Stop Nuclear Transport Through Northern Ontario - Extreme Risks and Violations of Impact Assessment Act

First, there are serious legal concerns of this project proceeding. In section 43 of the Impact Assessment Act, a full impact assessment including an independent integrated review panel must be completed- and no impact assessment can proceed until Eagle Lake First Nation is recognized as a host community. Furthermore, this aligns with both section 22 of the Impact Assessment Act, transportation of the waste can NOT be excluded from the scope of the project. The waste would be transported over 1800 km daily for 50 years, through a section of the TransCanada highway that has many accidents - often including accidents that shut down the highway in both directions, especially in winter. Should the nuclear transport vehicles be involved in an accident along this route, hundreds of communities, including large municipalities such as Sudbury and Thunder Bay, will be affected - both by the impact of potential nuclear waste leakage, and by highway closures that can cut off food and other essentials being transported from Toronto and Winnipeg. Facing a long-term closure of the highway, as would result from an accident of this scale, Thunder Bay would only have 3 days worth of food to sustain it’s population. Furthermore, even if done by rail, this route goes along the north shore of Lake Superior - the top of the Great Lakes and the largest single source of freshwater in the world - we risk jeopardizing this international clean water source if the transportation of this waste is allowed to be transported into Northern  Ontario. 

Additionally, pursuant to section 22 of the Impact Assessment Act, definition of "designated project" includes any physical activity that is incidental to the project. There has never been off-site transportation of used nuclear fuel waste in Canada--it is unprecedented, and therefore requires rigorous scrutiny. 

Even more pressingly, as the consultations currently stand, the Nuclear Waste Management Organization [NWMO]  has failed to uphold International Law that is upheld in Canada and failed to meet constitutional obligations to meaningfully consult with Eagle Lake First Nation, who shares their traditional territory with Wabigoon First Nation and whose traditional territory overlaps with the project area. The United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples [UNDRIP] has been adopted into domestic Canadian law through the UNDRIP Act as confirmed by the Supreme Court of Canada in Reference re An Act Respecting First Nations, Inuit and Métis children, youth and families. Article 29.2 of UNDRIP says that "states shall take effective measures to ensure that no storage or disposal of hazardous materials shall take place in the lands or territories of indigenous peoples without their free, prior and informed consent." The Federal Court of Canada in Kebaowek First Nation v Canadian Nuclear Laboratories recently held that, in the context of the disposal of nuclear waste, the honour of the Crown requires that the Crown deeply consult with the objective of obtaining the consent of the Indigenous peoples affected AND consultations must be conducted in a manner which is tailored to indigenous laws, knowledges, and practices. 

This project, as stated, will have unprecedented consequences if it continues forward - not only has nuclear waste never been transported this far from an active nuclear site, but it also has not been transported through such ecologically, socially and fundamentally significant territory. The risks of not fully completing impact assessments, legally, but more importantly, the impacts to the health and lives of hundreds of thousands of people who live along the proposed transportation routes and near the proposed storage sites, who would be affected in the event of an accident - are unmatched. The risk to people, fresh water, and human rights are too many to ignore. Stop this project. Keep Northern Ontario - as well as the entire Great Lakes watershed, extending into Southern Ontario and outside of provincial and national borders - safe and nuclear free.