fter 15 years of searching for a final resting place to dump Canada’s nuclear waste, the Nuclear Waste Management Organization has settled on Treaty 3 lands in Northwestern Ontario.

Despite strong objections from local Indigenous communities, NWMO announced on Thursday that it intends to construct a $26-billion deep geological repository located 800 metres underground near Revell Lake, in between Wabigoon Lake Ojibway Nation and the Township of Ignace.

When completed in the 2050s, the repository will accommodate 6.1 million used nuclear fuel bundles, which nuclear energy facilities in southern Ontario have been generating since the late 1960s.

Thursday’s announcement officially picked the Ignace-Wabigoon site over one in South Bruce, near where the waste is produced.

“Canadians and Indigenous peoples have been clear that it is essential to take responsibility now, in this generation, to safely manage Canada’s used nuclear fuel for the long term,” the NWMO’s news release states. “This announcement is an important milestone in delivering on that promise to not leave it as a burden for future generations to manage.”

But while NWMO has made a final decision, and while the municipality and First Nation have identified themselves as “willing hosts,” the site is not yet a legal certainty.

According to Wabigoon Lake Chief Clayton Wetelainen and his council, the NWMO’s site selection only makes the First Nation “potential hosts.” In a release, Wetelainen framed Thursday’s announcement as the next step in an ongoing process, not an ultimately binding decision for his community.

“We acknowledge the NWMO site selection decision, and we look forward to continuing to work closely as this project enters the regulatory assessment phase,” the First Nation’s release reads, in part. “This project can only continue if it can be proven that it will be built safely, with respect to the environment and in a manner that protects Anishinaabe values.”

NWMO spokesperson Craig MacBride confirmed his organization has agreed to an Indigenous-led Regulatory Assessment and Approval Process, which Wabigoon will design and implement under its sovereign processes and values. An additional federal impact assessment process will begin in 2028. He added that Ignace and Wabigoon Lake will have independent stakes in the outcomes of those processes.

“Consultation will continue with the two communities, as well as surrounding communities, throughout the life of the project. I would not say there’s legal finality,” MacBride said in a written statement.

“The project is subject to [Wabigoon Lake Ojibway Nation’s] RAAP process, as well as a thorough regulatory decision-making process that will ensure that the NWMO’s understanding of the safety of the repository is independently confirmed by both the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission and through the Government of Canada’s impact assessment process.”

How we got here 

Thursday’s decision brings an end to the NWMO’s “learn more” process, which attracted more than 20 prospective communities when it launched in 2010. The process hinged on a community’s “willingness to host the project.” 

That prompted plebiscites in both Ignace and Wabigoon this summer. Ignace’s July plebiscite returned with 77.3 per cent of voters supporting the “Yes” campaign. On November 18, Wabigoon First Nation announced its members had also voted “Yes,” but has yet to release the margin of public approval.

Wabigoon also hasn’t divulged how much the NWMO will be paying the First Nation to be a “willing host.” Ignace’s agreement shows it will be receiving $170 million between 2024 and 2105.

According to CTV, NWMO was prepared to pay $418 million over that same timeframe to South Bruce, had that been the preferred site.

The NWMO designed their process to include a municipality and a First Nation. But going back to 2009, Grand Council Treaty 3, Nishnawbe Aski Nation, and First Nations across Northwestern Ontario passed resolutions opposing nuclear waste burial anywhere in their territories.

Ojibways of Onigaming First Nation Chief, Jeff Copenace, resigned as the chair of the Treaty 3 Chiefs Environment Committee in September over his opposition to nuclear waste burial and Grand Council Treaty 3 accepting funds from the NWMO.

As leader of a community located downstream from the proposed repository site, Copenace said he urged committee members to stand by those resolutions chiefs passed in assembly that unanimously opposed nuclear waste burial in Treaty 3.

Instead, he claims trips were being arranged for delegates to visit nuclear generating facilities in Southern Ontario and the nuclear waste repository that’s under construction in Finland.

“My reaction is a bit of anger, a bit of sadness, a bit of frustration. It’s a bit of all the above,” he said following Thursday’s news. “From where I’m sitting, very little has been done the right way.”

Finding himself unable to make change on the inside, Copenace joined the Land Defence Alliance, a group of five First Nations that have taken what he calls “strong views on the protection of lands and resources.” That work has included organizing chiefs in Northwestern Ontario to vocally oppose nuclear waste burial through letters and holding public demonstrations.

Fort William First Nation Chief Michele Soloman is among 12 chiefs who signed a letter to the NWMO stating their opposition to nuclear waste burial in the region. Her council passed a band council resolution in 2022, citing the constitutional “proximity principle.” She says considering the waste would have to be transported 1,600 kilometres, including through Fort William’s territory, her community ought to have input and ultimately, consent.

“It’s disappointing that this selection was made without the respectful consideration of the many people who have expressed opposition,” Soloman said. “I think the voice of opposition needed to be heard and that opportunity should have been provided. There’s a lot of mileage between where this nuclear waste is starting and where it’s going to end up.”

The calls for broader engagement of Indigenous communities in the region haven’t been limited to chiefs and councils. Social movements of Indigenous and non-Indigenous people have been demonstrating near the site and have organized demonstrations in a number of cities.  

Chrissy Isaacs is a grandmother who lives in Asubpeeschoseewagong (Grassy Narrows First Nation). She has been active in land defence since 2002, when she joined a youth movement that stood up to logging trucks at Slant Lake in the nearby Whiskey Jack Forest. That site is now the longest-standing Indigenous logging blockade in Canada, marking its 22nd anniversary on December 2.

Isaacs sees the effects of a different kind of industrial waste every day. In the 1970s, workers at the upriver paper mill in Dryden dumped nearly 10 metric tonnes of mercury into the Wabigoon-English River system, which flows through her community. That has resulted in generations of cumulative mercury poisoning and Minamata disease. Environmental testing released earlier this year shows the effects continue to get worse. 

“I was willing to put my life on the line for my children and my grandchildren in the beginning, with the issues in Grassy. It’s still a Grassy issue because [Revell Lake and Wabigoon Lake First Nation] they’re upriver from us,” Isaacs said.

“It might not be in my generation or my grandson’s generation but I want to speak up for the ones that are going to be after that. I want to be sure there’s going to be no more devastation because our people are already living with poison. I see the effects of it, I see how dangerous it is, and I feel like it’s my duty as a mother and as a grandmother, to stop it.”

The following people were not available to comment for this story: Ignace Mayor Kimberly Baigrie or anyone on her council, Wabigoon Chief Clayton Wetelainen or anyone on his council, Ogichidaa (Grand Council Treaty 3 Grand Chief) Francis Kavanaugh, Kiiwetinoong MPP Sol Mamakwa, representatives of Nishnawbe Aski Nation.