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IN
THIS ISSUE:
1)
IN LOVING MEMORY OF OTTAWA ACTIVIST AND POLITICAN, MARION DEWAR
2) SPEAK UP AT YOUR LOCAL ALL-CANDIDATES MEETINGS
3) UPCOMING PETERBOROUGH EVENTS
4) THE SUNSHINE WALK
5) AN EVENING WITH DAVID SUZUKI
6) HARPER VOWS TO LOOSEN CANADA FOREIGN INVESTMENT RULES
7) FIRST NATION AWARDED $25,000 IN LEGAL FEES FOR BAND LEADERS
8) LETTER WRITING CAMPAIGN - RE: CAMECO CLEAN-UP
9) ARTICLES ON CAMECO'S SPILL
10) REPORT ON THE TORONTO SESSION OF THE MINING ACT REVIEW
11) STOP SUBSIDIZING NUCLEAR POWER - ONLINE PETITION
12) URANIUM PROJECT IN ELLIOT LAKE
13) NEWSPAPERS REPORT ON WHAT YOUR STAND-IN EDITOR HAS BEEN
UP TO ON TOUR.
1) IN LOVING MEMORY OF OTTAWA
ACTIVIST AND POLITICAN, MARION DEWAR
Members of CCAMU are deeply saddened by the passing of Marion Dewar, an
advocate for social justice, the environment and healthy communities.
Her accomplishments and involvement included: Ottawa mayor from 1978 -
1985, MP from 1986 - 1988; former Chair of Oxfam Canada and the Ottawa-Carleton
Police Services Board; and 2002 recipient of the Order of Canada. Marion
volunteered her time for many community pursuits including her role as
a member of the panel for the Citizens' Inquiry into the Impacts of the
Uranium Cycle this past April and contributor to the report, 'Staking
our Claim on a Healthy Future.'
CCAMU members
_____
Marion Dewar
was a supporter of OCAMU and the Know-Uranium movement who shared much
wisdom and guidance when we held the Citizens Inquiry and when we put
on the Jim Harding lecture to try to raise awareness of this issue. She
was a tireless activist that was much loved and will be greatly missed.
The community wants to honour her.
Marion Dewar
contributed so much to this community and her efforts are visible just
about wherever you look. Activists are not the only ones who appreciated
her efforts but have a privileged perspective on the many social justice
and equality issues she spoke up on and fought hard to improve.
The People that Marion Touched...
The saying is many are called but few are chosen but in this case we call
the many to come and share connections, memories or just words of respect
for one of us that we look up to and emulate when we can but know that
few could walk in her shoes. Hoping that some of you who were touched
by Marion's actions could come and share some fond memories. In loving
memory of a wonderful human being.
ActCity Ottawa executive (Editors note: OCAMU and ActCity held a memorial
for Marion on September 17th)
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2)
SPEAK UP AT YOUR LOCAL ALL-CANDIDATES MEETINGS:
One that Marion would have approved of - Come out to an all-candidates
meeting to find out where each of them stand on all things uranium.
For Lanark,
Frontenac, Lennox and Addington, the riding in which Robertsville is located,
a partial list of dates and places:
Sept. 22 Kaladar
Sept. 24 Carleton Place
Sept. 25 Verona Lions Hall
Sept. 29 Smiths Falls
Sept. 30 Napanee
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3)
UPCOMING PETERBOROUGH EVENTS:
Wed., Sept.
24 - the film, "A Hard Rain" (Australia, David Bradbury), OPIRG
- debunks some of the myths of the nuclear industry, such as it's safe,
cheap, healthy and green - Sadleir House, 7 pm - sponsored by Safe and
Green Energy (SAGE), 748-2219
Wed., Oct. 1 - Michael Moore's movie documentary, "Sicko" on
the U.S. privately insured health care system - Sadleir House, 7 pm, OPIRG
Wednesday Night Film Series -
sponsored by the Peterborough Health Coalition, 745-2446
Mon., Oct. 6 - All-Candidates DEBATE on Energy and the Environment - Market
Hall,
7 pm - lead sponsorship by Safe and Green Energy (SAGE), 745-2446
Tues., Oct. 7 - Public event on "Canada's Role in Afghanistan"
- Speaker: Steven Staples, the Rideau Institute - George St. United, 7
pm - sponsored by Council of Canadians, Peterborough and Kawarthas chapter,
Kawartha Ploughshares, OPIRG, KWIC, SAGE, 748-2219
Wed., Oct. 8 - All-Candidates Meeting on Social Issues - George St. United,
7 pm -
lead sponsorship by Peterborough Community Legal Centre, 749-9357
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4)
THE SUNSHINE WALK
Toronto to Ottawa from Oct.4 to 21.
Every hour,
the sun beams as much energy at the earth as humanity collectively uses
in a year-. All we have to do is harness it. Clean, affordable, renewable
and sustainable energy such as solar, wind, geothermal and marine power
exist all around us. We don't need dirty, dangerous, expensive energy
like oil, gas and nuclear when we have the knowledge, ability and means
necessary to build a better world. A better world is necessary - a better
world is possible. In fact, a better world is coming. Combining the best
ideas of our best thinkers and working together, we can and must inspire
our government to enact policies which are just and ensure a sustainable
world.
We know
that people in areas such as the Arctic, Bangladesh, Darfur, the Sahel,
Tuvalu, the Maldives, the Amazon, parts of China and many others are already
suffering the impacts of climate change. Canada is repeatedly called upon
to meet its commitments, demonstrate leadership in this crisis and to
act promptly and progressively to curb greenhouse gas emissions. Global
warming must be kept as far below 2° Celsius as possible in order
to prevent catastrophic consequences - this means developed countries
such as Canada must reduce greenhouse gas emissions 25 to 40% (from 1990
levels) by 2020.
Canada must
have a credible plan to meet this 2020 goal. That plan exists, in many
forms, but our government has been quite busy tilting at windmills instead
of building them. Our taxes subsidize dirty energy while our policies
prevent us from getting our energy through clean, renewable and sustainable
sources. Al Gore has challenged his nation to commit to producing 100%
of its electricity from renewable energy and truly clean carbon-free sources
within 10 years. It's time to challenge our leaders to commit to similar
goals. It's time our government worked toward facilitating Bangladesh
and other developing nations in shifting to alternative energies. And
it's time Canada played a leadership role in influencing other G8 nations
to embrace clean energy.
This October
4 to 20, a group of like-minded people will walk with friends from Toronto
to Ottawa to collect and deliver climate change solutions. Please join
us in re-imagining our world. We will visit many towns and meet many friends
along the way in places such as Pickering, Darlington, Oshawa, Port Hope,
Cobourg, Trenton, Belleville, Napanee, Kingston, Godfrey, Sharbot Lake,
Perth, Carleton Place and many others. Come out at the beginning of the
walk, the end, somewhere in between or for the whole thing - come share
your clean, green solutions with us in a letter or a picture and we'll
deliver them to our government in Ottawa on October 20th.
Together
we can inspire our government to implement clean, affordable, renewable
and sustainable solutions and to create green jobs, but we have to be
many and we have to make ourselves heard. It's our government. We elected
them. Please join us in demanding green energy now - share your vision
of the best solutions, or what you or people in your community are already
doing to make the shift away from oil.
October
4 to 20 - Rain or Shine - we'll walk for sunshine. Please take a few minutes
to join us in this effort.
More info
on how you can help at: http://sunshinewalk08.blogspot.com
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5)
AN EVENING WITH DAVID SUZUKI
Ardoch Algonquin Legal Defense Fundraiser
Special Guest: Leanne Simpson and the Unity Singers
October 17th, 5:30 p.m.
Hampton Inn, 200 Coventry Rd, Ottawa
Lecture: $50.00
Lecture and Reception: $100.00
More info www.uraniumdefence.ca
Tickets at: Info@otx.ca or www.otx.ca
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6)
HARPER VOWS TO LOOSEN CANADA FOREIGN INVESTMENT RULES
By Theophilos Argitis and Alexandre Deslongchamps
Sept. 12 (Bloomberg) -- Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper pledged
to loosen foreign investment rules for airlines and uranium miners if
he's re-elected next month, while keeping restrictions on telecommunications
firms and bank mergers.
For the
remainder of this article, click on:
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601082&sid=
ay_4uQb5uxkw&refer=canada
7)
FIRST NATION AWARDED $25,000 IN LEGAL FEES FOR BAND LEADERS
Posted By THE CANADIAN PRESS
The Ontario Court of Appeal has awarded court costs of $25,000 to Kitchenuhmaykoosib
Inninuwug (KI) First Nation for legal fees incurred in the appeal of a
jail sentence for six KI leaders.
Junior mining company Platinex was ordered to pay $20,000, while the Ministry
of Northern Development and Mines must pay $5,000.
For the
remainder of this article, click on:
http://www.timminspress.com/ArticleDisplay.aspx?e=1201714
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8)
LETTER WRITING CAMPAIGN - RE: CAMECO CLEAN-UP
Please take
a few minutes to send a message to Canada's political leaders to ensure
that Cameco NOT be allowed to restart its uranium hexafluoride plant in
Port Hope Ontario
until the massive radioactive contamination under the building (that has
kept the plant shut down since July 2007) is TOTALLY cleaned up.
Dr. Gordon Edwards
Message below from Port Hope's FARE organization:
NO RESTART - TOTAL CLEAN-UP
We know you haven't heard from us lately. But F.A.R.E. has been busy behind
the scenes documenting what we believe is the most serious threat to Port
Hope's environment in years - the massive spill of uranium and arsenic
that has closed Cameco's uranium hexafluoride plant for more than a year.
Now is the
time for action, and here's what you can do.
Cameco wants to restart its plant after removing only a small fraction
of the thousands of cubic metres of toxic and radioactive contamination
that it leaked into the soil on our waterfront. It expects this to happen
by the end of September, and the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission seems
likely to agree.
We need you to write a letter today to Prime Minister Stephen Harper and
the other federal political leaders (see addresses below). Tell them any
threat to Lake Ontario should be an election issue. Tell them the only
sure way to protect us is to not let the UF6 plant reopen until all radioactive
and toxic contamination caused by the leak is cleaned up.
F.A.R.E. has obtained federal documents that show leaking from the plant
has been going on for more than 10 years and perhaps as long as 20.
Concentrations of uranium in groundwater on the site have been measured
up to 1,200 times higher than Ontario's guidelines.
Although Cameco said publicly it cleaned up 40 percent of the contamination,
its own written estimates show no more than 7 percent of fluorides and
17 percent of uranium have been removed.
Cameco's excuse -- that cleaning up any more would be too expensive, would
take too long, and might undermine its building -- has been accepted by
the CNSC.
That means the rest of it (THOUSANDS OF CUBIC METRES) will be left there
until the plant is decommissioned, and our heirs will be left with a new
and expensive low-level radioactive waste problem.
Neither Cameco nor the CNSC is releasing any estimate of how much of this
has already reached Lake Ontario, source of drinking water for 10 million
Canadians and Americans.
Make this a political issue for the Oct. 14 federal election. Don't let
them repeat the mistakes of the past in Port Hope.
Here's where to write: Federal Government
Prime Minister Stephen Harper - email pm@pm.gc.ca
Opposition leader Stephane Dion - email Dion.S@parl.gc.ca
NDP leader Jack Layton - email Layton.J@parl.gc.ca
Bloc Quebecois leader Gilles Duceppe - email Duceppe.G@parl.gc.ca
Green party leader Elizabeth May - email leader@greenparty.ca
Mailing address for Elizabeth May is P.O. Box 997, Station B, Ottawa K1P
5R1
Mailing address for Harper, Dion, Layton and Duceppe is
c/o House of Commons, Ottawa K1A 0A6 (no postage required in Canada)
info at:
www.ph-fare.com
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9)
ARTICLES ON CAMECO'S SPILL
9a)
Lake Ontario Waterkeeper wants investigation
Local News
Posted By JOYCE CASSIN
Posted 1 hour ago
Lakeshore Road residents in partnership with Lake Ontario Waterkeeper
are seeking an application for an investigation to determine whether Cameco
Corporation may be in violation of Ontario's environmental laws. The province
has until early November to respond to the request.
More at:
http://www.northumberlandtoday.com/ArticleDisplay.aspx?e=1184365
9b)
Protectors say Cameco harming Lake Ontario
By Jeanne
Beneteau
PORT HOPE - Lake Ontario Waterkeeper (LOW) has joined forces with a group
of concerned Port Hope Ward 2 residents to determine whether Cameco Corporation
is in violation of provincial environmental law.
On Aug. 25, the two groups jointly submitted an application for investigation
to the Environmental Commissioner of Ontario, alleging Cameco may be breaking
provincial environmental laws through the discharge of wastewater into
Lake Ontario from its Welcome Waste Management Facility (WWMF). The Ministry
of the Environment (MOE) must decide whether or not to investigate the
allegation by early-November.
More at:
http://www.northumberlandnews.com/northumberland/news/
porthope/article/107735
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10)
REPORT ON THE TORONTO SESSION - MINING ACT REVIEW, by Wolfe Erlichman
The Toronto
sessions to review the Mining Act were not as exciting as the sessions
in Kingston. In his opening address, the Minister of Northern Development
and Mines noted that uranium mining had been raised throughout the Hearings.
Although, there were more representatives from large mining companies
than at previous meetings, there was a large delegation of citizens from
Haliburton and Bancroft. In the afternoon "stakeholder" session,
it was recommended, overwhelmingly, that mining rights should be united
with surface rights and that exploration and mining should be governed
by the normal municipal planning and approval process. Environmental standards
should also apply. It was also mentioned that exploration and mining of
uranium should have a special section in the Mining Act. Consultation
with First Nations and the clean up of abandoned mine sites were other
issues raised. In the evening session, a number of people from Haliburton
spoke passionately about the dangers of uranium exploration and mining
in their area. Also, First Nations speakers raised grievances about their
treatment. The Ministry will be accepting submissions about changing the
Act until October 15. Comments can be emailed to miningact@ontario.ca.
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11)
STOP SUBSIDIZING NUCLEAR POWER - ONLINE PETITION
If you had
$26 billion burning a hole in your pocket how would you spend it? Would
you blow it all on high-risk nuclear power plants or would you use it
to transform Ontario into a green energy leader?
Right now, that is the very question facing Ontario. And so far, the government
seems very intent on pursuing Option A - spend it on nuclear. It is promising
to start signing deals for new nuclear plants as soon as March 2009 despite
a history of horrendous cost overruns and poor performance in Ontario's
nuclear fleet. And as for that $26 billion, well, according to Moody's
Investors Service, the actual cost is much more likely to be $68 billion.
Of course, we know who will be picking up the tab - the same folks who
have always shouldered the burden of nuclear cost overruns in Ontario:
ratepayers and taxpayers. You know that nuclear debt retirement charge
on your hydro bill? Be prepared to see it there long after your children
retire.
We believe it is time to end nuclear energy's free ride. No other power
provider - whether it is a community-owned wind turbine or a large gas
generator - can pass on its capital cost overruns to Ontario's electricity
consumers or taxpayers. This is a special deal strictly for nuclear -
and it has to end. We are calling on the government to pass a Nuclear
Cost Responsibility Act to close the nuclear cost loophole before we get
burned again.
If you agree, or want to find out more about how Ontario could become
a green leader instead of a nuclear throwback, visit our new website
www.OntariosGreenFuture.ca and sign our petition.
It's your money.
Please pass this message on to your friends.
12)
URANIUM PROJECT IN ELLIOT LAKE
(waaay down in the article)
A Canadian Contender
Pele Mountain Resources (GEM; TSX) - This company develops the Eco Ridge
Mine in Northern Ontario's Elliot Lake. They are now developing a new
uranium project that will allow them to mine over 42.5 billion pounds
of uranium in an environmentally responsible manner. This project is moving
forward rapidly.
More at:
http://www.palladiuminvestingnews.com/54-is-palladium-losing-its-shine.html
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13)
NEWSPAPERS REPORT ON WHAT YOUR STAND-IN EDITOR HAS BEEN UP TO ON TOUR.
[Editors note. While Mike is returning home with further stops in Charlottetown
and Fredericton, I am staying on in Central Nova to work in the election,
so will be continuing to send out occasional Uranium News Newsletters
from the road. Note that the newspaper reports below have some errors
that loyal readers will be sure to note - like that I'm not 68 - that
was the number of days that I didn't eat ☺]
Here is a sampling of the eastern tour:
Hunger-striking
grandma visits Forest Heights
by Adam Jacobs
Donna Dillman,
a 68-year-old grandmother who went on a hunger strike to protest a uranium
mine, brought her story to the South Shore.
CHESTER GRANT - Donna Dillman has always had a sense of global responsibility.
It was almost a year ago she became a media darling by undertaking a lengthy
hunger strike to shut down a prospective uranium mine in her native Ontario.
But it wasn't until her youngest grandchild was born she realized the
magnitude of that responsibility.
More at:
http://www.southshorenow.ca/archives/091608/news/index009.html
____
Hunger striker
says she'll do it again
By CHRIS FOX, For The Daily Gleaner
Published Thursday September 4th, 2008
DETERMINED
TO FIGHT: Donna Dillman holds up a No Uranium bumper sticker while standing
on the front steps of the New Brunswick Conservation Council building
in Fredericton on Wednesday night. Dillman went 68 days with out food
to protest the exploration of uranium near her home in eastern Ontario.
Donna Dillman
once went more than two months without eating and she often thinks about
doing it again.
Dillman,
the Ontario woman best known for a 68-day hunger strike to raise awareness
about the dangers of uranium mining, spoke at the New Brunswick Conservation
Council office in Fredericton on Wednesday night.
More at:
http://dailygleaner.canadaeast.com/search/article/404982
Other stories
at:
http://www.southshorenow.ca/archives/090208/news/index012.php
http://www.southshorenow.ca/archives/090208/arts/index002.html
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