Alliance brings nuclear waste opposition message to Sioux Lookout

Tim Brody - Editor

We the Nuclear Free North, a northern Ontario alliance opposed to plans to transport and bury nuclear waste in northwestern Ontario, is taking its message to communities across northern Ontario this month, conducting one-day stops with an information table, displays and children’s activities. 
The organization stopped in Sioux Lookout on Monday, August 5 at Farlinger Park (the town beach).
Stops in Dryden (Aug. 6), Wabigoon (Aug. 7), and Atikokan (Aug.8) are also planned. Stops were conducted in Fort Frances (Aug. 1), Sioux Narrows (Aug. 2), Kenora (Aug. 3), and Vermilion Bay (Aug. 4).
“The public response has been very positive”, noted Brennain Lloyd in an Aug. 5 media release. Lloyd is project coordinator with Northwatch and tour organizer. 
“People are approaching the table looking for a petition to sign and ideas about how they can express their opposition to this project. Many are commenting on how they can’t believe that it has gone this far, and they feel an urgency to see it brought to a stop”.
The NWMO (Nuclear Waste Management Organization) is a not-for-profit organization tasked with the safe, long-term management of Canada’s intermediate- and high-level radioactive waste, in a manner that protects people and the environment for generations to come.
NWMO shared on its website that, “Canada’s plan will contain and isolate all the country’s used nuclear fuel — including that created by new and emerging technologies — in a deep geological repository, using a multiple-barrier system. The plan emerged through a three-year dialogue with the public and continues to reflect the values and priorities Canadians and Indigenous peoples have identified as important.”
NWMO further informs on their website that, “The process to select a site for Canada’s plan to safely manage used nuclear fuel long-term started in 2010, with 22 communities proactively expressing interest by 2012. Today, following a gradual process of narrowing down, two areas remain as potential hosts for Canada’s deep geological repository — the Wabigoon Lake Ojibway Nation (WLON)-Ignace area and the Saugeen Ojibway Nation (SON)-South Bruce area, both in Ontario.
“Canada’s plan will only move forward at a site with informed and willing hosts. That means the people living there need to understand what it means to host a project like this and support having it located in the area.”
On July 10, at a special meeting of Ignace Council, Council unanimously accepted and endorsed a set of recommendations from the Willingness Ad Hoc Committee. A press release from the Township of Ignace noted, “Council immediately passed a resolution (#2024-07.10.177) addressed to the Nuclear Waste Management Organization that indicates that the Township of Ignace is indeed a willing host community for their potential siting of a deep geological repository in Northwestern Ontario.”
The Township of Ignace went on to state in their news release, “The endorsement by Township Council of this recommendation from the Willingness Ad Hoc Committee in no way, either guarantees that the Township will host a deep geological repository for used nuclear fuel, or that a final decision by the NWMO has been made on the actual siting of this multi-billion-dollar project. It simply indicates, through an official resolution to NWMO, that the community of Ignace has undertaken a willingness process and has now agreed to continue to be a potential willing host towards the decision from NWMO slated for later this year.”
The Township of Ignace further noted, “The endorsement of these recommendations brought forward by the Willingness Ad Hoc Committee, comprised of nine (9) community residents, is considered the next logical step in the ongoing continuum towards a final decision by the NWMO on the siting of a DGR to store used nuclear fuel at the Revell site, approximately 30 km west of Ignace. That NWMO decision is expected by the end of December 2024.”
NWMO notes on their website with respect to the Township of Ignace’s decision, “
“Ignace is the first of four communities in the site selection process to share their decision, which comes following more than a decade of engagement with the Nuclear Waste Management Organization (NWMO).
“We congratulate the Township and its residents for reaching this important step and admire the thought and care that has gone into this process and into shaping what the project could look like in the community,” said Lise Morton, Vice-President of Site Selection at the NWMO. “We could not have gotten to where we are today without the leadership and dedication to learning shown by the people of Ignace.”
“The NWMO has always said that the project will only proceed in an area with informed and willing host communities, where the municipality, Indigenous peoples, and others in the area are working together to implement it.”
Wendy O’Connor, a member of Nuclear Free Thunder Bay, explained, “We’re spending time in communities that are downstream of the NWMO’s candidate site (between Ignace and Dryden) and along the transportation route.” 
“Outside of Ignace, there is real frustration with the NWMO having positioned Ignace as their proxy decision-maker, while shutting out all of the other communities that will be impacted if this project were ever to go through.”
According to We the Nuclear Free North, “There is broad opposition to the NWMO project from individuals, community and citizens’ groups, municipalities, and First Nations. In addition to criticism of the project itself due to the negative impacts on the environment and human health during transportation and operation and after radioactive waste abandonment, the NWMO siting process and the Township of Ignace’s approach have also been soundly criticized for being secretive, undemocratic, and lacking scientific and technical rigour.”
We the Nuclear Free North informed that, “a second leg of the tour will take place in late August, with stops in Wawa, White River, Marathon, Schreiber, Nipigon and Longlac.”