Another fun story from the Rally of Allies for Court Support to stand in solidarity with Kebaowek First Nation and their fight against the proposed nuclear waste dump on their territory, at Chalk River, 1.1 km from the Ottawa River.
My Upstanders and I had prepared a letter to the Prime Minister about this – demanding that he order the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission to not approve the license for this proposed nuclear waste dump.
We announced at the Rally that we had copies of the letters if anyone wanted to sign them on the spot. We got 13 letters signed.
I was then informed that if you go around the corner from the Federal Court of Canada (at 90 Sparks St), you will come to a small, pubic facing desk behind a window (at 11 Metcalfe St) where you can give things directly to the Prime Minster’s Office – without even putting them in the mail. This was so much fun to learn about.
You will know you are in the right place when you see these mailboxes:
Above those is a window, behind which someone sits who will receive your letters. I had to show her that each letter was sealed in an envelope and addressed to the PM. And then I was allowed to put them in Mailbox #1.
Here is the template of our letter in a Google Doc. If you feel so inspired to send a letter to the PM about this, feel free to print out our template and use it as is – or use it as inspiration to write your own.
From this experience, I am now in touch with some folks from the Ottawa Chapter Council of Canadians and they sent some emails about this after the Rally – sharing our template of the letter and proposing their own edits. I will share their proposed edits here in case you want to make this change in your own letter.
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“I suggest one amendment to the letter, but each person can decide on their preferred wording. In lieu of: “waste that will take approximately 300 years for the radioactivity to wear off,” I will write:
According to Dr. J.R. Walker, a retired AECL senior manager and radioactive waste expert, “The facility will remain a significant hazard for in excess of 100,000 years.“
This is from a submission to the environmental assessment agency, and is quoted by Concerned Citizens here.
I know the project descriptions are confusing (maybe deliberately by the proponent!). I think CNL claims most radioactivity will decline after 300 years. But Dr. Walker’s assessment convinces me. Twenty-five of the 30 radionuclides in the dump inventory are long-lived — from thousands up to millions of years in half-lives.”
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I love all the learning that my Upstanders and I got to do through this project – and I am happy to share it all with you!
#WorldChangingKids #UpstandersAcademy #IndigenousJustice #StopNuclearWaste #EducationReimagined #WaterIsLife