See below for Chief Lance Haymond on CTV News explaining the primary issues of the proposed project and assessment to discard inadequately inventoried radioactive waste on unceded Algonquin Territory beside the Kichi Sibi (the Ottawa River).
Hear me out: If CNL and the CNSC have approved the project, despite 10 out of 11 Algonquin communities opposing the project, citing that the Duty to Consult has been fulfilled--perhaps the Duty to Consult is not adequate? Not to be a broken record, but there is United Nations guidance on hazardous waste storage and disposal (which, yes, includes radioactive waste), and it states that it cannot be discarded on Indigenous territory without Free, Prior, and Informed Consent.
Of course, this legacy waste needs to be disposed of before it's dangerously scattered about in a climate event, but (in this case) the site needs to be consented to by Algonquin communities whose unceded territory Chalk River Laboratories is situated on.
It's no secret that the siting of radioactive waste is a contentious issue. Before more money is spent (and much of it wasted) on new nuclear, the duty to consult and free, prior, and informed consent should be genuinely triggered to all communities who are considered for nuclear projects and radioactive waste siting. Decision-makers want to invest buckets of money into experimental reactors that create dangerous, multigenerational wastes: will you house that for us? History and community voices today tell us that the answer will be 'no.'
#waterislife
