The Bloc Québécois and the Green Party offered their support on Wednesday to the Kebaowek First Nation which opposes the nuclear waste burial project in Chalk River, on the banks of the Ottawa River.
During a press conference on Wednesday, elected officials from the Bloc Québécois and the Green Party of Canada indicated their support for the Kebaowek First Nation, which is calling for the abandonment of the nuclear waste burial project in Chalk River, in Ontario, very close to the Quebec border.
The controversial project received the green light from the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission earlier this year. Canadian Nuclear Laboratories will be able to build a “near-surface waste management facility,” which will receive low-level radioactive materials for at least 50 years.
“I am afraid that my region, and the border of my region, will become the nuclear trash can of the rest of Canada. This is a major concern,” said Sébastien Lemire, Bloc member for the Abitibi-Témiscamingue riding. The elected official also criticizes “the dialogue processes (with the First Nations) which were completely botched”.
“I am also here to call on Minister Wilkinson (of Natural Resources) to make political intervention to put an end to this project once and for all,” he added.
According to the leader of the Green Party of Canada, the project was authorized “despite the firm and unequivocal will of the Algonquin people” who do not want it. “It is an honor to be here on behalf of the Green Party with Indigenous leaders and my friends and colleagues, thank you very much. Thank you to the Bloc Québécois for this press conference. We are together against this nuclear project. »
“Together, we are raising our voices to address an issue of great importance. The urgent need to stop the construction of a waste management facility near Chalk River services,” said Kebaowek First Nation Chief Lance Haymond solemnly.
Remember that the Anishinaabe community filed an appeal last week in Federal Court to overturn the decision of the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission.
The project is also contested by more than 100 municipalities, including Montreal and Gatineau, who are concerned about possible risks for the source of drinking water for millions of people living along the Ottawa River and the St. Lawrence River. , downstream of the Chalk River site.
Environmental organizations have also expressed their concerns, including the Canadian Environmental Law Association.
The project involves the construction of the landfill site approximately 1 kilometer from the Ottawa River. Up to 1 million cubic meters of low-level radioactive waste can be buried there.
With Jean-Thomas Léveillé, The Press
reference: www.lapresse.ca