No Nukes MB

October 1, 2024

To: The Honourable Wab Kinew, Premier

The Honourable Tracy Schmidt, Minister of Environment and Climate Change

Dear Premier Kinew and Minister Schmidt,

We are writing on behalf of Manitoba Energy Justice Coalition No Nukes MB campaign to request an urgent meeting with you about a proposed high-level nuclear waste repository in Northwest Ontario, in an area upstream of Manitoba waters. Specifically, we, and the organizations that have signed the attached petition to date, are asking the Manitoba government to oppose the siting decision for this massive and consequential project.

Revell Lake, one of two “finalist” sites, is 45km west of Ignace, Ontario. It is in the watersheds of the Rainy River and the English River. Both flow towards Lake of the Woods (and Shoal Lake), the Winnipeg River and Lake Winnipeg. The Nuclear Waste Management Organization or NWMO (the body charged with siting a future “Deep Geological Repository” and consisting of nuclear industry players) is seeking “willingness” to be a host community only from the Town of Ignace and the Wabigoon First Nation. No downstream communities are being officially consulted, yet several downstream Treaty 3 First Nation communities (including Onigaming) have publicly expressed their opposition to the project. As noted in the attached petition, Ignace is not even in the same watershed as Revell Lake.

A final siting decision is set to be made later this year. The proposed Deep Geological Repository is meant to eventually hold all of Canada’s current and future high-level nuclear waste. This is a colossal undertaking and involves burial of thousands of tons of human-made highly radioactive and toxic elements, some of which remain radioactive for literally millennia. In our view, this siting decision will put Manitoba waters and the communities and ecosystems that depend on them, at risk.

Manitoba has a long history with this issue. The Underground Research Laboratory, operated by Atomic Energy of Canada Limited was located in the Lac du Bonnet batholith, with the purpose of researching the concept of deep geological burial. The significant citizen opposition to this project resulted in the government of the day enacting the High-Level Radioactive Waste Act, which bans nuclear waste disposal in Manitoba. While Revell Lake is not in Manitoba, water does not stop at provincial boundaries. We need the Manitoba government to act now to protect the future of Manitoba waters.

We request an urgent meeting with you to discuss this issue.

Please see the attached petition and background document for some further information and we look forward to your response.

Sincerely,

Anne Lindsey, Andrea Pelletier, Concerned Citizens of Manitoba Manitoba Energy Justice Coalition

Organizations that support our request:

Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives

People for the Preservation of Willow Island Coastal Wetlands

Peace Alliance Winnipeg

Green Kids

Winnipeg Raging Grannies for Social Justice

Our Line in the Sand

Boreal Action Project