"This decision puts the people of Grassy Narrows in grave danger. The transport of extremely dangerous nuclear waste and its disposal within our watershed will do irreparable destruction to our lands, rivers, and our way of life, which have already been damaged by so many harmful decisions imposed on us. It is we, who live downstream, and our future generations who will be harmed yet again against our will and for the benefit of others. Grassy Narrows has been clear that we say no to nuclear waste disposal and we will fight this callous disregard for our safety, our self determination and our collective rights as First Nations people."

Joseph Fobister, Grassy Narrows' Land Protection Team Lead



"The NWMO has not received the consent they asserted all these years that they required - in their oft-repeated words, "a robust expression of community willingness." What they did receive, from WLON, is conditional willingness - the consent only to move to the next step of investigations, but not to site the underground repository in NW Ontario. Thus, the industry has simply pivoted and jumped to a site selection announcement, for publicity purposes, regardless of the failure of their siting process to meet its own requirements. We have come to expect this level of disingenuous public behaviour from the NWMO."

Wendy O’Connor, We the Nuclear Free North volunteer



“It was a last-minute sleight of hand by the NWMO. After 15 years of saying they would only proceed with an informed and willing host, and only after that potential host had made what the NWMO described as a compelling demonstration of willingness, the NWMO changed the game. It is no longer about willingness to host the project, it’s about willingness to continue in the NWMO study process. They still don’t have a willing host.”

Brennain Lloyd, Northwatch Project Coordinator, volunteer with We the Nuclear Free North



“The NWMO announcement demonstrates the fickleness of the NWMO’s site selective process. It allows the NWMO to manufacture something they are calling consent, without actually gaining consent. They were looking for consent for their project – the transportation, processing and burial of all of Canada’s high-level waste in the heart of Treaty 3 territory. The closest they could get from Wabigoon Lake Ojibway Nation was consent to continue in the site characterization process. It’s a small victory which they are going to play big.”

Charles Faust, Nuclear Free Thunder Bay spokesperson, volunteer with We the Nuclear Free North



"Naturally, I am quite disappointed and somewhat surprised that the NWMO has selected the Revell Site in Northwestern Ontario as the location where they will bury all of Canada’s accumulated high-level radioactive nuclear waste. It was only last week that we read an official statement from Wabigoon Lake Ojibway Nation stating that the “yes" vote in their referendum did not signify that they were consenting to the project. It is deeply problematical that NWMO has been given a free license to design its own site selection process without any government oversight. They have always said they would only proceed with consent from willing and informed hosts. Now they seem to be going ahead without that consent. In addition to the NWMO’s lack of consultation with all of the communities impacted by their decision, there seems to be a lack of integrity in their process. There has been considerable opposition from First Nations, leading environmentalists, environmental organizations and ordinary citizens in Northern Ontario but our concerns have been dismissed. Our position has been and continues to be that the longterm storage of nuclear waste should be managed as close to the nuclear generation stations as possible. Looking forward, we will continue to voice our opposition in the Impact Assessment process."

Mary Veltri, Environment North board member, We the Nuclear Free North volunteer

MEDIA BACKGROUNDER

• The NWMO has used the Township of Ignace as a proxy decision-maker, excluding residents and communities downstream from the site and along the transportation route. Ignace is more than 45 kilometres from the Revell area candidate site and in a different watershed. There are communities closer to the site that have been excluded.
• Wabigoon Lake Ojibway Nation has not approved the NWMO project or consented to the NWMO using the Revell site for their nuclear waste project; NWMO has failed secure in Wabigoon Lake Ojibway Nation a “willing host” or to extract from WLON a “compelling demonstration of willingness”, which the NWMO has repeatedly stated are necessary to the NWMO’s site selection
• Many other Treaty 3 communities as well as Treaty 3 itself have passed resolutions and made definite statements opposing the transportation and burial of nuclear waste in Northern Ontario, as have Anishnabek Nation and Nishnawbe Aski Nation representing First Nations along the transportation route and downstream from the site.
• Many parts of the NWMO project, such as the used fuel packaging plant, are still not fully designed. Other parts, such as “shallow burial”, are optional but not included in most of the NWMO project materials. The level of risk and of radioactive releases could change with different decisions the NWMO might make during the project design, after “willingness” has been declared or NWMO site selection announced
• There is no other operating deep geological repository for high-level radioactive fuel waste anywhere in the world. If and when this experiment fails, the downstream waters are at risk
• The Nuclear Waste Management Organization was formed in 2002 by the provincial power companies who are responsible for the nuclear fuel waste generated by operating nuclear reactors; NWMO is not subject to the freedom of information rules and operate independent of government direction beyond that set out in the Nuclear Fuel Waste Act

• We the Nuclear Free North is an alliance of Indigenous and non-Indigenous residents and organizations across northern Ontario who are concerned with and opposed to the transportation, processing, burial and abandonment of all of Canada’s high-level nuclear waste in a single location

Watch for more analysis and announcements from We the Nuclear Free North next week.