Nuclear protestors take their fight to Grand Council Treaty #3’s doorstep
David and Goliath are continuing to war over the fate of nuclear waste in northwestern Ontario and Treaty 3 territory.
On April 15, activists from several different groups gathered to protest outside of the Grand Council Treaty #3 office on Main Street in Kenora with two major goals: one, to pressure all candidates running to be the next Kenora-Kiiwetinoong Member of Parliament to posture on the issue, and two, to try and persuade more Indigenous leaders to stand up against nuclear waste being stored on the land.
As readers of the Miner and News are likely already aware, the Nuclear Waste Management Organization (NWMO) is in the process of building a deep geological repository (DGR) capable of storing the country’s nuclear waste west of Ignace, about two hours east of Kenora, with the facility expected to be up-and-running sometime by the start of the 2040s.
Grassy Narrows First Nation, decades removed from its mercury poisoning caused by the Dryden mill, was once again on hand to lead the protest, joined by members from several other area First Nations and participants from several other anti-nuclear groups from across the region.
Grassy Narrows community member Chrissy Isaacs was one of dozens present throughout the day, and after singing a song as part of a traditional opening ceremony, she told the Miner that everyone was gathered outside of the GCT3 office “because it’s important the leadership of Treaty 3 starts addressing this.”
“Our community, we’re already devastated with mercury poisoning, and if something happens with this new nuclear waste site, that’s going to be the end of our people,” she explained.
“We’re basically already born terminally ill, and many of us have been robbed of a good life, so we need this to be an important issue, and we need our leadership to step up and start saying no.”
Like many other protests up until now, organizers focused on the message “water is life,” along with the suggestion that the DGR can and will eventually poison Treaty 3 watersheds. The NWMO has rebuked these kinds of claims by outlining how the project will store the waste safely, which is available to read on kenoraminerandnews.com
Brien Polack was another protestor on hand, as part of the Dryden-based anti-nuclear group Sunset Country Spirit Alliance, and he told the Miner that despite consistently reaching out to several politicians across the region, all he’s gotten back in response about the issue is radio silence.
“We’ve already got two strikes against us, Pinawa and Grassy Narrows, which are both in Treaty 3, and I don’t want strike three, I don’t want to strike out,” he said.
Brenda Morison and Roger McGraw, a married couple of elders from Eagle Lake First Nation, were also on hand to protest against the NWMO’s planned DGR.
“If it’s not as harmful as they say it is, why are they moving it away from Toronto?” Morison asked.
“It’s not as highly populated here as it is down south, and there’s a reason for that,” McGraw continued.
“I’ve never known anybody that can build something that will last for 50,000 years. Who can assume they can build something that will contain something like nuclear waste for that long? It’s all about protecting water, be it here or down south — water is life, period.”