NWMO’s Exclusion of Eagle Lake First Nation in Nuclear Waste Site Selection Violates UNDRIP and Court Rulings

The United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples [UNDRIP] has been adopted into domestic Canadian law through the UNDRIP Act as confirmed by the Supreme Court of Canada in Reference re An Act Respecting First Nations, Inuit and Métis children, youth and families. Article 29.2 of UNDRIP says that "states shall take effective measures to ensure that no storage or disposal of hazardous materials shall take place in the lands or territories of indigenous peoples without their free, prior and informed consent." The Federal Court of Canada in Kebaowek First Nation v Canadian Nuclear Laboratories recently held that, in the context of the disposal of nuclear waste, the honour of the Crown requires that the Crown deeply consult with the objective of obtaining the consent of the Indigenous peoples affected AND consultations must be conducted in a manner which is tailored to indigenous laws, knowledges, and practices.

The Nuclear Waste Management Organization [NWMO] has, so far, shamefully disregarded this constitutional obligation.

The NWMO can acknowledge reconciliation all they want in their initial project description, but this means nothing when Eagle Lake First Nation, who shares their traditional territory with Wabigoon First Nation and whose traditional territory overlaps with the project area, has been left out of the consultation and site selection processes. Other First Nations communities will experience nothing short of devastation if this unprecedented project goes awry.