Uranium mining proposal sparks protest in Sept-Îles
December 9, 2009 - 12:53pm
see next post
Support rabble | Advertise with us | Contact our staff | About rabble | Log-in or Register for a new account | Corrections | Privacy policy | Newsfeeds | Mailing lists
rabble: Features | Columnists | In Cahoots | Blogs | Books | Photos | What's Up | Polls
babble: Forum Topics | Active Topics
The rpn: Become a Podcaster | Find a Show
rabbleTV: Program Guide | Features | Indie Inside | Best of the net
Copyright © 2001-2012 the authors
Syndicate
Thread Info: This group is in support of the anti-uranium protest.
North Shore doctors threaten to resign over uranium mine
excerpt:
Quebec's Liberal government must stop uranium exploration near Sept Îles and declare a moratorium on uranium mining activities across the province to avoid the mass resignation of 20 doctors in the Lower North Shore town, a Sept Îles doctor said yesterday.
Protesters seek debate on uranium mining
excerpt:
Opponents of uranium mining in Quebec's North Shore community of Sept-Îles are mounting a protest they hope will result in a provincewide referendum on the development of uranium mines.
The group, called Sept-Îles Sans Uranium, is organizing a march in their community on Sunday aimed at forcing the Quebec government to hold a debate on the health and safety concerns surrounding uranium mining.
"Holding a referendum is the only way for people to have a say over such a major development," said Marc Fafard, the group's spokesman.
"I've wanted a national debate on this issue for a long time. Now the cat is out of the bag and pressure is such that the government will no longer be able to ignore us."
There are more than 80 uranium exploration sites in Quebec, up from only two or three in 2004, in part because of the increased demand for uranium and the Quebec government's plan to stimulate mining activity in the province. There are no active uranium mines in the province.
Terra Ventures Inc., a mining company based in British Columbia, has been conducting extensive drilling in the area, especially near Lake Kachiwiss, 13 kilometres from downtown Sept-Îles and near the city's water supply. The drilling has exacerbated concerns that a uranium mine is not far behind.
excerpt:
Many groups have been demanding more information on the impact of a uranium mine on the health of the community, and the Innu are considering legal action to stop the project in its tracks.
Sept-Îles doctors under investigation
excerpt:
Meanwhile, the newly elected mayor of Sept-Îles, Serge Levesque, is also critical of the doctors' actions.
Levesque said the population is worried about the loss of additional doctors in a region already facing a shortage of health-care workers.
He said the city has commissioned a poll to see whether the population agrees with the doctors' position.
But the executive director of the Quebec Mineral Exploration Association, Jean-Pierre Thomassin, warns the province is in no position to implement a moratorium on uranium exploration.
He said the companies involved have spent $250 million on exploration in the past five years.
"These companies will ask to be reimbursed their money if you do such a moratorium."
Thomassin said the radioactive mineral has been mined safety since the 1950s in Saskatchewan.
On Friday, Bolduc said there were no immediate plans for a uranium mine in the region, and any project would have to have the public's support to be approved.
The Sept-Îles Hospital administration has said it supports the protest by doctors, but warned their departure would be "catastrophic."
question: who gave the permission for these companies to do their uranium exploration?
The Sept-Îles hospital is the one most used by the residents of Quebec's Lower North Shore, where I live. An exodus of doctors from the hospital will have drastic effects on the population of the Lower North Shore - so it is important that the proposed uranium mine be stopped in its tracks immediately, not just for the population of Sept-Îles and the surrounding community, but also for the sake of the residents of the Lower North Shore.
Boom boom, terra ventures only had to stake the land claims in order to have the legal rights to test and look for minerals and uranium, or buy the already staked claims I should say.
They 100% own the claims around the lake.
Terra Ventures acquired a 100% interest in the Lac Kachiwiss property in March 2007.
Terra ventures Board
one parent company which is in itself a cash flow through holding company
Thanks, remind, this is new territory for me. I'd appreciate as much info as possible on this story, from anyone.
Facebook group: Sept-Îles Sans URANIUM Already at 4,600 members!
Here is a blog devoted to this issue - Oppose Uranium Exploration and Mining in West Quebec!
I think that what should be worked towards is a province wide ban un uranuim exploration such as the ban that is in place in BC.
BC's ban brings fresh hope to those in West Quebec who would like to see a similar ban here. It shows there is a current precedence for banning the exploration and mining of this toxic substance. It joins the enlightened uranium-free ranks of Nova Scotia and the Nunatsiavut (Inuit Lands) in Newfoundland and Labrador.
Not just mining but exporation itself is a hazard. Drilling can intersect aquifers and lead to cross contamination of drinking water supplies.
Thanks scott! would you mind if I posted that blog to the Facebook group? Or you could do it yourself!
ETA: I'll wait until I see if the info in the blog is already posted - that FB has been going a long time, and they have a lot of links already.
Go ahead.
I just realized all these links I posted are not in proper order - and here is another, from December 4th: Quebec rejects calls for uranium moratorium
The Facebook group I linked to has the most recent information. There are meetings and protests being planned.
Your province most certainly has been trying to keep this quiet...where are the Bloc on this?
From: North Shore doctors threaten to resign over uranium mine
On Wednesday, the Liberal government tabled a new law on mining that did not mention uranium mining, despite calls for a moratorium from the city council of Sept Îles, the Innus of Uashat-Maliotenam, dozens of environmental and social groups, the Parti Québécois, Québec solidaire and several members of the Bloc Québécois.
The Bloc are in Ottawa. Uranium mining is a provincial matter.
Pardon me all, but this has been in the news for ages. Sorry if the Rest Of Canada didn't deem it worthy of reporting.
The Parti québécois demanded almost one year ago that the Charest government institute a moratorium.
Many local activists have been involved in this struggle, there have been demos and petitions, and it has been quite broadly reported in the media here.
Here's one petition sponsored by the Réseau québécois des groups écologistes (Québec Ecological Groups Network) supported the activists and demanding a moratorium.
There's great coverage here, including really good videos dating back to the spring of 2009.
Here's a Nov. 1 demo in Sept-Îles.
The municipal council itself unanimously adopted a moratorium demand in January 2009. French CBC reported extensively on it right at that time.
And last but not least, here are here are many items documenting Québec solidaire's involvement in the struggle right from the start.
Thanks, Unionist. We don't get much in the way of news here on the Lower North Shore, when we hear of something, we have to dig it out on the Internet because we don't have a local TV station, and the radio news from Harrington Harbour is mostlt a CBC feed. The Sept-Iles paper Le Nord Est will have this story in this week's edition because of the doctor's ultimatum. Meanwhile, here's another link:
Censored News: (from July 2009)
The Innus of Uashat-Maliotenam oppose uranium exploration at lac Kachiwiss. The band council has summoned Terra Ventures to abandon its work. The head of the band council of Sept-Îles (Uashat)-Maliotenam, George-Ernest Grégoire, said that the Innus would never give approval to the exploitation of a uranium deposit on their ancestrales land. (Radio Canada July 9, 2009)
None of the newspapers you take for granted in Montreal or other cities in Quebec are sold here.
Coverage of yesterday's protest: Sept-Îles residents protest uranium exploration
what they're up against: (excerpt)
The government has maintained that mining the radioactive heavy metal posed no public health hazard and Jean-Pierre Thomassin, director general of Quebec's mining exploration association, agrees.
"This is strictly a fear campaign," he said. "The doctors probably have cottages near the site and don't want to be bothered."
He also believes a ban is unlikely due to potentially pricey compensations the province would have to pay to companies who have already invested in exploration.
"There would be consequences," he said. "If the government doesn't compensate the companies, it's over. No one will come to Quebec for exploration."
Here's a working link to the Canadian Press story referenced by Boom Boom above.
Interesting to see how this low-life spokesperson for giant capitalist mining concerns ridicules the doctors, insinuating that they're just rich and have no real social conscience.
We have lots of very progressive physicians (besides others from the health care sphere) fully engaged in the political life of Québec - Amir Khadir is but one noteworthy example. Not too many mining millionaires can say the same.
By the way, more than 1,200 people demonstrated yesterday in Sept-Îles. I don't think they were all physicians, Mr. Mining Man:
Coverage of the demo can be found here.
That spokesperson's comment took my breath away when I first read it. What is this, 1950?
And he's not alone. The Charest government, the head of the Québec College of Physicians, and the ever-vigilant pro-people Montreal Gazette have joined the attacks on the doctors:
Gazette editorial
Sept-Îles doctors under investigation
From the G&M
... and, last but not least, a letter praising the doctors from Dale Dewar, Executive director, Physicians for Global Survival.
The mining industry is using the same tactics as the oil industry in Alberta. Here is a quote from a post above:
"But the executive director of the Quebec Mineral Exploration Association, Jean-Pierre Thomassin, warns the province is in no position to implement a moratorium on uranium exploration.
He said the companies involved have spent $250 million on exploration in the past five years."
If they invested in something stupid, they should lose their money. Same should go for Tar Sands investments, and for any coal fired power plant in Alberta or anywhere that was built after 1990; they should have known that anything with CO2 emissions was an investment risk by then!!.
so I say let them take a hit. Shut down uranium mining, as they did in BC.
Noah, I agree with you, but I also suspect Charest and his gubmint have illusions (delusions?) of turning Quebec into an uranium powerhouse. They're probably shitting bricks over the protest last weekend.
The doctors should fight back. They are right and will eventually win.
This "shoot the messenger" tactic was used against a commuity doctor in Fort Chip, downstream from the Tar sands, who raised the alarm about high cancer rates in his community. He was persecuted for his statments, but was eventually vindicated.
...
O'Connor drew international attention in 2006 by going public with calls for Alberta Health to study the cancer rates in Fort Chipewyan, a community of 1,200, and to investigate what link they might have to oilsands development upstream.
...
While O'Connor was eventually vindicated, he went through professional turmoil for his outspokenness.
At one point, some Health Canada officials filed a complaint against him with the Alberta College of Physicians and Surgeons, saying he was causing "undue alarm" by going public with his concerns. That complaint still has not been resolved.
However, the Alberta Medical Association rallied behind O'Connor's efforts, passing a unanimous motion of support in March 2007.
O'Connor's frustrations led him to leave Alberta two years ago to practice in Nova Scotia.
But when asked if he would do it all over again, O'Connor said there was no question.
"I wouldn't be true to myself as any other health-care professional in my position would have been, you know, if I didn't follow through with it," he said.
__________________________________
One struggle, many fronts.
Yes, exactly! The huge investments in the Tar Sands were stupid, they KNEW there were environmental problems and they still went ahead. Now that cancers are an epidemic in Ft. Chip, and now that the world realises we have to reduce CO2 emissions, the Tar Sands does not have a leg to stand on. Let those investors eat cake.
But especially, it would be a HUGE mistake on so many fronts to allow the Tar Sands to expand, and the plans are laid for a FOUR TIMES expansion there in the next two decades. No freakin' way!!!
It IS an outrageous plan, but with either Conservatives or Liberals leading this country, it will likely happen. I heard on CBC that eastern provinces will be forced to cut their emissions in order to permit Alberta to increase theirs - that this is actually a strategic paper that the Cons are looking at.
I saw on the Facebook group that this project near Sept-Iles has been suspended, but I do not know if it is a temporary or permanent suspension. I'm still looking for a good link.
Me too, Boom Boom.
Post it if you find it, please. The Facebook links all lead to videos or audio files that I can not download.
Post it if you find it, please. The Facebook links all lead to videos or audio files that I can not download.
I don't do Facebook.
I do google.
Yes, that too.
However, the Facebook group (now over 5,000 members) usually has the latest info.
Développement économique Sept-Îles s'oppose à l'uranium (Stakeholders united against uranium)
It sounds like the Chamber of Commerce and other impacted groups are taking a 'wait and see' attitude, pending further information from 'authorities' (snicker) such as the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission, which issued the following press release:
Uranium Exploration, Mining and Milling: Setting the Record Straight
excerpt:
Contrary to the misinformation that has been circulated in the Sept-Îles community of Québec, several scientific studies demonstrate that present-day uranium workers, and the public living near a uranium mine or mill, are as healthy as the general Canadian population.
Ha. Sounds to me like a PR offensive is in the works.
BB. ; Unionist is quite right in saying that this has been going on for a long time. Surely you are aware of the meeting to held in Vancouver on January 16th, 17th,2010 at the Hotel Vancouver?!? The young American men would be most happy to explain to you what is their plans. It all hinges on a road to be built by the Quebec Government from Chibougamou to Mastassinni Station;(But I am not worried - Government is slow .) and the 40/60 rebate between the exploration and the Quebec Provincial Government. Closer your way in Montreal, in the former Gazette building-is Dios exploration ( .24/share , therefore no need to worry) But she will kindly explain to you what is going on with their plans. I repeat that Encanna ( you can sometimes make $200. in one day) compared .24 /share) maybe one of the smart doctors could buy some "Participation" shares.
Anyway, moderator, please excuse me if I am out of bounds- Thank You.
So it's been going on a long time. Is that any reason to ignore what is going on now?
ETA: Look at the thread title. This is about the situation in Sept-Iles, which as far as I know was never reported on until the doctors threatened to quit just a few months ago.
More on the uranium industry in Canada:
Atomic Accomplice: How Canada Deals in Deadly Deceit by environmental journalist Paul McKay (availible online at paulmckay.com).
Review of the McKay book in the G&M here.
excerpt:
It is a damning and alarming indictment - and thoroughly bipartisan, too. Written from years of accumulated research, Mr. McKay spares neither the left nor the right. The CCF's Tommy Douglas, the socialist premier from uranium-rich Saskatchewan, lobbied hard in the 1950s for federal subsidies to bankroll uranium mines. More recently, the NDP's Lorne Calvert, as Saskatchewan premier, championed the sale of uranium to China - only one in the list of dictatorships courted by Canada as prospective clients for this country's government-sustained nuclear industry.
Beyond doubt, this industry has survived solely through overt and covert government manipulation of the marketplace; in the case of Liberal prime minister Pierre Trudeau, for example, through a shameful price-fixing conspiracy that inflated the price of uranium more than fivefold. Federal subsidies to the industry - so far - exceed $30-billion. Prime Minister Stephen Harper
has trebled support for the industry, committing a further $1.7-billion in the past three years.
January 6, 2010: Sept-Îles residents oppose uranium exploration
excerpt:
The Quebec government has a duty to put a stop to plans for uranium exploration in the Sept-Îles region because of the overwhelming opposition of residents, the city's mayor, Serge Lévesque, said Tuesday.
Lévesque was reacting to the release of a poll ordered by municipal officials last month after two dozen local doctors threatened to resign if B.C.-based Terra Ventures Inc. goes ahead with planned drilling in the area.
excerpt:
Quebec's Junior Natural Resources Minister Serge Simard has said no uranium mining project in the region would be approved without local support.
Lévesque said he hopes Simard will stand by his word.
"I think he has the power to stop the project right now," Lévesque said.
A bit off-topic: Residents fear prospect race for lithium
excerpt:
Hart said most property owners are surprised to learn that prospectors have a legal right to go on their land. He said the mining act allows mineral exploration companies to expropriate private land where there are significant mineral finds.
Uranium is one of the most soluable metals and the most toxic. Congratulations to your Doctors! I wish we had this out west. This thread, re, nukes should be it's own large catagory in Babble.
Thanks for the compliment. A lot of good links in the Facebook group I referenced in post #5 (now at 6,159 members) . It's a great source if you're bilingual - I'm not fully bilingual, but I can usually get the gist of most articles in French.
A bit off-topic: Residents fear prospect race for lithium
excerpt:
Hart said most property owners are surprised to learn that prospectors have a legal right to go on their land. He said the mining act allows mineral exploration companies to expropriate private land where there are significant mineral finds.
Seriously? For batteries or for mood disorders? That's quite some element.
A bit off-topic: Residents fear prospect race for lithium
excerpt:
Hart said most property owners are surprised to learn that prospectors have a legal right to go on their land. He said the mining act allows mineral exploration companies to expropriate private land where there are significant mineral finds.
Seriously? For batteries or for mood disorders? That's quite some element.
Uranium as well.
And, from the same article:
When Lemay is asked whether there will be a mine near Meech Lake in Gatineau Park, he chuckles and says there could be a mine if there is a significant find on private property.
The National Capital Commission said in 2006 that mineral exploration and mining are not allowed within the park because of a 1973 agreement between the NCC and the Quebec government.
Jean-Paul Murray, a Gatineau Park activist, said there is nothing the National Capital Commission could do to stop mining in the park because the Quebec government does not recognize the agreement not to issue mining permits on park land.
Geez, I feel kind of ashamed. I come from a long line of miners on my mother's side. Cominco in Trail, Thailand, elsewhere. That was decades ago, though.
http://www.vandalfamily.org/Vandal/b1373.html#P4493
Almost missed this: Expanding uranium exploration sparks concern, protests in Quebec
excerpt:
"There's a whole debate that needs to happen," says Loraine Richard, the Parti Quebecois Member of the National Assembly [MNA] for Sept-Iles. "When there are almost 20 doctors who want to leave my region, I stand up and take notice." On February 17, Richard presented a citizens' petition to the National Assembly calling for a province-wide moratorium on uranium exploration, a concept supported by MNAs from the Parti Québécois and Québec Solidaire, but rejected by the majority Liberals.
Many activists now see the Sept-Iles experience as a template for successful organizing because it has mobilized citizens and politicians and made prospecting a public issue in a way it has never previously been in Quebec.
Nevertheless, the ultimate outcome for the Lake Kachiwiss site remains uncertain. For the moment, the provincial Liberals' strategy seems to be to deal with Sept-Iles as an isolated case that can be dealt with without addressing any broader issues of mining policy.
However, speaking in the National Assembly on December 4, Serge Simard, the Liberal minister responsible for mining, promised that a uranium mine at Lake Kachiwiss would not go forward without local endorsement. Also, in recent weeks Terra Ventures has suspended its prospecting in what looks to be a gentleman's agreement with the government.
But as Sept-Iles' MNA Richard points out: "If they [Terra Ventures] wanted to dig tomorrow morning, legally speaking, they could do it."
And as long as the policy of free-entry mining remains unchallenged, it is difficult to see how either municipal legislators or MNAs like Simard can make promises to their constituents with any degree of conviction.
excerpt:
Since 2005, a plethora of companies have obtained permits from the Quebec government to drill in approximately 20 locations, and have extracted up to 250 core samples per site along an axis extending 800km from Tadoussac through Sept-Iles to the eastern terminus of Highway 138 at Natashquan.
Natashquan is 44 km from where I live.
another excerpt from that same article:
According to Sept-Iles residents, the prospecting site is not fenced in, the drill holes, as of June last year, were uncapped, and the company has neglected to post signs to warn the population about potential radioactivity. The core samples are stored on open-air racks, exposed to the elements.
Marc Fafard, a logger and local activist, describes the result of leaving such unusual objects unattended, and essentially unmarked, in a frequented area.
"You've got these lovely core samples, soft, beautiful as fossils, nice to touch," he explains. Samples "were showing up in people's living rooms".
I'm still stunned by the idea that folks have picked up possible uranium core samples to decorate their living rooms. Can someone knowledgeable about this explain to me if there are immediate and/or long-term dangers from touching a genuine uranium core sample?
Anti-uranium doctors renew threat to resign
excerpt:
Nearly two-dozen doctors in Sept-Îles, Que., are renewing their threats to resign and leave the province after the government rejected calls for a moratorium on uranium mining and exploration in the region.
I'm still stunned by the idea that folks have picked up possible uranium core samples to decorate their living rooms. Can someone knowledgeable about this explain to me if there are immediate and/or long-term dangers from touching a genuine uranium core sample?
The only danger would be from the dust of a crushed/broken specimen entering the lungs.
But are you folks petitioning Quebec city?
I think the Facebook page has several references to our provincial representative bringing this up in the National Assembly, there has been a petition, and a large demonstration, and many newspaper articles. Quebec is aware of the situation.
This is from New Brunswick, not Quebec, but still interesting:
Uranium industry hit by price drop, regulation and attitude
http://telegraphjournal.canadaeast.com/search/article/1024040
Protest spreading close to where I live:
Un groupe d'opposants à l'exploration et l'exploitation de l'uranium est en cours de formation en Minganie. Minganie sans uranium joindra ses efforts à ceux de Sept-Îles sans uranium.
Minganie sans uranium obtient des appuis de taille
Jonathan Genest-Jourdain: Demain en chambre (13:30-14:00), intervention portant sur l'exploration uranifère et le groupement Minganie sans uranium !!