nuclear-news

Indigenous peoples fight against nuclear waste dumping on their land

No nuclear Northwest: Grand Chiefs Kenora Daily Miner and News, By Jon Thompson, 10 Jan 12 Grand chiefs representing every inch of Northwestern Ontario are publicly taking a hard line against burying nuclear waste in their traditional territory, claiming it would violate international law.

Treaty 3 Grand Chief Diane Kelly spoke out on Monday, following
Thursday and Friday’s announcements from leaders representing Treaties
9, 5 and Anishinabek Nation territory, including Robinson-Superior
Treaty land.

“We’re not looking at storing nuclear waste. We’re not even beginning
a consultation process with them, despite what these municipalities
are doing,” Kelly said. “I don’t think anyone wants nuclear waste in
their area, us included. There are too many risks involved. It’s not a
one-time thing, it goes on forever. We have always lived here, we’re
not going anywhere and I can’t see how storing nuclear waste is
compatible with anyone’s lifestyle.”

In 2010, the Chiefs in Ontario hosted the Nuclear Waste Management
Organization in meetings at Obashkaandagaang (Washagamis Bay) First
Nation. Kelly said regional elders made their unequivocal opposition
clear at that time and a resolution to that effect was passed at the
Annual General Meeting of Grand Council Treaty 3 in the summer of
2011.
Municipalities considering hosting a nucklear waste stoage facility in
the Treaty 3 area are Ignace and Ear Falls.

Nishnawbe Aski Nation (NAN) representing Treaties 9 and 5 passed a
similar resolution unanimously at a Chiefs-In-Assembly meeting in
2009.

Calling nuclear waste “a poison that will damage our homelands,” Grand
Chief Stan Beardy accused the site selection process of contravening
Article 29 (2) of the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of
Indigenous Peoples, which requires nation states to “… take
effective measures to ensure that no storage or disposal of hazardous
materials shall take place in the lands or territories of indigenous
peoples without their free, prior and informed consent.”

On Friday, Beardy called all First Nations in the Northwest to join
him in declaring their opposition.

“I’m just serving notice to third parties that it’s the position of
Nishnawbe Aski Nation that we don’t want to have nuclear waste in our
territory,” he said. “If we look at a world map, the most intact
forests in the world are in Northwestern Ontario and in Manitoba. All
the rest has been depleted. Ontario should take pride that they should
be saving the planet but the First Nations people are taking the lead.
It’s taking from the land what we need but to maintain it as much as
possible.” Municipal contender Hornepayne falls in the southeast tip
of the Treaty 9 area.

Wawa, Schreiber and Nipigon — the other three Northwest communities
pursuing the concept — all lie in the territory of Anishinabek Nation
(Union of Ontario Indians), which has been opposed to nuclear waste
storage since 2004. Its Grand Chief, Patrick Madahbee, expressed
uranium mining and processing has had “significant and long-term
consequences” to the land and its inhabitants.

“We always hear non-Native communities saying they don’t want certain
projects or developments in their backyard. Well, First Nations don’t
want nuclear waste in our backyard,” he stated in a release.
“Representatives from Chiefs in Ontario have been attending
information sessions held by the Nuclear Waste Management Organization
and this is not the proper consultation we’re entitled to.”…….
http://www.kenoradailyminerandnews.com/ArticleDisplay.aspx?e=3431074

January 11, 2012 - Posted by Christina Macpherson | Canada, indigenous issues, wastes