An utility has been made to the Federal Courtroom for a judicial overview of the Jan. 9 choice by the Canadian Nuclear Security Fee.
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The choice to assemble a nuclear waste disposal facility at Chalk River is being met with a court docket problem by Kebaowek First Nation alleging the federal government breached its obligation to seek the advice of the Indigenous group.
Kebaowek First Nation, a part of the Anishnabeg Algonquin Nation and positioned about 200 kilometres north of Chalk River alongside the Ottawa River, has filed an utility for a judicial overview of the Jan. 9 choice by the Canadian Nuclear Security Fee, which licensed development of a nuclear waste disposal facility on the Canadian Nuclear Laboratories web site.
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Legal professionals for Kebaowek are asking the Federal Courtroom to reject the CNSC authorization and to declare the company “breached its obligation to seek the advice of Kebaowek by failing to safe the First Nation’s free, prior and knowledgeable consent, and by finishing up consultations in a procedurally unfair method.”
Officers with the CNSC didn’t instantly return a request for remark Wednesday.
The company introduced in January it could amend the working licence of the Chalk River facility to authorize development of a near-surface disposal facility (NSDF) on the web site.
In a media launch on the time, the CNSC mentioned it was “glad it had fulfilled its constitutional duty to seek the advice of and, the place acceptable, accommodate Indigenous rights in respect of its choice making on the NSDF venture.”
On the time, the fee famous the location was on the normal unceded territory of the Algonquin folks and mentioned the venture “is protecting of human well being and the atmosphere, together with the Ottawa River, and that the proposed web site is a suitable and secure location for the NSDF Venture.”
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Based on Kebaowek’s utility for a judicial overview, which seeks to overturn that call, the proposed containment mound could be designed to retailer as much as a million tons of radioactive and unsafe waste.
The proposed web site “is a mere 1.1 kilometres away from the sacred Kichi Sibi (Ottawa River), on unceded Algonquin territory, which holds immense non secular and cultural significance for the Algonquin folks,” Kebaowek First Nation mentioned in a press release Wednesday.
In its utility to Federal Courtroom, Kebaowek First Nation alleges that the CNSC “did not correctly uphold its obligation to seek the advice of, and as such, has did not uphold the constitutionally protected and inherent rights of Indigenous Peoples.”
Kebaowek additional alleges the CNSC “did not uphold its obligation to seek the advice of Keboawek as a result of it didn’t search or receive the First Nation’s free, prior and knowledgeable consent to the NSDF earlier than authorizing its development.”
The appliance alleges the CNSC made a “important error” by “sidestepping” points addressed by the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples and Canada’s assist of UNDRIP by its United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples Act.
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“The danger of hurt from the proposed NSDF shouldn’t be solely a First Nations situation, it additionally impacts all people, animals, crops, and waters within the neighborhood. We’re doing this on behalf of our Individuals and all Canadians who depend upon the Ottawa River as their consuming water supply,” Chief Lance Haymond of Kebaowek First Nation mentioned in a press release Wednesday.
“The obligation to seek the advice of was breached. We’re going to the Federal Courtroom to problem the fee’s incorrect and unreasonable choice. The fee wanted to hold out a procedurally honest session course of knowledgeable by the UNDRIP, which it in the end did not do.”
In its January announcement, the CNSC mentioned it gave “cautious consideration” to all submissions and views the company obtained all through the multi-year regulatory overview course of, which started in 2016.
“As a lifecycle regulator, the CNSC focuses on steady engagement and session with Indigenous Nations earlier than, throughout and after fee proceedings for CNSC actions,” the company acknowledged in its media launch. “This contains, for instance, collaboratively drafting rights impacts assessments with Indigenous Nations and communities, and consulting on mitigation measures to assist decrease any potential impacts of the NSDF venture.”
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