First Nations opposing nuclear waste burial in northwestern Ontario are growing in number and are now mobilizing across the region.

A fledgling movement of Indigenous leaders hosted a small rally with non-Indigenous allies in Thunder Bay on Wednesday, with a refrain of “Gaa-Wiin,” the Anishinaabemowin word meaning “no” to nuclear waste burial.

The demonstration followed a letter signed by nine chiefs last week, asking the Nuclear Waste Management Organization to respect their will not to bury Canada’s most radioactive nuclear waste in a deep repository site between the town of Ignace and Wabigoon Lake Ojibway First Nation.

The NWMO is expected to issue a final decision by year’s end as to whether it will transport used nuclear fuel, produced since the 1960s, by either train or highway over 1,600 kilometres to a deep geological repository. If the Ignace is chosen over Bruce County, where nuclear energy and its waste is produced, transportation would begin in the 2040s and will take 40 years to complete.

Kate-Lynn Paypompee from Naotkamegwanning (Whitefish Bay First Nation) at Wednesday’s rally in Thunder Bay. Photo by Jon Thompson

Although the site selection process has been underway for 20 years, the looming final decision has prompted political actions, including a larger Thunder Bay demonstration in April and a march last month along the highway near the proposed site.

“I don’t know why some people just don’t understand,” Asubpeeschoseewagong Anishinabek (Grassy Narrows First Nation) Chief Rudy Turtle told the crowd of around 300 people. “It’s so simple: no means no. That’s all it is. Why can’t you understand that? We are saying ‘no, we don’t want nuclear waste.’”

Thirteen First Nations have now signed on to last week’s statement opposing the repository, including Northwest Angle #33, whose leadership committed to the cause on Wednesday. Signatories include Fort William First Nation, Gakijiwanong Anishinaabe (Lac LaCroix First Nation), Gull Bay First Nation, Kitchenuhmaykoosib Inninuwug (Big Trout Lake First Nation), Muskrat Dam First Nation, Neskantaga First Nation, Netmizaaggamig Nishnaabeg (Pic Mobert First Nation), Ojibways of Onigaming, Shoal Lake #40 First Nation, Wapekeka First Nation, Wauzhushk Onigum Nation.

Turtle is emerging as the voice of the broader movement. Studies released in the spring revealed that the effluent the Dryden pulp mill continues to dump into the English-Wabigoon River System upstream from Grassy Narrows is exacerbating methylmercury effects from the industry’s pollution in the 1960s and ‘70s. As the federal government builds a long-term facility to manage those sick from Minamata disease, provincial funding to begin planning the cleanup is dwindling. His community is calling for the Dryden mill to be shut down.

Turtle said the concerns he’s hearing about nuclear waste storage and transportation are taking place within the context of past environmental damage that the Crown has failed to take responsibility to clean up, and is exacerbating the climate crisis.

“I don’t know why some people just don’t understand. It’s so simple: no means no. That’s all it is. Why can’t you understand that? We are saying ‘no, we don’t want nuclear waste.’”

“There is the concern of contamination, whether in the future if what’s going to be underground is going to break. Everything erodes, right? We keep hearing concerns about transportation, trains or semi trucks. There’s always a danger of spilling – and nuclear’s very dangerous. People get sick and it lasts a long time,” Turtle said.

Wilfred King is the Chief of Gull Bay First Nation, north of Thunder Bay on Lake Nipigon. He described the effects of warming climate over his lifetime, pointing to turkey vultures, pelicans, black squirrels, racoons, coyotes, and lyme disease-carrying deer ticks as species which have recently migrated into the local ecosystem.

He said he supports this new coalition of chiefs because the people in his community can still safely eat the fish and game. To him, the nuclear waste burial question is a matter of what kind of development Northern Ontario wants for its future.

“Gull Bay First Nation is not against development, contrary to what most people think. We want to extricate ourselves from poverty, much like everybody else,” King said. “But we have to do development in a sustainable way, in a way that protects the environment, in a way that also makes sure there are mitigation efforts in place so the land will sustain itself forever.”

Colonialism in action

In July, Ignace council passed a resolution to inform the NWMO that the town is a “willing host community” for the deep repository, proposed 30 kilometres westward. A plebiscite taken earlier this year showed 77.3 per cent of Ignace voters (495 people) are in favour of burying Canada’s nuclear waste nearby. That poll attracted 640 voters out of a potential 1,035 people the NWMO estimated were eligible.

A similar plebiscite is planned for Wabigoon Lake First Nation. In the July press release where Ignace identifies as a willing host, its leadership, “respects that their [Wabigoon First Nation’s] decision will also be required to proceed if Northwestern Ontario is selected to host the DGR [Deep Geological Repository].”

Indigenous women from Northern Ontario communities drum at the rally in Thunder Bay. Photo by Jon Thompson

But Indigenous leaders who spoke Wednesday said the NWMO rules that give all authority of consent to one town and one First Nation are far too narrow for a waste product whose radioactive life will span 250,000 years.

“We never get consulted from the NWMO,” said Gary Quisess, who flew over 400 kilometres from Neskantaga to speak at Wednesday’s demonstration. “The communities are getting left out.”

Neskantaga’s 29-year, boil-water advisory is the longest in Canada and its leadership has been vocal about opposing the current process over the proposed Ring of Fire mining development in the territory. The potential impacts, he argued, are too vast to only consult a few communities.

“We have to have a say because it’s our country. It’s our land,” Quisess told the crowd. “We live off the land every day. It’s the most precious food market we have in the world, is our land.”

NWMO spokesperson Craig MacBride issued a statement to media indicating his staff is, “reaching out to the chiefs who signed the letter and offering to meet with them to share information and answer their questions.” 

No community represented at the Thunder Bay rally could confirm they had yet received that correspondence.

Jon Thompson is a Local Journalism Initiative Reporter based in Thunder Bay