IGNACE – The Willingness-Ignace Community Nuclear Liaison Committee’s activities were suspended last week upon “a recommendation of various stakeholders,” according to a statement issued by Ignace’s interim mayor and council.
The statement named no stakeholders, but interim mayor Kim Baigrie said Thursday in an email that they include consultants and “the individual that we hired to do the training for the (committee) members along with council.”
In an interview Thursday, Ignace spokesperson Jake Pastore included the Nuclear Waste Management Organization (NWMO) as a stakeholder but said it had no role in the suspension of committee activities.
The NWMO has Ignace-Wabigoon Lake and South Bruce-Saugeen on its list of two finalists for site selection for a deep geological repository (DGR) for the long-term management of spent fuel from Canadian nuclear reactors.
A community’s willingness to host the DGR is a prerequisite for selection in late 2024. Ignace, Wabigoon Lake Ojibway Nation, South Bruce and Saugeen Ojibway Nation all have “willingness processes” in place, which help residents make informed decisions about whether they would welcome a DGR. The Willingness Committee is part of Ignace’s process.
The written public statement, posted Wednesday on the township’s website and distributed to news media by Pastore’s Summit PCG communications firm, said the township aims “to improve the quality, depth and skillset of the committee’s representation.”
But committee members already fit the bill, said Paul Dufault, a long-time Ignace resident who has been on the panel for two years.
“Everybody on the committee is experienced,” he said. “We wrote the book on willingness. Now it’s like they’re reinventing the wheel.”
The township statement also says the suspension of activities gives Ignace council time “to re-align the mandate of the committee with the efforts of other stakeholders” and “allows for the facilitation and delivery of training to all committee members.”
The statement repeatedly emphasizes, in bold letters, that the suspension is temporary.
Pastore said the Willingness Committee’s period of little to no activity for many months in 2022-2023 was understandable given township turmoil that included the resignation of the mayor and deputy mayor last spring.
“The better part of 2023 was really spent on the reorganization of the political platform for the Township of Ignace. And that's when people say it was dormant,” he said.
“Well, there was a lot going on here for a little community. Maybe (the committee) was a little bit dormant. But, you know, there was a reason.”
