'Consultation' session didn't have any mandate to listen

Well, that was a waste of our time, wasn’t it?

The CNSC’s long-awaited public “consultation” meeting on Cameco’s environmental self-assessment turned into a fiasco on Saturday when about 20 FARE members seized the microphone from the facilitator and organized their own plenary session. They did this after she refused to consider a request to disband the carefully stage-managed “divide and conquer” format that separated the audience into groups to discuss topics of the CNSC’s choosing.

One of those groups, ostensibly to discuss criticality, was chaired by a CNSC staffer who began the session by criticizing minor errors on FARE’s website.

During the day-long session at the Royal Canadian Legion on Toronto Road, several citizens complained that the event was not adequately advertised by the CNSC. About 80 people attended during the day.

At one point, a speaker asked how many in the audience wanted Cameco prevented from producing SEU, and everyone in the audience put up their hands. No speaker during the entire day said anything in favour of the proposal, which the CNSC staff has endorsed in its draft screening report.

FARE board member George Clements summed up the feelings of many late in the day when he said, to the CNSC’s Heather Jarrett, “you really aren’t in a position to help us, are you? It’s not in your mandate to respond to the concerns of the people of Port Hope.”

He was applauded when he suggested that the best solution was for an independent panel to be formed by the Minister of the Environment with a broader mandate that could deal with such things as the long-term economic impact of SEU on the community, whether health testing should be carried out, and whether we need a buffer zone to ensure public safety.

John Morand was the only member of municipal council who bothered to attend the day-long session. No member of the municipal staff showed up, even though the town is under pressure to take a stand on SEU.

CNSC staff members took sketchy notes of some of the points made. The public are invited to submit written comments by June 24, and these will be considered before the final SEU screening report is prepared for the Commissioners.

FARE urges all its members to send written comments, and to register themselves as potential intervenors when the Commissioners come to Port Hope in the fall for a hearing on the environmental assessment.

These should be sent to:

Heather Jarrett
Environmental Assessment Specialist
Processing Facilities and Technical Support Division
Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission
P.O. Box 1046, Station B
Ottawa, ON
K1P 5S9

Phone : 1-800-668-5284
E-mail: ceaainfo@cnsc-ccsn.gc.ca

Back