SIOUX LOOKOUT – Starting in Ignace on Sept. 1, Darlene Necan started her third annual walk against the burial of nuclear waste. After seven days and 150 Kilometres, Darlene Necan and her group of walkers reach their goal.
“We are grateful to all those who join and support us”, commented Head walker Darlene Necan. “The Walk is difficult to do but doing nothing to stop nuclear waste from coming to our land and affecting our water would be more difficult. This is the time we must all stand up, we must all speak out, we must do what is right for future generations.”
The walkers left the Nuclear Waste Management Office in Ignace on Sep.1 picking up a total of 25 supports along the way. Their first stop was near the potential site where NWMO might construct their Deep Geological Repository at Revell Lake in the heart of Treaty Three Territory.
Much of the controversy over the burial of nuclear waste is the potential impact on the Turtle River Watershed, which flows into Wabigoon Lake and the Lake of the Woods.
From there, the walkers stepped towards Dryden where they visited the NWMO’s satellite office. Then it was onto Sioux Lookout where they were joined by activist groups Sunset Country Alliance and NO CANDU.
“Here in Sioux Lookout we’ve been concerned about this issue for decades, first when Atomic Energy of Canada Limited was promoting this idea in the 1980s, and more recently since the NWMO first showed up in Northwestern Ontario in 2010, said Remi Lorteau, a spokesperson for NO CANDU. “It’s time this notion of burying nuclear waste in northern Ontario was put to rest for good.”
However, NWMO didn’t just come out of nowhere. They are a non-profit organization established in 2002 by Canada’s nuclear electricity producers under the Nuclear Fuel Waste Act (NFWA). NWMO was tasked by the federal government to design and implement a plan for the safe storage of nuclear waste. Site selection for the DGR is dependent on the support from the communities of Ignace and Wabigoon Lake First Nations.
Site selection is scheduled for the fall of 2024.
