The Dominion - uranium

Defending the Land from Nuclear Waste

Sandra — Fri, 10 Aug 2012 09:23:31 +0000

Indigenous community elders, activists gather in northern Saskatchewan against nuclear waste site

SOUTH BAY, SK—The storm clouds had moved on by the time people arrived at South Bay on lake Ile-a-la-Crosse last Friday for a grassroots gathering against a potential nuclear waste site in northern Saskatchewan. Dene, Cree and Métis elders from affected communities, grassroots activists from around Saskatchewan and others from as far as the west coast and Germany shared coffee, songs, experiences and a whole lot of moose meat from August 3 to 6 at the Survival Celebration Camp for Sustainable Earth.

"We have to protect the land," Jules Daigneault told those gathered in a sharing circle around the campfire. When the 70-year-old elder heard about the gathering happening in South Bay, he travelled across the lake to the camp from his home in Ile-a-la-Crosse in a boat he made himself. "Everything comes from the land. All our food comes from the land."

Gunter Wippel traveled to the camp from Germany, where he has been actively involved in anti-nuclear activism for decades. Wippel has been visiting northern Saskatchewan since the late 1980s, involved with struggles against the expansion of the uranium mining industry. He was also in the province in the mid-90s for the Seaborn panel hearings on nuclear waste management in Canada.

"I can't believe that we still have to protest that same shit," Wippel remarked during the closing circle on Monday.

As is the case in most countries with nuclear power production, spent fuel bundles are stored onsite at reactors in Canada—in Ontario, Quebec and New Brunswick. The federal Nuclear Waste Management Organization (NWMO) is planning a deep geological repository to place all of Canada's nuclear waste underground in the rock. No permanent waste storage facility exists anywhere in the world, largely due to opposition from scientific, environmental, activist and other communities.

In the latest stage of the decades-long search for a long-term nuclear waste disposal site, NWMO has received expressions of interest to host the site. Although Saskatchewan is already host to the tailings and waste from the uranium mining industry producing the uranium to be refined and processed for nuclear energy elsewhere, the province was included in the search for a willing host community. Along with several places in Ontario, NWMO has three locations in northern Saskatchewan on the map: Pinehouse, the English River First Nation and Creighton.

But elders and community members from Pinehouse and the English River First Nation say that their communities are largely opposed to hosting nuclear waste in their territories. Despite the money that NWMO and Saskatchewan-based uranium mining giant CAMECO have recently been pouring into the local councils, community promoters and other programs, they say that they did not initially even know that their own councils—municipal in Pinehouse and Band in English River—were advocating for the multi-million-dollar proposals.

"The Chiefs there don't say nothing to us. They just talk about money, budgets," Dene elder Louis Wolverine told The Dominion. Wolverine, 84, was one of several elders who attended the camp from Patuanak, near the part of the English River First Nation seemingly identified for the waste site.

"They say that it's okay, that nothing's very dangerous," he said of CAMECO and NWMO. The people in Patuanak don't want nuclear waste, he said. "The elders too—they don't want it."

Elder Mary Jane Wolverine spoke to people attending the elder's circle in Dene, with translation into English by another elder from Patuanak. Several elders spoke of the impacts of uranium mining on fishing, hunting and gathering grounds. Some had traplines and seasonal camps where the Key Lake mine is now located. They are now speaking out to protect their traditional territory, the interconnected lakes and waterways, the animals and the medicinal plants from further destruction.

"We have our children, our future grandchildren growing up...Myself, I don't want it in our country," she said. "All the elders are saying the same thing, that we don't want anything to do with nuclear waste."

In Pinehouse, a town located along the road up to the Key Lake uranium mine, the mayor and municipal council have been meeting with NWMO behind closed doors, says Fred Pederson, an outspoken Cree elder from the community. NWMO has a group of paid promoters, an elder's group and access to young students, says Pederson.

But 60 per cent of eligible voters in Pinehouse signed a petition against nuclear waste disposal in northern Saskatchewan, without the petition even having reached the whole population. The Committee for Future Generations, a grassroots organization in the region, presented the petition with more than 12,000 signatures to the provincial legislature last year. Opposition continues to grow in Pinehouse and around the province.

"It's not the people that want it. It is just our leaders that are promoting it," Pederson told The Dominion. He and several others at the gathering also raised the issue of systemic racism by the provincial and federal governments in their search for a nuclear waste disposal site in northern Saskatchewan, in Indigenous and Metis traditional territories. "It's just like we don't count, like they can kill us off."

When the nightly conversation and music around the fire continued into the wee hours of Monday morning, those who stayed awake extending their time together on the last night of the gathering were rewarded. The northern lights made a surprise appearance in the night sky, with shimmering green lights dancing overhead as the last people wandered off to their tents, campers and the beach.

Elders from affected northern communities, the Committee for Future Generations, and others who attended the camp from further away reiterated their commitment to the struggle against nuclear waste in northern Saskatchewan. Revitalized by the camraderie, inspired by the elders, and energized by the young children playing along the beach, those involved with the gathering have plans well underway to continue the campaign over the next few months.

"If we band together, people produce power," said Pederson. "We can stop all of this. We can stop the destruction."

Sandra Cuffe is a Media Co-op editor based in Vancouver, and a member of the Vancouver Media Co-op.

Survival Celebration

Uranium Territory

Sandra — Mon, 23 Jul 2012 09:53:58 +0000

Inuit campaign for referendum over mine in far north

BAKER LAKE—A conflict over a uranium mine in the far north, four decades in the making, has pitted members of a small Inuit community against their territorial government and a French company.

Inuit in the community of Baker Lake, located west of Hudson Bay in the Kivalliq region of Nunavut, have raised a hue over what they call a faulty, biased process and the Government of Nunavut's uncritical support for uranium mining.

John*, an Inuk from Baker Lake who spoke with The Dominion, said the Nunavut Government’s support for uranium mining was biased.

“The new government policy with regards to uranium, I think that’s biased,” he said. “Them knowing their own people don’t really want uranium mining and the impact it would have on the people. We’ve heard for years now the environmental impact it’s going to have in our community.”

He later commented, “I think there should be a ban on uranium mining...no uranium mining in Nunavut, period.”

Bill*, also an Inuk from Baker Lake, said that he was unsure whether or not the new policy truly reflects the opinions of Nunavummiut (“the people of Nunavut”).

“I think they should have held a [public] vote on the issue.”

Outrage over the government’s new policy has been expressed by Nunavummiut Makitagunarningit (Makita), (“The People of Nunavut Can Rise Up”), the region’s only environmental NGO, which called the process to develop the policy “biased” and “flawed.” High on the list of Makita’s complaints is the fact that the government relied on consultants with close ties to the uranium mining industry to develop its uranium policy.

Makita was formed in 2009 by residents of Baker Lake and Iqaluit, out of frustration over barriers to public participation in decision-making. Makita’s objectives include promoting public participation in decisions related to uranium development, promoting accountability and transparency in the territory’s governing institutions and promoting public awareness of the impacts of uranium mining.

Makita was the driving force that initiated the Nunavut government’s development of a new policy. In 2010, the group demanded that Nunavut hold a public inquiry into uranium mining, citing concerns that “a uranium industry in Nunavut would pose serious risks to the environment, to public health and safety and to Inuit traditions and practices.”

Instead, the government held a “public forum,” which involved hiring consultants to undertake research on uranium mining and a series of public consultation meetings. The outcome was the June 6, 2012 release of a policy providing conditional support for uranium mining. It differed little from a policy the government issued in 2007.

At the centre of the uranium debate in Nunavut is a proposed mine by AREVA Resources Canada Inc, the Canadian subsidiary of the French, mostly state-owned owned multinational corporation AREVA. Located 80 kilometres west of Baker Lake, the proposed “Kiggavik” project is only the latest of uranium proposals.

The struggle against uranium mining dates back to the 1970s. At that time, Inuit in Baker Lake unsuccessfully initiated legal challenges against uranium exploration near their community. In the late 1980s, Inuit successfully opposed a proposal by German company Urangesellschaft to mine the same Kiggavik uranium ore body that AREVA plans to exploit. In a local plebiscite in 1990, over 90 per cent of the residents of Baker Lake rejected Urangesellschaft’s proposal.

At the time, all major Inuit organizations opposed Urangesellschaft’s proposal.

The rights to the Kiggavik ore body were eventually acquired by AREVA, which now wants to develop a mine with four open pits and an underground component, a milling operation, a winter access road and potentially an all-season access road. The Nunavut Impact Review Board is currently conducting an environmental review of the Kiggavik proposal.

The community of Baker Lake is divided over AREVA’s proposal, with Inuit expressing a wide range of perspectives on the matter. Inuit Elder Margaret Niviatsiaq, a member of AREVA’s community committee and strong supporter of the Kiggavik mine, said that she supports the proposal due to hopes that it will provide her grandchildren with employment. “We have to think of the next generation. Where are they going to work? How are they going to survive? We have to think about our children.”

However, some Inuit in the community remain highly critical or outright opposed to uranium mining.

Janet* expressed serious concerns with AREVA’s proposal. “[I’m concerned with] how it’s going to affect the environment, the wildlife,” she said. “Even though they say it’s going to be safe, accidents happen all over the world and if anything happens here, especially with our drinking water...I have many concerns.”

She was also suspicious of the industry’s promises of prosperity and economic development. “I always say, the local people are going to get crumbs while someone gets the steak.”

Paul*, a hunter from Baker Lake, was worried that the Kiggavik mine might disturb caribou. “That area where they want to build the mine is along the migration route of three caribou herds.”

He was also concerned that opening the Kiggavik mine might lead to other uranium mines opening in the area. “The problem with uranium is we have so much of it around here. Once they open up one mine, how many others will follow?”

Lucy*, a young Inuk woman, formerly of Baker Lake, was concerned about the colonial implications of developing the economy of her home community by doing business with multi-national mining corporations.

"Relying on mining companies to come in and employ Inuit is still a reliance on ‘outside help’. It does not empower Inuit to become owners and producers of their production. It not only reduces Inuit to be trained just enough to ensure that...a specific sector succeeds in the north...it [also] keeps Inuit and non-Inuit living in the north in a state of dependency. It's backward. It's not progress."

Some who were critical of uranium mining also felt that their concerns and opinions were being suppressed. Janet said that some people in town are afraid to speak out, because they are “intimidated by other people” or “worried that they will lose their jobs”.

Paul felt that his views were being suppressed because his influence was small compared to that of the mining industry. “They [the mining industry] have all sorts of consultants and lawyers and money,” he said. “Those of us who are opposed, when you compare it, we basically have nothing.”

Until recently, there were a number of political barriers to uranium mining in Nunavut. Following the settlement of the Nunavut Land Claims Agreement in 1993, several institutions issued policies that either forbade uranium mining or provided the public with the right to refuse uranium mining. Nunavut Tunngavik Incorporated (an Inuit organization that attained mineral rights to the Kiggavik ore body as part of the Nunavut land claim) initially maintained a policy that forbade mining for uranium on lands to which it held title. The 2000 Keewatin Region Land Use Plan contained a section that stated, “Any future proposal to mine uranium must be approved by the people of the region.”

However, these political barriers were quickly overcome with, some suggest, no meaningful public participation. In 2007 Nunavut Tunngavik Incorporated reversed its stance on uranium mining and adopted a policy that gave conditional support for uranium mining.

The same year, the Government of Nunavut issued a similar policy when then Baker Lake MLA David Simailak tabled six “guiding principles” on uranium mining in the Legislative Assembly.

In 2008, the Nunavut Planning Commission ruled that “the people of the region” approved uranium mining, based on resolutions of support from various hamlet councils in the Kivalliq.

In a 2010 media release, Makita condemned these policy changes, arguing that they were made “without involving [Inuit] in the decision-making process” and “without regard for the democratic standard set in Baker Lake by a public plebiscite.” Makita further argued that these policies left the question of uranium mining up to environmental reviews, which would ultimately result in “bureaucrats in Nunavut and Ottawa decid[ing] whether or not [uranium mining] is in [Nunavut’s] public interest.”

Accordingly, Makita demanded that the Government of Nunavut hold a public inquiry “on whether or not to open Nunavut to uranium mining.” The group argued that a public inquiry is more “transparent, flexible and democratic than a regulatory process is,” and that the government needed to seriously assess whether or not Nunavut’s institutions had the ability to properly regulate uranium mining.

Petitions demanding a public inquiry, initiated by Makita, were tabled in the Legislative Assembly of Nunavut in June, 2010.

In August, the government responded by announcing that, instead of a public inquiry, it would hold a “public forum” on uranium mining to help the Government of Nunavut develop a more comprehensive uranium policy.

Makita responded with heavy criticism to the decision to hold a public forum instead of a public inquiry. In a press release, Makita argued that “the proposed process is window dressing—public meetings without a mandate for research and reporting, and without clear standards for transparency or process, will be a waste of time and money.”

During question period in the Legislative Assembly in October, 2010, Premiere Aariak defended the government’s choice of a public inquiry, stating that the government “concluded that the public would be fully consulted with greater participation through a public forum.”

The public forum was held in 2011. Golder Associates—the same consulting firm hired by AREVA to conduct feasibility studies and write sections of their impact assessment for the Kiggavik mine—was hired by the Nunavut government to conduct research into uranium mining. The outcome of this research was harshly criticized by Mining Watch Canada, an Ottawa-based NGO that had been invited by Makita to participate in the consultation meetings held during the public forum.

Jamie Kneen of Mining Watch slammed the Nunavut government’s decision to have its research conducted by Golder Associates. “Golder should not be expected to produce a document on its own that could put its primary clients (the mining industry) in a bad light,” he writes in the report A Flawed Foundation.

Kneen further charged that the information provided by Golder is “biased, inaccurate and incomplete,” that it “misrepresent[s] the nature of environmental regulation and health protection” and that it “presents assumptions and theories as facts.”

Representatives from the Government of Nunavut were not available for immediate comment on their choice of Golder Associates to conduct research for the public forums.

Consultation meetings were held in Baker Lake, Iqaluit and Cambridge Bay in spring, 2011. Comments were also accepted by internet and telephone submission. According to a report by Brubacher Development Strategies Incorporated, local residents from communities throughout the territory asked many questions and voiced a variety of opinions on the possibility of uranium mining in Nunavut.

While some residents spoke about the potential employment uranium mining could bring to Nunavut, others voiced concerns about the potential impacts of uranium mining on the environment. Major concerns included the potential for mine roads to impact caribou migrations, the possibility of contamination of wildlife and water and potential impacts on human health. Many of these concerns were related to the possibility that impacts on wildlife might negatively affect Inuit hunting and fishing. Some indicated that they had moral objections to mining activity in their territory that might support the creation of nuclear weapons. Some residents expressed frustration that the majority of the panel the government commissioned for the consultation meetings was supportive of uranium mining, which they felt ensured that discussions during the consultation meetings were also biased.

On June 6, 2012, the Nunavut government released the results of the consultation meetings and a “new” policy statement on uranium mining.

Aside from some minor changes, the new policy statement is essentially the same as the original guiding principles issued in 2007, and indicates support for uranium mining subject to five conditions. Included in these conditions was an assurance that “uranium mined in Nunavut shall be used only for peaceful and environmentally responsible purposes,” that the people of Nunavut “must be the major beneficiaries” of uranium mining and that uranium mining must have the support of the people of Nunavut “with particular emphasis on communities close to uranium development.” The policy also stipulated that environmental standards must be “assured” and that the health and safety of workers “shall be protected to national standards.”

Makita criticized both the policy and the process by which it was developed. In a press release, Makita again criticized the government’s choice to have Golder Associates help develop the uranium policy. Chair Sandra Inutiq called the consultation process “clearly not an ‘objective’ policy review” and “biased from the outset.” She further argued that “the Nunavut government’s ‘public forums’ were a way to deflect Makita’s call for a public inquiry,” according to the June 8 press release. Due to what the organization considers to have been a “flawed process” with an outcome that supports uranium development, Makita reiterated its position that Nunavut’s institutions are “incapable of protecting the public interest in matters of uranium.”

In an e-mail to The Dominion, Makita member Jack Hicks took issue with the government policy’s assertion that uranium from Nunavut would only be used for “peaceful and environmentally responsible purposes.”

“We know where and how uranium from Nunavut could end up in nuclear weapons. Almost everyone I've ever spoken with—including people who are in favour of opening the territory to uranium mining—knows perfectly well that the [Government of Nunavut] and [Nunavut Tunngavik, Inc.] have zero control over how uranium will be used if it leaves the territory.”

“And given that the world has not found a way to safely store the highly radioactive waste from nuclear power plants, despite having spent countless billions of dollars trying, the idea that even non-military use of nuclear energy can be called 'environmentally responsible' is absurd,” Hicks said.

“What is tragically fascinating is that in a single generation the Inuit leadership has shifted from holding principled anti-nuclear positions (for example the Inuit Circumpolar Conference’s 1983 Resolution on a Nuclear Free Zone in the Arctic) to repeating the 'peaceful and environmentally responsible' lies of the politicians of the dominant society.”

With regard to the condition that the uranium industry must have the support of communities close to uranium development, Hicks felt that only a plebiscite could be used to determine community support.

“This should take the form of a public vote, such as the one that was held in Baker Lake in 1990. Nothing less than a free and democratic vote is acceptable. And if a majority vote in favour of the Kiggavik proposal, so be it.”

On the question of a plebiscite, Inuit from both sides of the issue agreed with Hicks.

Margaret Niviatsiaq, who strongly supported the Kiggavik mine, told The Dominion, “There should be [a] vote...if there’s no vote there will be a lot of conflict between the community and the mine.”

Janet, who was very critical of AREVA’s proposal but stopped short of expressing opposition, said that there should be a vote “where people are not intimidated and they can vote freely.”

“Looking at the history of proposed uranium in Baker Lake, I still feel that there are a lot of people against it.”

*Due to the controversial nature of AREVA’s proposal, many people spoke under the condition of anonymity. In these cases, pseudonyms have been used.

Warren Bernauer is a graduate student at York University.

Northern meltdown

It's Not Easy Being Green!

Tim McSorley — Mon, 09 May 2011 05:11:58 +0000

Unraveling myths of sustainable power

VANCOUVER & TORONTO—As the climate crisis worsens, the Canadian public is being told that new developments in “green energy” are helping reduce the carbon footprint of our energy needs. The PR push around green energy comes as the fossil fuels sector in Canada is plowing ahead, extracting heavy crude from the tar sands, pulling coal from open pit mines, and opening up remote territories for natural gas extraction.

While the idea of cleaner energy resonates with many, provincial governments have increasingly undermined the concept of “greener” energy production. Today, high-impact hydro-electric and nuclear power projects make up a significant percentage of so-called clean energy targets in Ontario and British Columbia.

“The climate argument is being used as a justification for lots of new dams around the world. It’s being used to greenwash dams,” Patrick McCully, Executive Director of the International Rivers Network (IRN) told The Dominion. He highlighted hydro-kinetic turbines, and wave and tidal energy as potential alternatives in the ongoing redefinition of hydro potential.

“There’s a possibility of getting electricity out of flowing water in an environmentally benign way, but not by building big dams everywhere,” added McCully. “And lots of small dams on lots of small rivers—that could also do a lot of harm.”

As with large-scale hydro-electric dams, the greening of nuclear power is dependent on the omission of economic externalities: costs or benefits that affect a third party and are not accounted for in market transactions. Nuclear power generation offers a clear example of the externalities potentially overshadowing the direct impacts of a nuclear power plant itself.

Along with hydro, wind, and solar, nuclear power is considered by the Canadian government to be “clean energy,” defined as “energy that is produced, transmitted, distributed and used with low or zero greenhouse gas (GHG) and other air emissions.” The government of Canada has indicated that by 2020, 90 per cent of the country’s electricity will come from these “non-emitting sources,” including nuclear power.

PHOTO: SAM BRAD

“The nuclear power industry has latched onto global warming as an argument for its renaissance,” wrote Karl Coplan, a Law Professor, in 2008. “[Put] simply, the nuclear industry, with government complicity, has transferred and deferred the most expensive part of the cost of the nuclear fuel cycle to future generations and civilizations unknown,” he wrote, addressing the contentious externality of nuclear fuel waste over its lifespan of at least hundreds of thousands of years.
Communities across Canada have been negatively impacted all the way along the nuclear fuel cycle.

On the front end is uranium, of which Canada is the world’s number one supplier. According to the Canadian Nuclear Association’s Nuclear Facts, “In 2008, the uranium mines in Saskatchewan accounted for approximately 21 per cent of the world’s total uranium production.”

Canada’s uranium deposits and mines are concentrated in the Athabasca Region in northern Saskatchewan, in First Nations territory. Strong resistance to uranium mining across the country over the last several decades has resulted in uranium mining bans in different provinces and regions.

“Mining companies came and robbed us of our country, where we lived, fished and hunted,” said Annie Benonie. The 88-year-old from Wollaston Lake near the Saskatchewan uranium mines was interviewed by Swedish journalist Fredrik Loberg last year. “The land will never be restored again [for] future generations,” she said.

Canadian uranium powers nuclear plants in a number of provinces, including Ontario. Today, Ontario’s energy grid stands at a crossroads. According to the Ontario Power Authority, by 2025 80 per cent of the province’s aging energy-generating infrastructure, traditionally powered by nuclear, hydro and coal, will need to be replaced to avoid increasing power line loss and allow for broader deployment of renewable energy projects. By 2030, the province plans to spend an additional $87 billion on overhauling the power grid.

“The constraint in increasing the installation of renewables is currently in transmission and distribution,” Adam Scott, Renewable Energy Coordinator at Environmental Defence, told The Dominion. “Ontario needs dramatic upgrades to the transmission and distribution systems.”

Yet, at this critical moment, the province’s recently released Long Term Energy Plan (LTEP) is focused primarily on the rapid elimination of coal-fired generation—using increases in nuclear, hydro and natural gas generation—in order to meet the modest Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change targets of 450 parts per million atmospheric CO₂ by 2045.

Of the forecasted $87 billion in capital investment, the LTEP estimates $33 billion will be spent on nuclear power compared with $9 billion on solar, $14 billion on wind, $4.6 billion on hydro and $4 billion on biomass.

Scott, however, is generally pleased with the LTEP, pointing to the fact that it puts a greater emphasis on Ontario’s Feed In Tariff (FIT) program, which compensates wind and solar generators for energy they produce and feed in to the grid. Such programs have been successfully adopted over the past 20 years throughout Europe.

“Ontario added more solar power in its first year than [any FIT program in] Spain, Germany [or] France,” added Scott.

However, not everyone agrees that the LTEP was a step in the right direction. Criticism from environmental organizations has focused on the potential of a nuclear disaster, coupled with the long-term commitment required to re-invest in the technology.

“[Ontario] exempted its nuclear electricity plan from an environmental assessment,” said Shawn Stensil, Nuclear Analyst at Greenpeace Canada, in a news release. Stensil stated that nuclear re-investment “will limit the long-term growth of cleaner, safer and more affordable energy options.” A recent study commissioned by Greenpeace, the Pembina Institute, and the Canadian Environmental Law Association claims that renewable investment with a larger wind portfolio would be cheaper than re-investing in nuclear power.

The enormous cost overruns of nuclear power continue to be a point of contention even among those who are optimistic about the province’s expansion of FIT. “LTEP didn’t move us away from nuclear. We’re actually paying other jurisdictions to use the surplus electricity at night from reactors that can’t be throttled down,” Mike Brigham, Chairperson of the Toronto Renewable Energy Co-op [TREC], told The Dominion.

TREC helps incubate locally owned solar and wind projects such as Windshare, a 100-metre-high turbine located along Toronto’s waterfront that produces enough energy to power at least 100 homes per year. An urban project like Windshare could never be built today, said Brigham, because of recent legislation prohibiting the construction of turbines within 500 metres of residential areas. As a result, groups like TREC have invested a significant amount of resources in solar installations, which can be deployed in both rural and urban areas.

At the other end of the fuel cycle is nuclear waste. In late January, New Brunswickers held a rally outside the NB Power headquarters in Fredericton, protesting the costly and potentially hazardous errors made in the ongoing reconstruction of the Point Lepreau Nuclear Generating Station. Located along the northern shore of the Bay of Fundy, only some 20 kilometres west of Saint John, Point Lepreau has a history of controversy, including a 1997 leak in the reactor core that produced a 75-day shutdown.

Atlantic organizations joined forces with the Nuclear Out of Quebec Movement (MSQN) to denounce Hydro-Quebec’s plans to remodel the Gentilly-2 Nuclear Generating Station in Becancour, 100 kilometres northeast of Montreal. They point to the controversial Point Lepreau reconstruction, slated to go back online in 2012, as reason enough for their opposition.

A joint press statement released by the MSQN and Atlantic organization representatives on January 26, 2011, the same day as the NB protest, said Gentilly-2 will be “far more costly than anticipated, and will create entirely new categories of radioactive waste that will have to remain in Quebec for permanent storage because the federal government takes no responsibility for such wastes.” The release also noted that the upgrades would add approximately 100 tonnes of high-level waste to the existing stockpile for every year of continued operation.

In terms of policy at the federal level, the “Creating the Economy of Tomorrow” budget document on Canada’s Economic Action Plan website outlines investments in science and technology, as well as in universities and research. While improving infrastructure at universities and colleges has the highest stimulus value for 2009-10 out of the 13 categories included, “Strengthening Canada’s nuclear advantage” is in second place at $351 million. Right behind it is “Transformation to a Green Energy Economy” at $200 million. The budget allotment for nuclear development is over ten times more than the amount designated for the Canada Graduate Scholarships program.

The development of sustainable technologies is constantly redefining the potential for “green” energy in Canada; however, as of yet, the term has not captured much real meaning.

Justin Saunders is an information technologist and journalist based in Toronto. Sandra Cuffe is a freelance writer, a contributing member of the Vancouver Media Co-op, and a coffee-lover.

This article was published in A People's Forecast: The Climate Justice Issue, our 2011 special issue. To read more articles as they are published, click here.

Good power bad power

Good power bad power II

Saskatchewan Uranium, Fallujah's Children

Moira Peters — Thu, 25 Nov 2010 05:26:37 +0000

Report on birth defects and cancers in Iraq points to Canadian uranium

REGINA—Radioactive armaments used by the US army in Iraq have been highlighted in a recent study as a probable cause for the region's increase in birth defects, infant deaths and cancer. Unavoidably, some of the uranium that made these weapons radioactive came from Saskatchewan.

"Cancer, Infant Mortality and Birth Sex-Ratio in Fallujah, Iraq 2005-2009," a report in the July 2010 issue of the International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, compared data gathered in Fallujah to data from the Middle East Cancer Registry. The infant death rate in Fallujah during the period of study (2005-2009) was found to be four times the rate in Egypt and Jordan and nine times the rate in Kuwait. Furthermore, the death rate in Fallujah has increased in recent years; and “the results for cancer show some alarming rates in the five-year period. Relative risk based on the Egypt and Jordan cancer rates are significantly higher for all malignancy, leukaemia lymphoma, brain tumours and female breast cancer.”

The early appearance of cancer in Fallujah is mentioned in the report to be similar to an Italian Ministry of Defence report noting the early appearance of lymphoma in Italian peacekeepers from Bosnia and Kosovo who were exposed to depleted uranium (DU) weapon contamination and the reported increase in cancer risks in Northern Sweden after the Chernobyl nuclear reactor disaster.

The authors of the report, though cautious in identifying the cause of the high rates of defects, deaths and cancers, concluded by drawing attention to the use of DU in armaments used by invading US forces. The report states their study does not identify the agent(s) causing the increased levels of illness, but they wish to draw attention to presence of DU as one potentially relevant agent.

The largest single source of uranium for the US military is Saskatchewan, according to a 2008 article by the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives (CCPA).

In fact, Saskatchewan produces more uranium than any other region or country in the world. The Athabasca Basin region of Northern Saskatchewan (with a small area of Alberta) is the world's leading source of high grade uranium.

Uranium mining in Saskatchewan grew in the 1970s as a major government enterprise when the NDP government of Allan Blakeney proclaimed the Saskatchewan Mining Development Corporation Act (SMDC-1977). Although the title of the act suggested that mining as a government Crown Corporation would include many minerals, "The major, if not the sole, interest of the government was the exploitation of uranium resources,” according to Bill Harding in "The Two Faces of Public Ownership: From the Regina Manifesto to Uranium Mining," a chapter in Jim Harding's book, Social Policy and Social Justice: The NDP Government in Saskatchewan during the Blakeney Years.

Bolstered by Saskatchewan Uranium Development in the Global Context, a government report that argued uranium energy was essential to the fate of poor countries, along with government minister Jack Messner’s pledge that there would be no uranium development until each operation was assessed as completely safe to health and the environment exploitation of the resource became a focus of the Blakeney government.

Indications during the 1970s for massive growth in the number of nuclear reactors worldwide—which would providing a bonanza for uranium mining—never materialized. The price of uranium dropped from $53 per pound in 1977 to $17.50 in 1982. Under the Progressive Conservative provincial government of Grant Devine in the 1980s and early '90s, uranium mining in Saskatchewan was privatized. The SMDC was combined with federal Crown Corporation Eldorado Nuclear Limited, and renamed Cameco.

Cameco is the world’s largest publically traded uranium company and is headquartered in the city of Saskatoon. Cameco’s McArthur River mine in Saskatchewan produces 15 per cent of the world’s uranium.

For mined uranium to be used as a fuel, it needs to undergo enrichment to separate uranium 235u from uranium 238u—the desired product: depleted uranium (DU). Depleted uranium has a useful property: it is 1.7 times more dense than lead.

Enter the arms industry.

Due to its high density DU is used in armour. Depleted uranium also ignites on impact if the temperature exceeds 600 degrees Celsius—a useful property if one wishes to destroy tanks, guns or buildings.

Depleted uranium is also radioactive. The United Nations World Health Organization has made several recommendations for when DU is used in military conflict, including monitoring food and water where DU might have entered the food chain, clean-up operations in impact zones where such projectiles remain in the ground, monitoring the activities of children because "their typical hand-to-mouth activity could lead to high DU ingestion from contaminated soil," and disposal of DU in accordance with international recommendations.

Not only was the US using Saskatchewan uranium for DU munitions during its occupation of Iraq, but as late as 1990 Canada was itself processing DU which was then being sent to a US weapons manufacturer. A section of the 1970 Treaty in the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT) prohibits the sale of Canadian uranium for use in weaponry.

According to the CCPA article, “The uranium that’s going into the US for enriching becomes part of the depleted uranium stockpile, and that’s accessible for weapons."

The CCPA article further highlights that in 1993, the Inter-Church Uranium Committee released copies of a license from the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission that followed uranium from the Key Lake mine in Saskatchewan (run by Cameco) to the US, back to the Port Hope uranium conversion plant in Ontario (run by Cameco), and finally to Aerojet in the US. Aerojet advertises itself on its webpage as a world leader in the defence and armament markets.

Cameco, like many players in the nuclear industry, has aligned itself as a partner in the health care industry. The Royal University Hospital (RUH) in Saskatoon recently named its main walkway the "Cameco Skywalk," “named in recognition of Cameco’s $1.5 million donation in 2003 to the RUH Foundation’s Royal Care Campaign to create the Cameco Chair in Aboriginal Health,” according to the hospital's press release. The company’s website boasts involvement in the Northumberland Hills Hospital, the St. Mary Wellness and Education Centre and the travelling Diabetes Resource Program in Northern Saskatchewan. The city’s acute care Saskatoon City Hospital houses the "Cameco MS [multiple sclerosis] Neuroscience Research Centre.” During her 2007 visit to Saskatchewan, physician, Nobel Peace Prize nominee and renowned proponent of a nuclear-free world, Dr. Helen Caldicott chastised the Saskatchewan medical profession for partnering with what she called the “cancer industry.”

Middle East journalist Robert Fisk presents a sickening tale of depleted uranium armaments left lying around southern Iraq after the Gulf war of 1991 and the cancers occurring among the population in his book The Great War for Civilization: The Conquest of the Middle East. Fisk also identifies the problem of connecting depleted uranium to cancer: “Unlike bomb fragments with their tell-tale computerized codes, DU munitions—while easy to identify because they left a penetrator ‘head’ in or near their target—could not be physically linked to the leukaemia’s afflicting thousands of Iraqis, other than by a careful analysis of the location of these cancer ‘explosions’ and interviews with dozens of patients.”

Overlooked by most Canadian media, the medical study from Fallujah adds to mounting evidence for a global ban on the production of DU munitions, and to considering their use a war crime.

In fact, last Wednesday, Irish parliament passed the Prohibition of Depleted Uranium Weapons Bill through its fifth reading. The DU bill, which drew praise from Senators and had none speak against it, is the second private member's bill ever to pass through Irish Senate.

Garson Hunter is an Associate Professor of Social Work at the University of Regina and the sponsor of Dr. Caldicott’s speaking tour of Saskatchewan. Sarah Pedersen is a social activist in Regina.

Saskatchewan Yellow Cake

Dire Prospects

Tim McSorley — Thu, 11 Mar 2010 12:53:11 +0000

Expanding uranium exploration sparks concern, protests in Quebec

SEPT-ILES, QC—There is a region in northeastern Quebec that is renowned as a moose hunter's paradise: a country of blackflies, where outcroppings of billion-year-old granite poke through the veneer of trees and pristine rivers originating in the Labrador highlands tumble over escarpments to empty into the widening St. Lawrence. In small, blue-collar urban centres such as Port-Cartier and Sept-Iles, it seems locals spend every free moment on the land. Ski-Doo travel is a preferred recreational activity in winter and on the shores of mountain-ringed Lake Kachiwiss, located 15km from downtown Sept-Iles, families on day trips stop to drink hot tea from thermoses.

But despite, or perhaps in light of, this popularity, Lake Kachiwiss has also become known as a point of interest for reasons other than Ski-Doo expeditions.

It is here that Vancouver-based mineral prospecting company Terra Ventures has been drilling the granite bedrock of the Saint Lawrence North Shore for uranium since 2008. The procedure includes boring a 300-metre hole into the ground at a location previously identified by aerial survey as having uranium potential. The contents of each hole are then hauled to the surface and cut laterally into two hemispheres, the way one would slice a carrot. One hemisphere from each core sample—which are typically radioactive—is trucked to a lab, while the other half is left on site for classification.

According to Sept-Iles residents, the prospecting site is not fenced in, the drill holes, as of June last year, were uncapped, and the company has neglected to post signs to warn the population about potential radioactivity. The core samples are stored on open-air racks, exposed to the elements.

Marc Fafard, a logger and local activist, describes the result of leaving such unusual objects unattended, and essentially unmarked, in a frequented area.

“You've got these lovely core samples, soft, beautiful as fossils, nice to touch,” he explains. Samples "were showing up in people's living rooms”.

Fafard, who was a recent mayoral candidate, helped found the citizens' group Sept-Iles sans uranium (Sept-Iles without uranium; SISUR) after reading about the prospecting activity in the news. According to Fafard, this anecdote of souvenir hunting gone badly wrong illustrates the degree to which the initial flurry of uranium prospecting caught Sept-Iles residents by surprise.

“Most folks don't know what radioactivity is,” he says. “We're asking for a moratorium while we inform people.”

Terra Ventures representatives did not respond to interview requests before deadline.

One of SISUR's first goals was to purchase a Geiger counter and visit a majority of the uranium prospecting sites in the North Shore region. But it turned out to be a tall order. Since 2005, a plethora of companies have obtained permits from the Quebec government to drill in approximately 20 locations, and have extracted up to 250 core samples per site along an axis extending 800km from Tadoussac through Sept-Iles to the eastern terminus of Highway 138 at Natashquan.

Over the same period, the number of active permits across the province has jumped from four to 86. Starting in 2005, a buzz of speculation driven by the mining industry and the US government's efforts to promote nuclear reactors as a “carbon neutral” and “clean” energy source propelled uranium prices to record highs. The metal's value rose from around $10US a pound, to peak at close to $140 in 2007, before settling to $42 in February this year.

Saskatchewan is currently the only jurisdiction in Canada to operate commercial uranium mines, supplying 22 per cent of the world market from its underground, seamed deposits. But with prices high, the extraction of far lower-density uranium deposits contained in the granite of the Canadian Shield, which have been known since the 1970s, suddenly appear financially viable. In addition to Quebec, active prospecting is now also underway in Labrador and Nunavut.

This trend can pit a provincial or territorial government, eager for royalties or investment, against remote communities that will have to live with the environmental consequences in their backyard. In January 2009, the Sept-Iles City Council responded to popular pressure and passed a resolution calling for a moratorium on uranium prospecting. But even though the Lake Kachiwiss site is located within Sept-Iles city limits, the resolution carries no legal weight because it is the Ministry of Natural Resources in Quebec City that holds exclusive authority to issue or regulate permits.

Mining industry representatives point out prospecting is not the same as mining, and that typically only a fraction of prospect sites will turn into a commercial venture. But whistleblowers like Fafard counter that the amount of radioactive material extracted from prospect sites across Quebec cumulatively equals the output of a small commercial mine.

Environmental concerns related to the prospecting and potential mining of uranium tend to centre on the dispersal of radioactive residues into the air and water. The Lake Kachiwiss site lies just three kilometres from the banks of one of the North Shore's most important salmon streams. Also, Lake Kachiwiss has been shown to flow into Rapid Lake, which provides drinking water to Sept-Iles. Activists fear the radioactive contaminants will follow these main watercourses and accumulate in the Gulf of St. Lawrence posing unacceptable, long-term, cancer-related health risks to residents of Quebec and the Atlantic provinces.

Moreover, the low density of most deposits in Eastern Canada means commercial mining would likely include an open-pit operation, with vast quantities of granite crystal being ground up to free trace amounts of uranium. The pulverized stone, containing unrecovered uranium and derived substances would remain on site.

Marc Fafard sums up the fears of many. “We're afraid we'll be held hostage to mountains of radioactive residue that we'll have to manage ourselves once the companies are gone,” he says.

Many observers of the mining industry point to the policy of “free entry” as an obstacle to democratic sovereignty in resource-related issues. Devised in the 19th century, and still in force in every Canadian province except Alberta, free entry grants prospectors unlimited access to the minerals beneath the surface in any part of a province or jurisdiction not previously claimed for mining purposes. This means the rights of mining firms trump other interests, including the proprietary rights of individuals or municipalities, which apply only from the ground up. Granting an exploitation permit is also expected to be “non-discretionary,” that is, based only on technical factors, unrelated to issues of social acceptability.

“It becomes more and more difficult to stop [mining companies] as you let the door open,” says activist Ugo Lapointe on the question of whether a company that already has a permit to prospect for uranium could be denied a mining licence. “It may not be impossible, but we know of no case where that has happened.”

Lapointe is a spokesperson for the provincial watchdog group Pour que le Quebec ait meilleure mine (a play on words, but literally, "For a Quebec with Better Mines") which is critical of the cozy relationship said to exist between the Quebec government and the mining industry. Unlike the royalty regime applied to forestry, where a “stump fee” is based directly on the volume of wood extracted, the 12 per cent royalty applied to mining companies is calculated as a percentage of net profit, an amorphous figure which Lapointe says amounts to no more than two to four per cent of real profits due to inventive accounting by the corporations.

One further focus for criticism is the province's much-hyped development strategy, known as the “Plan Nord,” which involves targeting government money at selected infrastructure projects favouring principally the resource extraction sector in northern Quebec. According to research conducted by The Dominion, last year's provincial budget earmarked $130 million for extending Highway 167 by 268km into the Otish Mountains, northeast of the James Bay Cree town of Mistissini. It is in an area without residential communities, but where Vancouver-based Strateco Resources has discovered some of Quebec's most concentrated uranium deposits.

On first impression, the City of Sept-Iles resembles any other medium-sized frontier town. Aluminum refining, forestry and fishing are the mainstays of the economy. A majority of businesses are clustered along the main drag. The houses have a prefab look. There is no vegetarian restaurant and few residents would self-identify as environmentalists.

But facing what many feel to be a clear and present danger, the townsfolk have banded together with a force and an originality of tactics that are startling. Beginning in 2009, SISUR made several inspections of the Lake Kachiwiss prospect site. They found Terra Ventures to be in violation of specific provisions of the environmental code and filmed and posted the evidence on the Internet. As a result, the provincial Environment Ministry temporarily shut down Terra Ventures' operations on several occasions as recurring violations were brought to light. Activists also periodically blockaded the prospect site.

Then, last December, a group of 24 Sept-Iles doctors signed a statement warning they would leave the North Shore if prospecting work was not halted. Though some media outlets criticized the doctors for their tactics, an anti-prospecting demo held in Sept-Iles on December 13 attracted 3,000 people out of a total population of 26,000.

The doctors' letter mentioned their specific concern about radon, a radioactive gas linked to lung cancer which is trapped in the bedrock and is released by prospecting. The issue grabbed headlines and was broached in Quebec's National Assembly.

“There's a whole debate that needs to happen,” says Loraine Richard, the Parti Quebecois Member of the National Assembly [MNA] for Sept-Iles. “When there are almost 20 doctors who want to leave my region, I stand up and take notice.” On February 17, Richard presented a citizens' petition to the National Assembly calling for a province-wide moratorium on uranium exploration, a concept supported by MNAs from the Parti Québécois and Québec Solidaire, but rejected by the majority Liberals.

Many activists now see the Sept-Iles experience as a template for successful organizing because it has mobilized citizens and politicians and made prospecting a public issue in a way it has never previously been in Quebec.

Nevertheless, the ultimate outcome for the Lake Kachiwiss site remains uncertain. For the moment, the provincial Liberals' strategy seems to be to deal with Sept-Iles as an isolated case that can be dealt with without addressing any broader issues of mining policy.

However, speaking in the National Assembly on December 4, Serge Simard, the Liberal minister responsible for mining, promised that a uranium mine at Lake Kachiwiss would not go forward without local endorsement. Also, in recent weeks Terra Ventures has suspended its prospecting in what looks to be a gentleman's agreement with the government.

But as Sept-Iles' MNA Richard points out: “If they [Terra Ventures] wanted to dig tomorrow morning, legally speaking, they could do it.”

And as long as the policy of free-entry mining remains unchallenged, it is difficult to see how either municipal legislators or MNAs like Simard can make promises to their constituents with any degree of conviction.

Chris Scott is a community radio host, activist and writer with experience reporting from northern Quebec.

SISUR demonstration

Quebec uranium exploration map

The Nuclear Push

dawn — Mon, 24 Nov 2008 10:24:40 +0000

Mining lobby wants uranium ban lifted

HANTS COUNTY, NOVA SCOTIA–As the global demand for energy increases and resources dwindle, a collusion of provincial government and extractive industry officials are pushing to establish a uranium mining industry in rural Nova Scotia through a "voluntary planning” process.

The Mining Association of Nova Scotia (TMANS), whose board of directors represents a variety of mining companies, has been promoting an end to the 1982 moratorium on uranium mining in the province.

"By having a moratorium in place, we are blind," Gordon Dickie, then-President of TMANS, said in April. "We are blinded in terms of not being able to acquire information that would be useful to where we build our houses and where we draw our water."

Dickie's comment assumes that eventually the moratorium will be lifted and the uranium will be mined, something that environmental groups are fighting against due to safety concerns about mining radioactive ore.

During uranium exploration, toxins are released, posing serious risks to local ecosystems and communities. According to MiningWatch Canada, uranium is generally mined in open pits or through "in situ" leaching, a process that pumps an acidic or alkaline solution into the ground. These processes' ramifications include the contamination of groundwater, the dispersal of radioactive dust, and the release of radioactive gas.

Despite the health and environmental risks, however, skyrocketing oil prices have made nuclear power – and thus, uranium mining – increasingly attractive. The World Nuclear Association website shows that Canada is the number one exporter of uranium in the world. In 2004, Canada’s uranium production was about 30 per cent of total world figures, a value of approximately $800 million.

Companies such as Capella Resources are banking on a lift of the moratorium while conducting explorations in areas of Nova Scotia with known uranium deposits.

Exploration Underway

Millet Brook lies in the central rocky interior that runs the length of mainland Nova Scotia, in Hants County. It is here that the province's highest amount of uranium was discovered three decades ago, and also where popular resistance helped precipitate movement towards the 1982 moratorium.

The moratorium stipulates that mineral exploration must cease when uranium is detected in concentrations higher than 100 parts per million (ppm), in order to protect those areas from any mineral development that would release the uranium deposits. Millet Brook has the highest concentration of uranium in Nova Scotia, well over 100 ppm. But Capella Resources has a special permit from the Nova Scotia government that allows it to explore without releasing the results of their sampling. This enables them to continue to do bulk sampling in West Hants, all around Millet Brook.

Bulk sampling entails the removal of large amounts of overburden – the earth and rock that lie above the uranium. In this case, the mining takes place in an ecosystem that supports endangered species such as the mainland moose and the common nighthawk.

Some citizens see the permit as a breach of the moratorium. Donna Smyth and Gillian Thomas, anti-uranium activists with Citizen Action to Protect the Environment (CAPE) based in Wolfville, NS, see this breach as a threat to local ecosystems, including the watershed in West Hants.

The watershed in West Hants is not categorized as a municipal watershed and thus is not protected by provincial regulations. "In provincial regulations, 'watershed' means water supply area in a business sense, for municipal populations, not in the ecological sense of 'everywhere the water flows,'" says Smyth. Development in West Hants would mean diverting the Avon River watershed from its natural flow to instead be used for the development.

The Future of Natural Resources

Voluntary Planning (VP), an arms-length agency of the Nova Scotia government, was formed to gather public input and influence government decision-making concerning natural resources in the province. However, its website also states that the government is "in no way beholden to act on all or any of Voluntary Planning's recommendations.”

In turn, VP created the Natural Resources Citizen Engagement Committee. The Committee is made up of eight members, appointed by the Board of Voluntary Planning. Amongst the eight, three have an affiliation with nuclear power or uranium mining. One of them, David Duncan, was the person who, decades ago, discovered the uranium deposit in Millet Brook. Between May 12 and June 17, the Committee held "citizen engagement" events throughout the province.

According to Angela Giles of the Atlantic Chapter of the Council of Canadians, "There were several problems with the Voluntary Planning sessions themselves. Many people complained that there was little public advertising and most seemed to have heard about the sessions through word of mouth.

"The outline of the session was that the first half was dedicated for a 'go-around' for each person around the circle to introduce themselves and comment about one or all of the four topics [biodiversity, parks, forests, and mining] ... The second half was to break away into smaller groups based on the four topics. These issues should have had separate meetings. Many people (myself included) felt unfulfilled by the opportunity Voluntary Planning provided, given that I had only two minutes to express my concerns during the three-hour session.”

Jamie Simpson, who works with Halifax’s Ecology Action Centre, said that at the meeting in Pugwash there was a strong presence of industry representatives among the crowd of 55 people, making it appear that industry's opinions on mining – as well as forestry – were the opinions of the community. Simpson said that at the break-out session on mining, all the attendees were mining industry representatives, skewing the discussion.

As the meetings progressed, concerned participants began to develop an understanding of how to take control of the process and spread the word themselves to create a strong presence at the sessions.

Now that the Citizen Engagement sessions have been completed and the written submissions are in, the next step is for the Citizen Engagement Committee to work with Volunteer Planning staff to produce a final report on the process. The report will then be passed on to an "independent" expert panel that will produce their own report for the provincial government. Finally, the department will write its strategy based on the submissions from the first two phases, projected for 2010.

David Parker is the News Coordinator at CKDU 88.1 fm campus-community radio in Halifax.

Asaf Rashid is Campaigns Coordinator at the Nova Scotia Public Interest Research Group (NSPIRG) and a Halifax-based organizer against the Atlantica free trade zone.

Angela Day is a writer, gardener and youth worker, currently pursuing a Masters degree in Halifax, Nova Scotia.

Warning Sign

A Violation of Algonquin Law

dawn — Sat, 01 Nov 2008 10:03:08 +0000

First Nations spearhead resistance to uranium mining

TORONTO, ONTARIO–Ardoch and Shabot Obaadjiwan Algonquins and their neighbours along Sharbot Lake learned in late 2006 that Frontenac Ventures Corporation (FVC) was planning a uranium mining project on the land they live on. They have refused to let that happen, withstanding long days and nights in the freezing cold, on hunger strikes and in prison. It has taken a toll on the communities, but it has also brought them closer together.

The land in question is in North Frontenac Township, southwest of Ottawa, in an area which is the subject of ongoing land claims between the Ontario government and the Algonquin people and their government. Algonquins say the land was never ceded, and that they should have the right to free, prior and informed consent before the Ontario government can sell mining concessions.

FVC, a private company based in Toronto that specializes in uranium mining in Canada, was granted permission to drill hundreds of 200-metre-deep holes for samples of uranium-rich granite, hoping to use the core samples to secure financial backing to develop a mine on the 30,000-acre site.

Paula Sherman, Ardoch Nation co-Chief, says that mining exploration is an affront to traditional Algonquin law, which mandates a healthy relationship with the land. Although FVC's geologists continue to insist that there will be no ill-effects from the process, ecologists maintain that a uranium mine will have dire environmental consequences.

According to MiningWatch Canada, uranium deposits in Ontario are typically so low in quantity – around one per cent – that mining requires removing huge quantities of rock, which is milled. Tonnes of hazardous tailings (waste rock) are left over. Byproducts released into the air during the process include deadly radon gas as well as thorium-230 and radium-226, which continue to be hazardous for thousands of years. Even exploratory drilling can contaminate the water table with radioactive materials.

Hundreds of Ardoch and Shabot First Nations protesters occupied the site of the planned exploratory drilling beginning in summer 2007. Over 150 local settlers also supported the protest from outside the fence, bringing food and other supplies to the camp. Donna Dillman, a 53-year-old grandmother and member of the Community Coalition Against Mining Uranium (CCAMU), went on a 68-day hunger strike at the gates of the barricade in an act of solidarity.

"We have been very lucky in that this is an issue that also impacts non-Algonquin people," Sherman said in an interview with The Dominion in October 2008. "We formed an alliance against this project in November of 2006 and it has been building momentum ever since. We remain strongly committed to this alliance and our partnership with our neighbours in stopping irresponsible development that poses a significant risk to the entire region."

Robert Lovelace, Ardoch co-Chief and Aboriginal Student Councilor at Fleming College in Peterborough, served more than three months in jail after being found guilty of contempt of court for refusing to obey an Ontario court injunction ordering protesters to leave the site. Lovelace was fined $25,000, and Sherman, $15,000. Lovelace was released in May 2008. In their decision, the Ontario Court of Appeal cited deep flaws in the province's antiquated Mining Act.

Sherman explains that their fines were stayed and they were awarded $50,000 by the court for their legal costs, $40,000 to be paid by FVC and $10,000 by Ontario, based on the fact that the province failed to uphold its fiduciary responsibilities to the Aboriginal community.

Not long after the court's decision in the Ardochs’ favour, Dalton McGuinty's government announced that it would be updating the Ontario Mining Act – but refused to include uranium in the public consultations. Provincial authorities have refused to hold an inquiry into the impacts of uranium mining and nuclear power.

"What [the province] says publicly is that they are committed to nuclear power, and that it would be hypocritical for them to be against uranium mining in our province," says Wolfe Erlichman of CCAMU.

"This government is very committed to mining... and the mining lobby is a very powerful group," says Erlichman.

According to the Ontario government, the province is the world's "mine-financing capital," with over 80 per cent of public financing for the global mining industry in 2006 going through the Toronto Stock Exchange.

"We do whatever we can. We tried to raise the issue during the [federal] election, and when they had the sessions to review the Mining Act, we had a big gathering in Kingston," says Erlichman. Around 200 people attended the public session, hoping to remind provincial representatives that 24 municipalities have asked for a moratorium on uranium exploration until environmental concerns and questions around First Nations land have been resolved.

"What they did at these sessions was, they killed us with kindness. They said, you can talk about whatever you want... but of course a ban on uranium mining wasn't on the table," Erlichman says.

The barricades came down in the spring, and there was little change in the situation for several months, aside from the general economic downturn. "The price of uranium has been going down," says Erlichman. "If the price of uranium had stayed high, I think there'd be more interest on the part of the company."

But in September, FVC filed for Leave to Appeal the Appellant Court decision that freed Robert Lovelace and stayed the fines against him and Sherman. In a statement, Lovelace responded, "We welcome the opportunity to argue the issues before the Supreme Court of Canada. Frontenac Ventures must be mad to have kicked this sleeping dog."

"We expect these to move forward and require a lot of work and funds," Sherman says. "We have initiated another fundraising campaign to support our resistance both within the court and in the region.”

To our knowledge, FVC has continued to pursue exploration work against our wishes on our land. All of the offers we have received from Ontario have had preexisting conditions to allow drilling, which we do not support and which we consider to be a violation of Algonquin law."

As of October, it appears the latest recourse may come from provincial law.

"It has recently come to our attention that while FVC was busy participating in our criminalization in the courts, they neglected to renew some of the permits that they had taken out with the province on our lands," Sherman says.

"These lands are no longer covered under the injunction and under Ontario law. FVC has no legal right to be there doing any work. They have appealed to have their permits renewed after the fact, and Ontario has now come to us with an offer to negotiate those permits. Our council met this past weekend and the prior decision to oppose uranium exploration in that area remains in force."

FVC president George White did not respond to calls for comment.

Erlichman admits that the process is frustrating, but not without hope. "It's been two years – there are some of us who have been literally working on this full-time for that long," he says. "They haven't drilled yet. So in one sense it's been a victory. The longer it lasts, the more difficult it becomes for them.

"Sharbot Lake is a fairly populated area as far as mine sites go," he adds. "If you think there's been an uproar now, it's nothing compared to what would happen if they actually announced there was going to be a mine."

Sara Falconer is a member of Toronto ABCF and co-publisher of 4strugglemag and Certain Days: Freedom for Political Prisoners Calendar.

Sharbot Lake

Donna Dilman

September in Review

dru — Mon, 01 Oct 2007 23:34:05 +0000

GM on strike, uranium mining, 1.2 million dead in Iraq

73,000 employees of General Motors (GM) went on strike, shutting down 82 facilities, to oppose cuts to wages, jobs and health care. After two days on the picket line, which cost GM an estimated $100 million per day, United Auto Workers announced a tentative deal with GM management. The strike also affected plants in Canada, which supply roughly 50 per cent of the parts used by GM. Initial details of the contract sparked anger among some workers, who say the agreement benefits union bureaucracy, but continues to roll back wages and jobs. "I’ve read the Wall Street Journal and they’re gloating over the agreement," said one auto worker. "The company wanted to outsource a lot of these jobs, but instead... they can keep them in-house and pay the same rate as they would to someone on the outside. The only difference is the union keeps these workers as dues-paying members. The UAW doesn’t lose, but the workers do." Before it is adopted, workers must vote to ratify the contract.

Algonquin demonstrators from the Ardoch and Shabot Obaadjiwan Algonquin First Nations paddled canoes to Ottawa to protest a planned uranium mine near Sharbot Lake, Ontario. The canoers seeked to demonstrate that radioactive waste from the mine would potentially flow into the Ottawa River and subsequently Lake Ontario. Algonquin demonstrators have been occupying the mine site, which they say is Algonquin territory.

A proposed uranium mine near the Inuit community of Makkovik, in northern Labrador, has stoked debate. While the prospect of jobs appeals to many, a radioactive mine is not as appealing to others. Douglas Jacques, whose family has hunted and trapped near the mine site for three generations, told the CBC that he anticipates mining companies will "go off with millions and millions, and we won't get a thing out of it."

Nine protesters from Six Nations were arrested at a Caledonia subdivision construction site. The Six Nations demonstrators say the developer of Stirling Creek Estates does not have the right to build on the property, as it is Kanienkehaka (Mohawk) territory. The arrests occured after one of the developers was reportedly injured in an altercation with several Six Nations youth.

The UN General Assembly passed the Universal Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. The only countries to vote against the declaration were Canada, USA, Australia and New Zealand.

The government of New Brunswick announced a $237 million budget surplus, more than ten times what was expected. The extra revenues are thought to stem from increased prices for metals mined in the province, such as zinc.

The government of Ecuador ordered Canadian mining company Ascendant Copper to suspend all activities at its controversial Junín project. Carlos Zorilla of DECOIN, a grassroots environmental group that has been fighting Ascendant, said, "It's a fine political balancing act... I see it as an attempt to close down Ascendant's operations in [the area] while at the same time trying hard not to provoke... the international financing institutional world, not to mention the wrath of the Canadian government." Ascendant has been accused of using bribes and paramilitary thugs to suppress local opposition to the Junín mining project, which Conservation International has called one of the most ecologically diverse areas in the world.

The levels of Arctic sea ice reached a record low on September 16, breaking the previous record, set in 2005, by 1.19 million square kilometres--roughly the size of Manitoba and Saskatchewan combined. Some scientists say that Arctic ice has reached a "tipping point," which will be followed by accelerated melting. "All models seem to underestimate the speed at which the ice is melting," one climate scientist told Reuters. The change is likely to result in increased exploration of oil, gas and other natural resources in the region.

Carpenters, roofers, pipefitters, plumbers and other tradespeople staged wildcat strikes in Alberta, demanding changes to the Alberta Labour Code. The contested legislation denies the right to strike after 75 per cent of the province's trade unions have agreed to a contract. Hundreds marched in Edmonton to protest the legislation, which dates back two decades.

The Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers went on the offensive against a new report calling for Alberta to receive a larger share of revenues from tar sands mining, calling it "faulty" and "flawed." The Globe and Mail reported that the tar sands were facing a "capacity squeeze" due to insufficient pipeline space to carry increased production of oil.

A coalition led by the Ontario Coalition Against Poverty held a "day of action" calling for the provincial government to "increase social assistance, raise the minimum wage and build affordable/social housing." "Welfare and disability rates have lost 40% of their real value, the minimum wage is still at sub poverty levels and the lack of decent housing in this City is a shame and a disgrace," the group said in a release.

The Halifax Coalition Against Poverty (HCAP) began a series of clinics aimed at educating welfare recipients on how to obtain a little-known "special needs" allowance of $150. The coalition is working with doctors and health care professionals to provide letters for people seeking the special needs allowance. The campaign "provides the possibility for people to win money they need from the government and to have that be a way to build the confidence and dignity needed to be part of broader political struggle," said HCAP organizer Cole Webber.

Hotel workers in Vancouver threatened to strike over wages and working conditions, diversion of tips, working conditions, medical benefits, workloads and other issues. They reached a tenative agreement on September 22.

Some Canadian postal workers refused to deliver addressed advertising mail to addresses that they knew no longer belonged to the addressee. Canada Post has ordered the delivery of mail, which postal workers say takes discretion away from workers, reduces professionalism, and could violate privacy rights, if the mail disclosed religious affiliation or other personal information.

Afghan protesters near Kandahar chanted "death to Canada" and called for foreign troops to leave after two men were killed in a military raid on a local house. Canadian officials denied involvement, and dismissed requests for compensation. "We don't want to be in a situation where we're seen as just bribing people who have a grudge against us because that puts us up against insurgents who can likewise bribe," said a military spokesperson.

About 200 protesters accused NATO of war crimes, and called for the withdrawal of Canadian troops from Afghanistan in Victoria, where NATO generals were meeting to discuss military strategy.

Maxime Bernier's first speech in Quebec as Foreign Minister was repeatedly disrupted by protesters calling for an end to Canada's occupation of Afghanistan.

Protesters picketed outlets of Indigo books in Vancouver, Victoria, Winnipeg, Toronto and Montreal on the 25th anniversary of the Sabra and Shatila massacre in Lebanon. The picketers called for Indigo majority shareholders Heather Reisman and Gerry Schwartz to end support for groups recruiting soldiers for the Israeli army.

According to a new study, an estimated 1.2 million Iraqis have died since the US invasion and occupation of Iraq. The study, published by Opinion Research Business, was almost entirely absent from North American media outlets.

The UK's Telegraph reported that the US was preparing to attack Iran. "Pentagon planners have developed a list of up to 2,000 bombing targets in Iran," the report said. "Pentagon and CIA officers say they believe that the White House has begun a carefully calibrated programme of escalation that could lead to a military showdown with Iran." Many US and Canadian media outlets appeared to be engaged in a campaign to demonize the government of Iran and its president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.

The government of Israel declared the 1.4 million residents of the Gaza Strip to be an "enemy entity." The move gives Israel the power to cut off power, water and other vital supplies to the impoverished, densely populated area.

Israel also carried out an unprovoked air raid into Iran. The government refused to comment on the operation, but some commentators have called it a test of Israel's capacity to attack Iran.

Sharbot Lake

Greenpeace

Algonquin Canoe to Ottawa

dru — Fri, 28 Sep 2007 22:37:06 +0000

ot-canoe-uranium-protest-070928.jpg

As anticipated in the photo essay about Algonquin resistance to uranium mining on their land, members of the Ardoch and Shabot Obaadjiwan Algonquin Nations canoed to Ottawa to protest the planned uranium mines on Parliament Hill and demonstrate that the waters connect planned mines with downtown Ottawa.

Algonquin Resist Uranium Mine

dru — Mon, 24 Sep 2007 21:09:28 +0000

Sharbot Lake Algonquins and locals occupy mining site and enforce land claim

Welcome to Frontenac County. Ottawa is an hour's drive to the northeast, Kingston a similar distance to the south. Algonquin Provincial Park lies to the northwest.

This beautiful lake is one of many in the centre of an ongoing uranium mining controversy. The 30,000 acres surrounding this lake in North Frontenac lie atop the edge of the Ottawa Valley’s Canadian Shield. This land is often referred to as the “Land ‘O’ Lakes” tourist region.

With vast areas of Crown land, this region is also home to a healthy deer, wolf and moose population, and other rare or endangered species such as the blue lined skink and flying squirrel. Many residents live in the strip of forest and wetlands between Bon Echo and Sharbot Lake provincial parks. Many who live in the region have conservation in their bones, and local political issues, prior to this year, included deer management and spring bear hunting.

However, residents and tourists alike have recently learned that this area is also rich in uranium. A recent worldwide surge in nuclear power development has driven up the price of uranium, leading many companies to begin exploring the possibility of mining for the radioactive element.

Canada has a long history of uranium mining. Uranium mined by Sahtugot'ine (the Dene First Nation of Sahtu, or Great Bear Lake), who were hired by the government, was used to create the first atomic bombs, detonated on the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in 1945. C.D. Howe, then Minister of Munitions and Supply in William Lyon Mackenzie King's Liberal Government, issued a press statement saying, "It is a particular pleasure for me to announce that Canadian scientists have played an intimate part, and have been associated in an effective way with this great scientific development." Though an official warning was issued by the federal government in 1931, warning of the risks of handling uranium ore, mine workers were not informed of the risk.

In the 1960s, many of the Sahtugot'ine workers began to die of cancer of the lung, colon, and kidney. Studies of radioactive-based illnesses in the Elliot Lake region of northern Ontario, dating back to 1974, show the same correlation between uranium mining and carcinogenic diseases.

Today, Canada is the largest producer of uranium in the world, accounting for an estimated 27.9 per cent of world's uranium production. About 15 per cent of Canada's electricity comes from the country's 18 nuclear reactors.

Frontenac County is also home to a strong off-reserve Aboriginal population. About two months ago, when it was discovered that the Frontenac Ventures Development Corporation had begun staking Crown land for mining exploration, this community began protesting the potential mine.

Staking of land by hired prospectors has been done since settlers first arrived in Canada. Prospectors are allowed, according to the Ontario mining law of 1870, to enter any land, including that designated as Crown land or which is privately owned, and stake claims on the subsurface rights for future mining exploration. To date there have been 70 claims staked in North Frontenac alone.

The only obstacle to the 1870 mining law is a land claim filed by local Algonquins that dates back to 1772. Despite a “dispute” process set up by the Ministry of Mining and Northern Development, which allows land owners to disagree with the presence of prospecting stakes on their property, there is no process in place to deal with mining exploration on aboriginal land. Landowners in Frontenac County have little recourse when it comes to the mining company’s plans, which include digging trenches, cutting trees, pulling out core samples and releasing uranium into groundwater supplies and the air. As a result, many such residents have supported the cause of the aboriginal land claim.

The protest began on June 29, day of National protest by Aboriginal peoples across Canada. Members of the Ardoch Algonquin First Nation occupied Frontenac Ventures' base camp on Road 509, just north of the village of Sharbot Lake, Ontario.

Update: On Saturday, September 22, two canoes were launched from the head of the Mississippi River in Ardoch, Ontario. They will travel to the Parliament buildings in Ottawa in order to demonstrate that the water systems connect and that, for the safety of all residents within air and water distance of the potential uranium mine, an immediate solution must be found.

Megan Hughes is the author of Me and My Bike: An Ontario motojournal

» Canadian Council for Nuclear Responsibility

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Uranium: AAFNA Flag

Uranium: Wake Up

Uranium: Locals support Algonquin

Uranium: settlers camp

Uranium: Not in my backyard

Uranium: Inside the gate

Uranium: The gate

Uranium: top of the mine building

Uranium: Rising Storm

Uranium Blockade, CIDA money in Afghanistan, Chile, Guate, Colombia, New Orleans

News Updates — Thu, 30 Aug 2007 14:39:02 +0000

Government urged to end Native blockade near Sharbot Lake. Doreen Davis, Chief of the Shabot Obaadjiwan Algonquin Nation, states "To come in here and force us out of here when we're standing on our Algonquin land puts us in a position of being at war."

Aid not reaching Afghan hospital: Senlis council reports that "Canadian aid efforts in Kandahar province are failing utterly while the Taliban is increasingly winning support in the southern region where Canadian troops are based... We could not find evidence of CIDA's work or CIDA-funded work at the hospital. We were not able to find the maternity project, or evidence of the $5 million that CIDA says it has given..."

Chileans take to streets in anger at regime: "Yesterday's protest comes after weeks of labour action, including strikes by poultry workers in southern Chile and copper miners in the north. Union leaders called the demonstrations to protest against the government's "neo-liberal" economic policies and to further the national debate about the country's minimum wage."

How to steal votes in Guatemala: Citizens warn that certain parties have a detailled system of vote rigging.

US union leaders push back against proposed free trade agreement with Colombia.

Flaherty on Two Years Post Katrina.

Port Radium assessments not "frivolous"

Wed, 20 Apr 2005 13:41:10 +0000

Canada, Racism, Genocide and the Bomb" by Kim Petersen, published in your online journal, and we are very unhappy with some aspects of the article. Our staff, which represents the Déline arm of the Canada-Déline Uranium Table, has been working very hard for the past four years to conduct research on the environmental and human health impacts of Port Radium on behalf of the Déline community. This work has included a comprehensive assessment of environmental conditions at the site, a historical reconstruction of radiation doses to former Dene workers and residents, a present day human health risk assessment, an epidemiology project and an ongoing program of community healing activities aimed at mitigating the social impacts of Port Radium on the people of Déline. Assessments of high risk patients were actually done, whereas your article states that they were only "developed".

Furthermore, the visit to the Port Radium site by 15 community members (which included numerous Déline First Nation leaders), which your article describes as "frivolous", was a very valuable experience. Scientists gave people a tour of the site to explain the results of the site assessment activities that have been conducted. This has assisted key decision makers in the community to participate in the development of a clean up plan for the site.

We would like to speak with you as soon as possible to discuss revisions to the article, as we feel that it does not give a full and accurate picture of our organization or the work we have been doing.

Jennifer Blomqvist
Final Report Coordinator
Deline Uranium Project Team

Kim Petersen responds:

Dear Jennifer Blomqvist,

The article is not about the work of the CDUT. Readers of the article should realize that it is primarily about the tragedy that has befallen the Sahtugot'ine, who started suffering (presumably from exposure to radiation) in the early 1960s and dying. On 22 March 1998 -- over 30 years later! -- Chief Raymond Tutcho alleged "prior knowledge and ongoing complicity in the environmental crime" inflicted on the Dene First Nation of Déline. Tutcho's six-point plan called for immediate crisis assistance, a comprehensive environmental and social assessment, full public disclosure, clean-ups and monitoring, acknowledgment of government responsibility, and community healing and cultural regeneration. Well, seven years later there has been no immediacy to the crisis assistance, and people are dying. Yes, as noted in the article, an assessment has been carried out -- though not yet released to the public.

Ms. Blomqvist inaccurately quotes the article and asserts an error: "Assessments of high risk patients were actually done, whereas your article states that they were only 'developed.'" The quotation came from an email exchange with Mr. Danny Gaudet of the CDUT. I asked, "Since the CDUT has been formed, has any special treatment of radiation-afflicted people been undertaken?" Mr. Gaudet responded, "No. Other than developing assessments of high risk patients." This was quoted in the article.

Ms. Blomqvist again inaccurately quotes the use of the word "frivolous" in the article. I cited the source of my contention in the article as the November 2004 Newsletter of CDUT, which readers can find online.

In summary, 15 community members and 4 CDUT staff variously head to the Port Radium site, avoid walking, start a fire, prepare lunch, go up a hill and then to Murphy Bay "where an old tennis court is." Questions are asked all the time but not one is divulged. Rock samples are collected, a "cup of tea" is "enjoyed," an aerial view is beheld, and after they arrive back in Déline "a tired but very satisfied group." The trip's achievement: giving the group a "much better idea of what the site looks like and what the issues and concerns at the site are."

Whether this is "frivolity," readers can assess themselves. This writer couldn't help but wonder about an aerial survey, ground tour, and tea in September 2004 when lethal cancer cases arose in the early 1960s.

Kind regards,

Kim Petersen

...and Blomqvist again:

Mr. Petersen's indignant response to my critique of his article, though
obviously heartfelt, is again inaccurate.
I don't have the time to engage in this back and forth bickering over
disputed facts and terminology (e.g. "frivolity" vs. "frivolous"), as we
are in a critical phase of our project at the moment. I would like to
end this matter by saying that he should have allowed our staff to
review his article before posting it, as he has misinterpreted and
misrepresented this very important story.

Jennifer Blomqvist
Final Report Coordinator
Deline Uranium Project Team

The Dominion welcomes discussion, criticism, and commentary from readers. Letters can be sent to the Dominion by post or email. Letters may be edited for style, clarity and length; if there is a dispute, we will link to an unaltered version of the published letter.

Our staff have reviewed the article, "Canada, Racism, Genocide and the Bomb" by Kim Petersen, published in your online journal, and we are very unhappy with some aspects of the article. Our staff, which represents the Déline arm of the...

Canada, Racism, Genocide, and the Bomb

Wed, 06 Apr 2005 00:15:03 +0000

The Legacy of C.D. Howe

It is fortunate that the use of the bomb should have been upon the Japanese rather than upon the white races of Europe.
-- William Lyon Mackenzie King (uncensored diaries)

The first shipment of Uranium is transported on Sahtu (Great Bear Lake) in 1931. Photo: Public Archives

Few Canadians know of Canada's link to Little Boy, the so-christened uranium bomb that exploded over Hiroshima, and Fat Man, the plutonium bomb that devastated Nagasaki. Not only were Japanese citizens expendable in the nuclear holocaust, but the "Canadian Genocide Machine" (see Robert Davis and Mark Zannis, Black Rose, 1973) wreaked long-lasting damage on the Original Peoples in the Arctic.

Sahtu (Great Bear Lake) is the ninth largest lake in the world, famed for its record-size lake trout and Arctic graylings. The Sahtugot'ine (Dene First Nation of Sahtu) have traditionally carried out a subsistence livelihood following their food, mainly caribou and the fish, seasonally around Sahtu. A thriving community of 650 has settled in Deline. Previously called Fort Franklin after an English explorer, Deline means, "Where the water flows," in the Slavey language.

The uranium mine was developed by the Canadian government to satisfy US needs for the World War II effort to construct an atomic bomb. From 1942 to 1960, the Sahtugot'ine worked at the mine in Port Radium, unknowingly polluting their massive freshwater resource and irradiating themselves. In the early 1960s, the danger became apparent. The Sahtugot'ine workers started to die from lung, colon, and kidney cancers -- diseases previously unknown to them.

Cindy Kenny-Gilday is a Sahtugot'ine who has worked on the issue of uranium contamination of lands and people around Sahtu. About the lethal legacy of uranium mining, she stated in 1998:

Deline is practically a village of widows, most of the men who worked as laborers have died of some form of cancer. The widows, who are traditional women were left to raise their families with no breadwinners, supporters. They were left to depend on welfare and other young men for their traditional food source. This village of young men are the first generation of men in the history of Dene on this lake to grow up without guidance from their grandfathers, fathers and uncles. This cultural, economic, spiritual, emotional deprivation impact on the community is a threat to the survival of the one and only tribe on Great Bear Lake.

Declassified documents reveal that the danger from uranium was known during the mining operation. However, neither the Canadian nor US governments saw fit to make known the health dangers. The Sahtugot'ine were sacrificed for an effort that ultimately slaughtered hundreds of thousands.

"In my mind, it's a war crime that has been well hidden," said Kenny-Gilday. "We were the first civilian victims of the war."

Canada and the Bomb

In 1930, Gilbert LaBine discovered uranium near Sahtu, but he shut down the mine at the outbreak of World War II. In 1942, Minister of Munitions and Supply C.D. Howe told LaBine to reopen the mine and instructed him: "Get together the most trustworthy people you can find. The Canadian government will give you whatever money is required. ... And for God's sake don't even tell your wife what you're doing."

Hundreds of Canadian scientists collaborated with allied scientists on the atomic bomb program, for which Canada supplied the uranium and heavy water. Canada also had representation on the Combined Policy Committee that administered the atomic bomb program. Canada's Howe was among the committee members who approved the use of the bomb on Japan.

On 6 August 1945, B-29 bomber Enola Gay dropped Fat Man on Hiroshima, a city of 343,000, killing 100,000 people immediately and leveling the city.

In 1998, six members of the Sahtugot'ine went to Japan to commemorate the victims of the atomic bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, an atrocity that some Sahtugot'ine unwittingly had a hand in, a role they now regret.

Canadian Genocide Machine

On 22 March 1998, community evidence was presented to the Canadian government alleging "prior knowledge and ongoing complicity in the environmental crime" suffered by the Dene First Nation of Deline. Chief Raymond Tutcho said:

We, the Dene, have been subjected to over 60 years of horrible injustice because of apparent national interests. Our people have paid for this with our lives and the health of our community, lands, and waters. We have set out a 'Plan for Essential Response and Necessary Redress.'

The six-point plan called for immediate crisis assistance, a comprehensive environmental and social assessment, full public disclosure, clean-ups and monitoring, acknowledgment of government responsibility, and community healing and cultural regeneration.

Tutcho's call saw the formation of the Canada-Deline Uranium Table (CDUT) in 1999, which was charged in 2002 with putting together an action plan "to describe, scope and recommend studies and activities that, when completed, will provide information necessary to enable the CDUT to make informed decisions about long-term management of Port Radium site and any ongoing health requirement ..."

Cathy Mackeinzo, manager of the CDUT, stated that "the community, leaders and community, had agreed to work with the federal government to address joint issues."

"At that time people thought it was a good process," she said. "It's working out to date."

A final report, due for completion in March 2005, has since been extended to June. Danny Gaudet, chief negotiator of the CDUT confirmed that no special treatment of radiation-afflicted people been undertaken "other than developing assessments of high risk patients."

In response to the over "60 years of horrible injustice," without compensation, without health treatment, and without an environmental cleanup, Mackeinzo admitted that there was "a lot of outstanding grieving" in the community and that she was only speaking in her managerial capacity.

The Deline Uranium Team's November 2004 newsletter suggests frivolity. The newsletter detailed how 15 Deline community members and four CDUT staffers flew over for a tour of the mine, had a cup of tea, enjoyed the view from above, and felt "tired but satisfied" afterwards. While some speak of action, the noxious environmental and health risks linger.

Howe is eponymously memorialized by a right-wing think tank, but his name is also linked to enormous suffering.

Canada's little-known role in the construction of the first atomic bombs is still affecting people of the Dene nation today, says Kim Petersen

Stick vs. Carrot: US and EU Diverge on Iran's Nuclear Program

Mon, 22 Nov 2004 09:06:52 +0000

Washington is taking a hardline approach to last week's suggestion by outgoing US Secretary of State Colin Powell that Iran will soon be capable of a long-range weapons system that could deliver nuclear warheads. While the US has stated publicly that it wants to employ UN sanctions against Iran if it fails to prove that it is not pursuing nuclear weapons, the Pentagon is also reportedly discussing military options, including strikes in support of regime change.

While the EU is concerned that Iran's nuclear ambitions will pose a threat if left unchecked, European governments are proceeding with dialogue in an effort to provide incentives for Iran to abandon its nuclear ambitions. In a pact reached last week, Iran agreed to suspend its uranium enrichment program while a deal is negotiated that would see non-military nuclear technology and increased trade from Europe exchanged for the suspension of all nuclear weapons programs.

Whereas international pressure to abandon nuclear weapons is growing, domestic opinion opposes dismantling the national nuclear weapons program. Interviews in Isfahan and Tehran indicate that the public supports both the development of nuclear energy and nuclear weapons as a means to gaining respect and assuring national security. Many Iranians point to the nuclear arsenals in Israel, Pakistan, and India and argue that it is within their rights to pursue their own program as a means of deterrence.

The Iranian government, notorious for its stalling tactics in recent years despite its claim to uphold non-proliferation agreements, is trying to deflect accusations that the country is pursuing nuclear missile technology. Currently under investigation by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), Iranian officials want to avoid a decision by the body, expcted later this week, that would declare Iran in breach of non-proliferation measures. Such a decision would increase the likelihood of UN sanctions and would provide hawks in the US with greater political ammunition for a military response.

While Washington is taking the line that a WMD crisis is looming in Iran, independent assessments of Iran's gas centrifuge program and its capacity to produce highly enriched uranium suggest that the country is at least several years from producing its first nuclear weapon. Observers point out that while preventing the further development of Iran's nuclear program is of the utmost importance, doing so will require a more unified diplomatic approach than the current diverging policies of the US and the EU.

Nathan Lepp

» The Observer: Pentagon turns heat up on Iran

» Kansas City Star: Many Iranians want nukes to ensure respect, security

» Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists: Iran: Countdown to Showdown