Getting too close to the "too late" time say First Nations

First Nations chiefs and other indigenous and non-indigenous activists came together at the UN in New York on April 23 to hold a special event — “Radioactive Waste and Canada’s First Nations”. They were there to denounce the failure of the Canadian government to consult with -- or listen to -- First Nations peoples about the deadly and permanent damage a proposed radioactive waste dump near the Ottawa River in Ontario could do to people, the land and the environment. They called for respect for Mother Earth and warned that our abandonment of radioactive waste along with inaction on climate change could have catastrophic consequences.

The UN event took place on the same day as a press conference in Ottawa, Canada’s capital. There, the Anishinabek Nation, Ottawa Riverkeeper, the Concerned Citizens of Renfrew County and Area, and Ralliement Contre la Pollution Radioactive, called on the International Atomic Energy Agency “to investigate why radioactive waste abandonment plans in Canada are proceeding despite a policy vacuum at the federal level, and with scant attention to international obligations as laid out in the UN Joint Convention on radioactive waste.”

Read our coverage of the UN event -- Mother Earth and the "too late" time: We are getting perilously close, warn First Nations -- at our Beyond Nuclear International blog site.