IGNACE — The mayors of two “nuclear host communities” will visit a potential Northwestern Ontario host community next week during the Northwest Nuclear Exploration Event.
It will be Blair Skinner’s third time in Ignace as mayor of Pinawa, Man., and Adrian Foster’s first visit to the township as mayor of Clarington, Ont.
“We are so pleased to have Mayor Skinner and Mayor Foster with us at this breakfast and throughout the Nuclear Exploration Event,” Ignace Mayor Kim Baigrie said Tuesday.
Baigrie said township officials look forward to getting insight into how the Manitoba town and Ontario city adjusted “during the development of nuclear facilities in their communities” and “in what manner their ongoing relationship continues with the industry itself.”
Ignace could become a member of the Canadian Association of Nuclear Host Communities — to which Pinawa and Clarington belong — “if, in fact, we move forward as a willing host community” for a deep geological repository, she added.
A site south of the Trans-Canada Highway between Ignace and Wabigoon Lake Ojibway Nation is on the Nuclear Waste Management Organization’s shortlist of two possible locations for a proposed deep geological repository, an underground facility for the long-term storage of spent nuclear fuel.
The other candidate location is near Lake Huron in southwestern Ontario, with a site decision to be made toward the end of this year.
Skinner and Foster are both members of the Canadian Association of Nuclear Host Communities, a group of municipalities hosting the nuclear industry.
The visiting mayors will be guests at a free breakfast on April 13, the second day of the nuclear event at the Ignace Recreation Centre.
Pinawa was the site of Atomic Energy of Canada research, including an experimental reactor, for decades.
Clarington hosts Ontario Power Generation’s Darlington nuclear station, a four-unit facility that generates approximately one-fifth of the province’s electricity.
Skinner said his visit next week will differ greatly from his first two times in Ignace, when he met with a township committee and presented to last September’s nuclear exploration event.
“We’re going to not only talk about what it’s like to live in a nuclear community and the benefits that brings, but also our organization, which meets a couple times a year to discuss common issues and work together,” he said Wednesday from his town of 1,500.
Skinner came to Pinawa in 1980 after earning a physics degree at the University of Waterloo and, he said, “knew in the first week I wanted to live here the rest of my life.”
He and his wife, a chemist in nuclear research, decided to stay despite Atomic Energy’s decision in the late 1990s to close its Pinawa facilities.
He has been on Pinawa council since 1998 and mayor since 2006.
Foster’s path to being mayor of a nuclear community was rather different, as an investment adviser first elected to Clarington’s top job in 2010.
He told NWOnewswatch he’ll be “simply bringing a different point of view and not bringing any advice” when he comes to Ignace.
“None of our host communities are ever going to suggest what a community should or shouldn’t do,” he said from Clarington, a rapidly growing city of more than 110,000.
The two-day Ignace event, featuring speakers and exhibits by a variety of organizations, is scheduled to kick off on the morning of April 12 with a smudging ceremony led by Donna Chief, of Wabigoon Lake Ojibway Nation.
Skinner said circumstances prevented him from meeting with Wabigoon Lake officials at last September’s event, but “I am eager to meet them this time around.”
The full schedule for the April 12-13 event is available at the township’s website.
Ignace residents aged 16 and over will vote April 26-30 on whether they wish to see the township “continue participating” as “a potential host community for a deep geological repository.”
The township is to communicate its official position – willing or not willing to be a host community – to the Nuclear Waste Management Organization by the end of July.
