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Walk against nuclear waste to challenge NWMO

Individuals in Northern Saskatchewan opposed to efforts by the Nuclear Waste Management Organization (NWMO) to site a long-term nuclear waste depository in northern Saskatchewan are gearing up for a summer of action to move towards a legislated ban on nuclear waste in the province.

The Committee for Future Generations has announced a walk against nuclear waste, departing on July 27 from the community of Pinehouse for the provincial legislature in Regina. The 820 kilometre walk, which will pass through Bouval, Green Lake, Big River, Prince Albert and Saskatoon on its way to the capital, is intended to raise awareness of this critical issue as well as to collect signatures on the committee’s petition calling for a legislated waste ban.

The walk will kick off in Pinehouse with a forum on nuclear waste on July 26, featuring Francois Paulette, who is well known for his work to protect treaty and aboriginal rights in Canada, having served on the National Indian Brotherhood Treaty Implementation Committee, Assembly of First Nations Renewal Commission & Parks Canada Aboriginal Consultative Committee.

In the words of the committee: “The purpose of this walk is to wake people up  to the grave dangers of storing millions of radioactive nuclear bundles in Saskatchewan, and to take action by signing a petition to the government to legislate a ban against nuclear waste.

As we pass through each community, we hope to be joined by as many people as possible, and will collect petitions from the surrounding area via adjoining highways. By the end of our walk, we hope to have collected the equivalent of 100 signatures per kilometer on this petition.”

The committee is also encouraging the formation of chapters in other communities to demonstrate solidarity to say “No to Nuclear Waste.”

For more information about the Committee for Future Generations and the walk against nuclear waste, you can contact the group by email at committeeforfuturegenerations@gmail.com or visit their Facebook page. The group has also written an open letter to the people of Saskatchewan.

You can also listen to an interview recorded by Don Kossick of Making the Links Radio with two of the organizers, Max and Debbie Morin, or another interview with the pair on Amnesty International’s Human Rights Radio. Saskatchewan-based nuclear expert Jim Harding has also written an excellent backgrounder on Why A Nuclear Waste Ban Is Needed In Saskatchewan.

Council of Canadians chapters in Saskatchewan have been actively opposing a nuclear waste dump in Saskatchewan, in collaboration with the Coalition for a Clean Green Saskatchewan.