Ontario uranium refinery faces pushback over licence extension

Warning: This story mentions Indigenous graves and contains details that may provoke distress or trauma in some readers.

The company behind an Ontario uranium refinery is facing opposition from a nearby First Nation after asking for a third extension to its original contract, which would allow the facility to operate for an additional 10 years.

Near the North Channel of Lake Huron sits the Cameco uranium refinery in Blind River, Ont. Operating since the 1980s, the facility is the largest commercial uranium refinery in the world. It lies close to the Mississagi River, Lake Huron and other bodies of water, and controls about 24 per cent of the world's capacity to convert UF6, a substance used in the process of enriching uranium.

At a virtual meeting Wednesday, members of the nearby Mississauga First Nation (MFN) and environmental groups raised environmental and health concerns about the refinery, as well as issues with the disturbance of Indigenous graves and other items of significance when the refinery was built.

The company is requesting a 10-year extension past its current licence, which ends in February. It has applied for the renewal with the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission (CNSC), which hosted the intervention to gather feedback on Cameco’s request.

At the meeting, Cameco touted a survey it says shows support from the community of Blind River. However, the MFN, located less than a kilometre away from the refinery, took issue with the company’s lack of consultation with them and pointed to the potential environmental impacts.

According to the CNSC, the facility “refines uranium concentrates, also known as yellowcake, to produce uranium trioxide (UO3), which is a product of the nuclear fuel cycle. The UO3 is then shipped to the Port Hope Conversion Facility for further processing.” Yellowcake, which is used in Port Hope’s nuclear reactors, is a radioactive substance that can be harmful to human and environmental health if not stored correctly — standing near the substance without proper protection can cause organ damage and cancer.

Presenting as an intervenor from MFN, Coun. Laura Mayer said when the refinery was built in the 1980s, the then-Crown corporation failed to honour the rights of the First Nation and the significance of the site. She asked the commissioners to specifically consider recommendations from the nation concerning MFN’s inherent rights around consultation and reconciliation.

The nation opposes the 10-year renewal request, and called for a shorter term to be allotted, Mayer said. She noted the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP) — to which Canada is a signatory — underscores the duty to consult with Indigenous nations “when it considers measures that might adversely impact their potential or established Aboriginal or treaty rights.” The nation said Cameco did not fulfil that duty during the licence renewal process, saying the company didn’t collaborate with them during its application process.

“Mississauga people recall the finding of artifacts at this site, from pottery to stone structures and headstones, that are taken to museums in Ottawa. We also recall the nearby burial grounds on the adjacent land, which is the present-day golf course,” she said.

“It's important to note that these burial mounds remain to this day. In 2016, a delegation of youth and elders from our community travelled to Ottawa to see the artifacts, which have not yet been returned.”

In a statement to Canada’s National Observer, Sara Forsey, manager of public and government affairs for Cameco, said the company is “committed to working respectfully with the Mississauga First Nation” and it has had “at least 100 exchanges with Mississauga First Nation on a formal and informal basis during this licence term.”

Also an intervenor at the hearing was Joan Morningstar, a Mississauga elder, who called for a shutdown of the facility. She detailed her first-hand experience cleaning trailers at the refinery and hearing of graves being exhumed in secret.

“These archeologists don't know the sacredness of what they stole from us,” she said.

She spoke of her mother-in-law, who is now 98, asking her to bring “her people and sacred items home.”

“It has been a long journey of searching for my people ... I hope that I can fulfil her wishes [to] bring people home,” she said.

Via email, Forsey said the company has limited information on the period before 1988 when the refinery was transferred to Cameco from the Canadian government, and that archeological studies during the 1970s and 1980s “did not identify gravesites or any remains on what is now Cameco property.”

However, on Wednesday, the company did admit to hearing verbal accounts “from a former employee of some remains that may have been discovered during construction.” Dale Clark, vice-president of Cameco's fuel services division, responded to Morningstar during the hearing and spoke of the account, and said the site was then turned over to the government.

Morningstar also spoke about her cancer, and the others with cancer in her community. When Cameco was asked if it had looked into the effects the uranium refinery could be having on neighbouring areas, a company representative said it had not.

“It is a horrible disease and we would like to not see it affect anyone that we know and love. But I think that we haven't, to answer your question, engaged specifically in that regard,” said Liam Mooney, Cameco's vice-president of safety, health, environment and quality and regulatory relations.

“But it's something that, perhaps, broader conversation with the public health authorities may be warranted.”

Before the hearing, the CNSC supported the renewal. The body is now expected to review feedback and make its decision before Cameco’s licence expires.