far thousands of years. Nuclear waste is a poison that will damage our homelands.”
Echoing his concerns, Patrick Madahbee, grand council chief of the Anishinabek Nation, said there is no guarantee that long-term damage won't be caused by nuclear waste storage.
“We always hear non-Native communities saying they don't want certain projects or developments in their backyard. Well, First Nations don't want nuclear waste in our backyard,” Madahbee said in a news release. “Representatives from Chiefs in Ontario have been attending information sessions held by the Nuclear Waste Management Organization and this is not the proper consultation we are entitled to.”
Both Beardy and Madahbee said the storage of nuclear waste in Northern Ontario violates a section of the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples that states that no storage of hazardous materials will take place on territories of traditional peoples without free and prior consent.