(Editor's note: The following is and Open Letter to the People of Saskatchewan)
The Dirty Big Secret is out - and ALL Saskatchewan residents deserve a voice in the matter.
We now know that the Nuclear Waste Management Organization (NWMO) is targeting Saskatchewan to store thousands of tons of radioactive waste because a/ no one else wants it, b/ they think we don't have the brains to oppose it and c/ our government is allowing them access.
We now know that NWMO's plan to accumulate this astronomical volume of nuclear rods in one place without sealing them off is for future processing of plutonium - the ingredient of nuclear bombs.
We now know that there is no precedence - this is an experiment, with the people of Saskatchewan poised as NWMO's guinea pigs.
The nuclear industry has a monstrous problem on its hands - and they want to make it our problem. Canada alone has 40,000 tons of radioactive spent nuclear rods awaiting storage. The Yucca Mountain project in Nevada, which was supposed to store the United States' nuclear waste, was opposed and cancelled - meaning another 140,000+ tons for which the U.S. is now desperate to bury. If our government allows NWMO to manipulate a "yes" in northern Saskatchewan, the continental Pandora's box would open and be funneled right into our back yard. There would be no turning back.
This issue cannot be confined to a municipal or regional matter - it is provincial, if not national. The watershed connects us all - if the specter of hundreds of thousands of tons of nuclear waste trundling down our provincial highways threatening environmental safety isn't appalling enough - consider that once accumulated in northern Saskatchewan, this unprecedented volume of nuclear rods all in one location poses the risk of a meltdown of Armageddon proportions.
Japan and Chernobyl would be blips on the screen in relation. NWMO's comparison of this storage site to "natural uranium deposits formed billions of years ago," and their claim that this insidious, unprecedented payload would be safe for a hundred thousand years, is criminal!
Not surprisingly, most other provinces have banned storing or importing nuclear waste. If this is the fantastic opportunity NWMO would have us believe, why isn't corporate Canada scrambling to claim it? And let's not forget - implementing the business of clean energy technology in our country is also a fantastic opportunity - Germany, Switzerland and now Italy are demonstrating responsible leadership in that.
Saskatchewan premier Brad Wall stated on April 14th, 2011, "it is highly unlikely the government would allow such a facility to be built". However, despite a 4800-signature petition calling for a legislated ban on nuclear waste submitted to his government that same day, the Sask Party continues to allow NWMO inside our borders to "engage" single communities in site selection.
To consider nuclear waste storage of these apocalyptic proportions as an individual community's responsibility would be delusionary if it weren't so calculated. Brad Wall claims this is opportunity for northern communities to explore opportunities for economic growth and independence. That's "sugar-coding" for colonial repression once again rearing its ugly head. Dangle the carrot before economically disadvantaged communities, which grab and eat it before realizing the carrot is poison. Only this time, it's repression with a vengeance - this is a million-year environmental death sentence.
Is Premier Wall not aware of the millions of dollars NWMO is tossing to certain political groups with no accountability attached, not to mention the "wish lists" being handed to youth groups and other community organizations? Bribery does not constitute willing and informed consent. As a result of this bribery, a select authoritative few in these "engaged" communities are resorting to deception and lies to ram NWMO's site selection process through, with Pinehouse already at step 3 of a 5-step process, while the vast majority of residents are opposed to nuclear waste. In Pinehouse alone, over 18 lawn signs were erected with the message, "Say No to Nuclear Waste!". English River First Nation Chief's whistle-blower policy makes it difficult to determine what step Patuanak authorities are at in the process. Yet, both the Assembly of First Nations (AFN) and the Metis Council of Canada (MCC) have both raised serious questions about the industry targeting vulnerable communities. In its 2005 report, "Recommendations to the Nuclear Waste Management Organization", the AFN wrote, "First Nations expressed concern that their need for economic opportunities could be manipulated to facilitate an otherwise unwelcome decision." Where is this leadership now?
Although NWMO professes that communities engaged in "Adaptive Phase Management" can opt out at anytime during the process, this industry has been intricately working its way for years into the business infrastructure of communities with which they are engaging, making a future "No" increasingly more complicated for leaders who may have initiated site selection thinking they could just take the consultation money and then jump off the gravy train.
In an attempt to counteract the lack of information being made public on this issue, our Committee hosted a Forum on Nuclear Waste Storage in Beauval on June 2nd, 2011. Two hundred people from 12 northern and eight southern communities participated in this forum, which passed a resolution to send a strong message to the Saskatchewan government to "BAN NUCLEAR WASTE STORAGE AND TRANSPORTATION OF NUCLEAR WASTE INTO, OUT OF AND THROUGH SASKATCHEWAN."
However, we need the support of ALL Saskatchewan citizens to send this message to government. We cannot sit back and assume that our leaders will do the right thing for the people - NWMO has already accomplished much of their agenda because our government has allowed them license to deceive and bribe the people of this province. Some northern leaders are already calling for this to be an election issue - which party will respect the people enough to get off the fence and step up to the plate?
As an individual, group or community, make sure your voice is heard on nuclear waste. Send a letter of support and/or access our petition by emailing [email protected]. "Like" and comment on our facebook page "Say No to Nuclear Waste", where many valuable links have been posted on this issue.
The Nuclear Waste Management Organization is counting on our silence. A 20-year-old youth interviewed at the Forum described our environment as "Eden". That says it all. Do not let yourself be fooled; let us instead be active participants in the lives of our children's children, while there's still time.
Max C. D. Morin, Chairperson, on behalf of the Committee for Future Generations, Beauval, SK
