© Original Artwork by Destiny Cote, Kitigan Zibi Anishinabeg
© Original Artwork by Destiny Cote, Kitigan Zibi Anishinabeg
© Original Artwork by Destiny Cote, Kitigan Zibi Anishinabeg
© Original Artwork by Destiny Cote, Kitigan Zibi Anishinabeg
CALLING ALL NATIONS!
We need your support !
Photo: Glenda Stevens and Eagle Staff Carrier Luc Goupil Kitigan Zibi Anishinaabeg, July 10, 2024.
Millions of Canadians rely on the Ottawa River as a source of drinking water, and we believe in protecting the future of the Kichi Sibi for all Canadians.
In Algonquin territory, Chalk River Laboratories Ontario Canada has contaminated groundwater, lakes, and the Ottawa River without Algonquin Anishinaabeg people's consent since the 1950s. Kebaowek First Nation has recently brought a judicial review on grounds related to both the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (2007) and the United Nations Declaration Act (2021). The application seeks review of a January 2024 decision of the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission which approved a license amendment for Canadian Nuclear Laboratories’ Near Surface Nuclear Waste Disposal Facility next to the Ottawa River. The decision of the Commission violates Kebaowek's rights as recognized by the UN Declaration - particularly Kebaowek's request for free, prior, and informed consent regarding hazardous waste storage on Algonquin unceded territory.
"This nuclear waste facility will damage the water and we all know that. Conscientious people are rising. We must rise together, we are all in that medicine wheel. No matter our colour, our creed or our title, we are all related in the human family andwe must stand together."
We cannot stop the thunder. We cannot stop the rain from falling. We cannot stop the lightning from shining. We cannot stop the rivers from flowing. But together as human beings, as brothers and sisters, we can certainly stop thenuclear waste facility from coming here on the Ottawa River."
Meegwetch
Claudette Commanda,
Algonquin Elder, August 10, 2023
1
Million cubic metres +
of nuclear waste
1.1
Kilometres from the
Kichi Sibi
13
Waste management areas
300
Year period of institutional
control
Our Solution
1. Canadian and Indigenous laws should equally protect biodiversity in accordance with the principle of legal pluralism in Canada, a notion reinforced by Aboriginal title and the Quebec superior court's decision in White and Montour, which recognizes Indigenous laws' crucial role in accommodating the Nation's sovereignty, particularly in unceded territories.
2. Canada needs to commit to a strategy that aligns with its international legal obligations and UNDA 2021 towards the Algonquin Anishinaabe peoples and the biodiversity of lands previously managed sustainably under Algonquin Anishinaabe laws and practices.
Canadian United Nations Declaration Act 2021