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JULY 14th , 2008 |
| IN THIS ISSUE: 1) ARDOCH ALGONQUIN MEETING: JULY 15, 2008 4) CCAMU/NO URANIUM MINING SIGNS 5) CITIZENS FOR RENEWABLE ENERGY 6) 3-DAY OTTAWA/GATINEAU PICKET IN SOLIDARITY WITH THE ALGONQUINS OF BERRIERE LAKE 8)
ARTICLE: MINING ACT IS THE CULPRIT 11) ARTICLE: ONTARIO PLANTS TO REFINE LAST OF SADDAM'S URANIUM 12) ARTICLE: RIVER USE BANNED AFTER FRENCH URANIUM LEAK 13)
ARTICLE: ARDOCHS 'VINDICATED' AFTER RELEASE OF JUDGEMENT
Kwey Dear Friends, The Maberly hall isn't available so the meeting will be in Sharbot Lake at the Catholic Church on Tuesday, July 15, 2008 at 6 pm. Unfortunately, we will not be having a pot luck this time. This hall costs and will charge extra if we use the kitchen. We will bring coffee and lemonade and disposable glasses. If you bring your own cup that would be great: nothing to throw away. For those who didn't join us at the meeting on Sunday, this next meeting is a follow-up to the one on July 6th. We agreed to be prepared to discuss in more detail ideas and strategy in our resistance to uranium exploration and mining. If you know of anyone who wants to join us but doesn't have email, please inform them of this meeting. We hope to see you on Tuesday, Co-Chiefs Mireille La Pointe and Paula Sherman 2) CCAMU WEBSITE UPDATES Our Webmaster, Isidora Spielmann and I have been busy updating the CCAMU website again. Check out our updated areas including, . The First Nations Tab with all the latest documents that have been featured in the Uranium News. (So you don't have to go fishing through the UNews!) . The Links Tab with new links to provincial and federal government ministries and agencies. Either these agencies know about our concerns or they should know. Letters to these agencies are always welcome from our end. Please forward any letters you write, to let us know about your own personal efforts to stop uranium mining. . The Political Tab with an updated list of municipalities calling for a moratorium on uranium mining. . Our new Alternative Energy Tab where you can download the Pembina report "Renewable is Doable" and link to other websites full of information about how to accelerate the use of clean renewable energy. More updates to come so check our website often. To support CCAMU's multi-pronged public education, research and legal campaign, please designate cheques to the, "Uranium Mining Moratorium Fund" P.O Box 2149, 57 Foster St. Perth, Ont. K7H 3M9 CCAMU runs on thousands of volunteer hours but we need financial support to keep our websites up and running, print materials for distribution, create signage and displays, pay for general office expenses and many other day-to-day expenses of running a large organization. Check out the CCAMU website to find out how you can help. We are always looking for volunteers to take on new projects and help distribute information. http://ccamu.ca 4) CCAMU/NO URANIUM MINING SIGNS We are looking for prominent places on private property to put 4'X6' No Uranium Mining signs. If you feel you have a good location, and would like to show the world how you feel about uranium mining, please reply to this email. -Lynn Daniluk 5) CITIZENS FOR RENEWABLE ENERGY CCAMU will be forming an alliance with the Citizens for Renewable Energy (CFRE), which is a non-profit information sharing and advocacy organization, incorporated in 1996. The Coordinator, Ziggy Kleinau, has spent years informing the public of alternatives to fossil fuels and nuclear energy. I recommend becoming a member of CFRE. For more information go to their website, http://www.cfre.ca. Email cfre@web.ca. Taken from CFRE's fact sheet on nuclear power. Complied by Ziggy Kleinau:
-It takes 10 square metres of mine site and causes approximately 500 litres of mine effluent? -It creates 2 tonnes of radioactive tailing with a volume of approx. 1.3 cubic meters? (Mining machinery is run with CO2 producing diesel fuel!) -The new fuel bundle weighs approx. 20kg. produces about 1,000 MWh of electricity over its useful life of 12-18 months? -It uses 180 million litres of cooling water? -Emits 36,000,000,000 Bq (Becquerels=Rate of radioactive decay per second) Tritium oxide, 28,000,000,000 Bq.MeV noble gasses, 29,000 Bq particulates 2,400 Bq Iodine-131 into the air? -Emits 80,000,000,000 Bq Tritium, 1,600,000 Bq gross beta into the water? (Reactor emissions are based on annual emissions, normalized per MWh.) -Creates 7.6 kg of Low and Intermediate level waste? -After its useful life still weighs approx. 19 kg and contains Plutomium as well as highly lethal fission products? Did you know that. -One third of the power contained in the nuclear fuel is used in the plant to generate the electricity? -One additional third is wasted in the form of excess heat contained in the cooling water and in the removed nuclear fuel? -Only less than one third of the power is the nuclear fuel makes it it the end user because of losses in the high-voltage long distance transmission? Did you know that. -Nuclear reactors cannot run when the hydro grid goes down? -Reactors need large diesel generators as back-up power which have to be test-run every 60 days? (CO2-Greenhouse gas emissions!) -Reactors need large battery banks as secondary back-up power and if only one cell in a battery fails, the whole battery bank must be replaced? -Reactors have to be taken off-line at least once every 2 years for a 3-month maintenance outage? -Pickering A reactors are 35 years old, 2 of those were refurbished at the total cost of 2.25 billion dollars and need continuous maintenance? Did you know that. -In case of a serious accident the 30-year-old Nuclear Liability Act compensates victims with a measly 75 million dollars on both sides of the border? -No home insurance policy compensates for loss or damage caused by a nuclear incident or caused by contamination from radioactive material? -The Committee on Biological Effects of Ionizing Radiation in their BEIR VII Report (June 2005) states that."each unit of radiation-no matter how small-still is assumed to cause cancer."? And, of course, then there are approx 2,000,000 used fuel bundles (2005 estimate) that are highly radioactive and need to be isolated from humans and the environment indefinitely. A team of scientists retained by the Nuclear Waste Management Organizations (NWMO) has come to the conclusion that containment and isolation of used nuclear fuel can not be guaranteed for an indefinite period. (Page 345, NWMO final Study Report, November, 2005) All information taken from official sources and can be certified! PLEASE MAKE YOUR OWN JUDGMENT ON THE CLAIM OF CLEAN, SAFE, ECONOMICAL AND RELIABLE NUCLEAR ENERGY GENERATION! 6) 3-DAY OTTAWA/GATINEAU PICKET IN SOLIDARITY WITH THE ALGONQUINS OF BERRIERE LAKE NO COUPS
D'ETAT in ALGONQUIN TERRITORY ****************************** WHERE: Lawrence
Cannon's office at the Ministry of Transport WHEN: Wednesday July 16 12:30pm-5pm and Thursday July 17 10:00am-5pm WHERE: Department of Indian Affairs, Corner of Wellington and Montcalm in GATINEAU WHEN: Friday, July 18 11:00am-5pm ******************************* * This is a peaceful demonstration in support of Barriere Lake community members who are in Ottawa to demand a meeting with their riding MP Lawrence Cannon, a leadership re-selection in accordance with their Customary Governance Code, which has been blatantly violated by the Federal Government, and that the Federal Government respect all signed agreements with the community. * Bring banners, signs, placards, noise-makers... MORE INFO:
barrierelakesolidarity.blogspot.com For twenty difficult years, the small Algonquin community of Barriere Lake, 3 hours north of Ottawa, has been struggling to hold the government to their word. In 1991, they signed a landmark resource co-management and sustainable development agreement with Canada and Quebec to protect Algonquin land uses, conserve the forest and wildlife, and give them a share in the resource revenue from the logging and hydro projects on their traditional territories. Corporations extract $100 million a year -- Barriere Lake receives nothing. The Canadian government walked away from the agreement in 2001. To avoid fulfilling their obligations, the Federal Department of Indian Affairs has ousted the Customary Chief and Council and illegally appointed a minority faction as the leadership, in an attempt to scrap the agreement. Despite knowledge of his government's illegal actions, Minister of Transport Lawrence Cannon, Harper's Quebec lieutenant and MP in Barriere Lake's riding of Pontiac, has not ensured the federal government complies with the law. * Despite several Quebec Hydro dams on their territory, the community is forced to use aging diesel generators to provide power. * The housing crisis in the community has reached tragic proportions, with most living in moldy, often condemned houses. As many as 18 people live in one house. * The Surete du Quebec has been used to forcibly impose and maintain the authority of the government-backed Chief and Council, supported by a community minority. * Children have been prevented from speaking Algonquin in school by teachers hired by Third Party Management-a grim throwback to residential schools. Join us in Ottawa and Gatineau, and support the community as it demands that the government respect the law and uphold their agreements.
>From Arthur Manuel's Submission to the United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues, 7th Session, New York, April 21 - May 2, 2008 For entire
submission: INTRODUCTION . The Algonquins
of Barriere Lake have a population of about 450. Despite the poor social and economic conditions, the Algonquins of Barriere Lake have maintained their language, culture and customary system of government. FEDERAL INTERFERENCE IN LEADERSHIP SELECTION PROCESS Over the last 12 years the government of Canada has interfered in the internal affairs of the Algonquins of Barriere Lake three times. In 1996-97 the Canadian government imposed an outside group as the Chief and Council. The federal government had to reverse its decision and recognize the legitimate customary Chief and Council on April 17, 1997. In 2006, the federal government refused to recognize the legitimate Chief and Council during a new leadership selection process. It took the intervention of a Quebec Superior Court Judge, Rejean Paul, who issued a mediation report in May 2007, confirming the legitimacy of the Customary Chief and Council, the Canadian government subsequently had to respect the community's leadership selection. However, on March 10, 2008, the government of Canada once again recognized a Chief and Council who according to the Barriere Lake Elders were not selected by the community in accordance with the community's customs. The Barriere Lake Elders' Council has launched a court action against the federal Minister of Indian Affairs, Chuck Strahl, to have the Minister's decision to change the Chief and Council overturned. The Department of Indian Affairs even refuses to release the information they based their decision on, to the Barriere Lake Elders. Even though the Barriere Lake Elders are responsible for overseeing leadership selection under their customs. Not only is there a flagrant disregard for Indigenous customs regarding leadership selection, but the federal government is using the Quebec police force to install the federally imposed Chief and Council, even though the majority of the people do not agree to recognize the federally imposed group as their leaders. The result of the federal imposition of an unaccepted Chief and Council has led to problems with the delivery of programs and services and confusion around who is the legitimate leadership. REMOVAL OF INDIGENOUS PEOPLES FROM TRADITIONAL TERRITORIES The federal government is trying to replace the legitimate customary Chief and Council just as negotiations were to start on implementing three major precedent setting agreements the Algonquins of Barriere Lake had entered into with the governments of Canada and Quebec. In 1991, the Algonquins of Barriere Lake convinced the governments of Canada and Quebec to sign a Trilateral Agreement establishing a pioneering land management planning process based upon the Brundtland Report's concepts of sustainable development, conservation strategies and that Indigenous Peoples have a 'decisive voice' over land use decisions that affect them. Further agreements were signed with the governments of Canada and Quebec but the governments have continued to try and to get out of their obligations and liabilities under these agreements. Now, the Canadian government has breached Barriere Lake's governance customs and replaced their Customary Chief and Council with a federally imposed Chief and Council, in yet another effort to get out of the signed agreements,, because of the precedent setting nature of these agreements. CONTRAVENTIONS In contravention of the Declaration on the Rights on Indigenous Peoples and the signed agreements with the community, the federal and provincial governments are collaborating on promoting infighting within the community while refusing to honour signed agreements, which contributes to the poor social and economic conditions in the community. >From this case and other like KI, it appears there is a pattern in Canada to remove the Indigenous Peoples from their traditional lands to allow for unfettered corporate resource access and exploitation of forests, minerals, oil & gas and hydro projects. 7) "PARLIAMENTARIANS FOR NUCLEAR NON-PROLIFERATION AND DISARMAMENT" INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE AND COUNCIL MEETING Pugwash, Parliamentarians and Political Will: Advancing the Agenda for Abolition Parliamentarians for Nuclear Non-Proliferation and Disarmament International Conference and Council Meeting hosted by the Middle Powers Initiative and Pugwash Peace Exchange Thinkers Lodge, Pugwash Nova Scotia, Canada July 10-12, 2008 Legislators from around the world will join with disarmament experts at the Thinkers Lodge in Pugwash in an unprecedented meeting to develop strategies for building the political will necessary to take bold steps for nuclear non-proliferation and disarmament leading to the abolition of nuclear weapons and the achievement of a nuclear weapons free world. Leadership changes in the Nuclear Weapon States are providing new opportunities for progress, provided that effective action is taken and sufficient political will is generated by legislators working in conjunction with experts, officials and key constituencies in civil society. Parliamentarians for Nuclear Non-Proliferation and Disarmament, with over 500 legislators from 70 countries, is well placed to make a significant contribution to advancing the nuclear abolition agenda. This conference and board meeting will provide an opportunity to develop concrete and effective plans. Participants include PNND Co-Presidents Marian Hobbs MP (New Zealand) and Alexa McDonough MP (Canada). For a full list of participants go to, http://www.gsinstitute.org/pnnd/archives/Pugwash.html For more information contact alyn@pnnd.org and visit their website at http://www.gsinstitute.org/pnnd/index.html
Kingston
Whig-Standard July 10, 2008 "The Sharbot Lake uranium mining conflict has come full circle. And that has turned out to be a sad indictment of the provincial government, which has dragged its feet on updating the Mining Act to acknowledge native and landowner rights." To read the rest of this article go to, http://www.thewhig.com/ArticleDisplay.aspx?e=1106130 9) ARTICLE: U.S. WANTED SECRECY IN URANIUM DEAL: CAMECO July 6 2008 10) ARTICLE: NUCLEAR RECYCLING FAILS THE TEST By: Robert
Alvarez Taken from the Foreign Policy In Focus website www.fpif.org July 7, 2008 "Over the past few years, attention to the recycling of nuclear power spent fuel has grown. Fears of global warming due to fossil fuel burning have given nuclear energy a boost; over the next 15 years dozens of new power reactors are planned world-wide. To promote nuclear energy, the Bush administration is seeking to establish international spent nuclear fuel recycling centers that are supposed to reduce wastes, recycle uranium, and convert nuclear explosive materials, such as plutonium to less troublesome elements in advanced power reactors." To read
the rest of this article go to, 11) ARTICLE: ONTARIO PLANTS TO REFINE LAST OF SADDAM'S URANIUM July 7, 2008 CBC News "The imminent arrival of the remnants of Saddam Hussein's nuclear program in Port Hope, Ont., has sparked renewed controversy in a community that has been refining uranium since the Second World War." To
read the rest of this article go to, 12) ARTICLE: RIVER USE BANNED AFTER FRENCH URANIUM LEAK By Angelique Chrisafis in Paris The Guardian July 10, 2008 "Residents in the Vaucluse, a popular southern French tourist destination, were banned yesterday from drinking well-water or swimming or fishing in two rivers after a uranium leak from one of France's nuclear power plants." To read
the rest of this article go to, 13) ARTICLE: ARDOCHS 'VINDICATED' AFTER RELEASE OF JUDGEMENT By L. H. Tiffany Hsieh July 11, 2008 "A court of appeal has called the incarceration of a First Nations protester too "harsh" and the fines levied on the Ardoch community "onerous." To read
the rest of this article go to,
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