Leaders gather in Ottawa on eve of Federal Court of Appeal hearing on Chalk River

Political leaders were in Ottawa on Tuesday to reaffirm their continued opposition to a proposed nuclear waste disposal site at Chalk River, located approximately 180 kilometres northwest of the city. “Canada’s Nuclear Safety Commission decision to approve this location was made without proper consultation with Algonquin Nations in violation of the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples,” Assembly of First Nations National Chief Cindy Woodhouse Nepinak said at a press conference. “So, the Assembly of First Nations will extend our support to the highest levels required in this case because First Nations have responsibility to our traditional territories that we hold sacred. These are our responsibilities and they are for future generations. These are our rights and they are not for sale.” The Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission approved the construction of the disposal facility in 2024; however, this decision was challenged in court by the Kebaowek First Nation. In two separate decisions earlier this year, a federal court agreed that Canadian Nuclear Laboratories (CNL) had not fulfilled its duty to consult obligations and failed to protect species at risk in its proposal. CNL has applied for a judicial review of both decisions – the first of which is set to go ahead on Wednesday morning at the Federal Court of Appeal in Ottawa. “Tomorrow, the Federal Court of Appeal will hear Kebaowek First Nation’s case against the Chalk River near surface disposal facility project,” Lance Haymond, chief of the Kebaowek First Nation, said. “This is not only a legal challenge, it is a test of Canada’s commitment to reconciliation to its own constitution and the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.” Woodhouse Nepinak and Haymond were joined at the press conference by AFN Regional Chief for Quebec-Labrador Francis Verreault-Paul, Bloc Québécois Leader Yves-François Blanchet and Green Party Leader Elizabeth May. “If you were a Hollywood script writer and you wanted to come up with a case that that put it so sharply,” May said. “The colonialism, the exploitation, money over people, money over mother earth. “You couldn’t come up with something richer as a plot line than nuclear waste being dumped at the surface on the Ottawa River against the rights of the rights of the Algonquin Anishinaabe people.” The court hearing is scheduled to last one day. Continue Reading