ONIGAMING – The chief of Ojibways of Onigaming has resigned from Grand Council Treaty #3’s environment committee and his reasons relate to the regional organization’s ties to Canada’s nuclear power industry.
GCT3 has been receiving money from the Nuclear Waste Management Organization, which is considering a site in Treaty 3 territory for a proposed nuclear waste repository.
“I can no longer in good conscience be a part of this process,” Jeffrey Copenace said Monday in a Facebook post.
“I worry Grand Council Treaty #3 has chosen to accept money from NWMO that will open the door to nuclear waste being buried near our lakes, rivers and waterways,” he said.
An underground nuclear waste repository would pose great risk to people and wildlife in the region, he said.
“I worry it could potentially destroy our source of drinking water for future generations, as well as potentially contaminate our rich forests. I truly worry this could put at risk our treaty rights and our traditional Anishinaabe ways of life.
“It has become clear that Grand Council Treaty #3 has no interest in my views opposing the burial of nuclear waste in our territories.”
Copenace’s decision was the right move, Ojibway Nation of Saugeen (Savant Lake) member Neecha Dupuis said Monday from her home in Ottawa.
GCT3 and its member First Nations have been taking a lot of “learn more” money – money from the NWMO that’s supposed to help them learn more about nuclear power and the disposal of nuclear waste – and trips paid for by the NWMO in recent years, she said.
“I think there should be an investigation with regards to this ‘learn more’ money,” Dupuis added.
Newswatch reached out to Copenace and Grand Council Treaty #3 for comment and received no reply as of Monday afternoon.
But Copenace did say in an interview last month that First Nations across Canada “are watching very, very closely the Nuclear Waste Management Organization’s decision as it pertains to the deep geological repository and whether they’re going to choose the northern location or the southern location.
“I think people are genuinely concerned about the burial of nuclear waste up in an area where there’s so much fresh water,” Copenace said.
Onigaming is in the Land Defence Alliance, a coalition of First Nations in Northwestern Ontario that has expressed opposition to building a deep geological repository (DGR) in the region.
The NWMO has a location south of Highway 17 and west of Ignace on its shortlist of two potential sites for a DGR that would house spent fuel from Canada’s nuclear power plants.
The other potential site is in southwestern Ontario near Lake Huron. The NWMO has said it will decide on a site for the DGR by year-end for construction at either location to begin about 10 years from now.
Ignace township council passed a resolution in July to continue as a potential host community for the DGR. Its southwest counterpart, South Bruce, has a referendum on the issue set for Oct. 28.
The question on South Bruce’s ballot will be: “Are you in favour of the Municipality of South Bruce declaring South Bruce to be a willing host for the Nuclear Waste Management Organization’s proposed Deep Geological Repository (DGR)?”
An Ignace-area DGR would be constructed on Wabigoon Lake Ojibway Nation’s traditional territory.
A South Bruce DGR would be in the traditional territory of Saugeen Ojibway Nation, which is not to be confused with the Saugeen that Dupuis is a member of.
Neither First Nation has made a decision on whether to proceed as potential DGR hosts.
