Areva seeks approval for Kiggavik uranium mine against EIB

[Oscar]

Areva seeks approval for Kiggavik uranium mine against the findings of Environmental Impact Board


From: Gordon Edwards
Sent: Wednesday, January 27, 2016 1:20 AM
To: Gordon Edwards
Subject: Areva seeks approval for Kiggavik uranium mine against the findings of Environmental Impact Board


Background: January 27 2016

Uranium is the key element underlying all nuclear fission technology. It is essential for nuclear weapons and nuclear reactor technology.

Last April, groups attending the World Uranium Symposium in Quebec City joined with the International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War to work together towards banning uranium mining worldwide -- a campaign known as UBAN. [See http://www.ccnr.org/Declaration_WUS_2015.pdf ]

Two of Canada's ten provinces -- British Columbia and Nova Scotia -- have already banned uranium mining permanently, and Quebec has imposed a temporary moratorium on uranium mining pending a decision to turn that moratorium into a permanent ban, as recommended by last year's report of BAPE (Bureau des audiences publiques sur l'environnement). BAPE is the body set up to advise government on matters of policy affecting the environment.

Areva, the French corporation that is touted as the world's largest nuclear company, has been teetering on the edge of bankruptcy in recent years because of monumental losses due to dramatic failures (see http://tinyurl.com/mbjqllm). Nevertheless, the government of Nunavut -- the newest, largest, northernmost, and least populous territory of Canada -- is being pressured to grant Areva Canada permission to mine uranium near the Inuit community of Baker Lake. This, despite the recent recommendation of the Nunavut Impact Review Board against proceeding with the Kiggavik project.

One of the most renowned centres of Inuit art, Baker Lake is situated on the western shore of Hudson's Bay. The Kiggavik uranium mine would require mining in permafrost conditions not far from the breeding grounds of one the most important caribou herds that Inuit hunters have depended upon for countless thousands of years. After years of deliberation (see http://ccnr.org/Baker_Lake_summary.pdf and http://ccnr.org/Vakil_Harvey_letter_2010.pdf ) the Baker Lake community is opposed to the project on environmental grounds.

The following letter has been sent to the Canadian Minister of Indigenous and Northern Affairs. It was penned by Eric Ukpatiku on behalf of the Nunavut-based citizen's group Nunavummiut Makitagunarningit, referred to as Makita. Please read the letter and consider adding your voice or the voice of your organization in support of the expressed wishes of the Baker Lake community and the findings of the NIRB panel. The newspaper article that follows the text of the letter adds further context.


Gordon Edwards, President
Canadian Coalition for Nuclear Responsibilty
http://www.ccnr.org

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From: Nunavummiut Makitagunarningit < nunavummiutmakitagunarningit@gmail.com >
Date: 24 January 2016 at 19:53
Subject: RE Proposed Kiggavik Mine
To: carolyn.bennett@parl.gc.ca , MINDM@aadnc-aandc.gc.ca , Hunter.Tootoo@parl.gc.ca , Info at NIRB < info@nirb.ca >

Please find below a letter to the Honourable Carolyn Bennett, regarding AREVA's proposed Kiggavik uranium mine, from the Nunavut-based citizens' group Nunavummiut Makitagunarningit.


Makita to Bennett: respect NIRB’s advice on uranium mine

[ http://www.nunatsiaqonline.ca/stories/a ... _kiggavik/ ]

Nunavummiut Makitagunarningit wants Liberals to keep election promise

THOMAS ROHNER, Nunatsiaq on-line, Jan 25 2016

[ http://tinyurl.com/zfrzf2m ]


The Nunavut Impact Review Board's public hearing on the Kiggavik uranium project held in March 2015. The NIRB eventually recommended against approval of the project "at this time," due to Areva Resources Canada's inability to provide a firm start-date. (FILE PHOTO)

Nunavummiut Makitagunarningit is sticking to its message: no mining for nuclear energy in Nunavut.

This means that when it comes to deciding the fate of Areva Resources Canada’s proposed Kiggavik uranium mine in Nunavut’s Kivalliq region, Carolyn Bennett, the newly-appointed federal minister of Indigenous and Northern Affairs, should side with Nunavummiut.

And she should reject Areva’s proposal.

The citizen-based group, also known as Makita, gave Bennett that advice in a letter made public Jan. 25.

The letter points out that community consultations in Baker Lake, the closest Nunavut community to the proposed site of the Kiggavik mine, and letters from community-based organizations, display strong local opposition to the project.

And Nunavut MP Hunter Tootoo promised in his election campaign last summer and fall that it would be “the government that grants the licenses, but the communities that grant permission,” the letter said.

“I urge you to keep the promises made during the recent campaign, and reject Areva’s proposed Kiggavik uranium mine,” Eric Ukpatiku, a Baker Lake resident and member of Makita, told Bennett in the letter.

In May 2015, the Nunavut Impact Review Board recommended to Bennett’s predecessor, Bernard Valcourt, that he should reject Areva’s proposal [ http://www.nunatsiaqonline.ca/stories/a ... nium_mine/ ] because the French-based mining company’s lack of a project start-date raised serious environmental and socio-economic concerns.

But two months later, Areva Resources Canada Inc. urged Valcourt to approve the project despite the uncertainty of a start-date, citing the review board’s lack of consideration for ‘available remedies’ for that uncertainty. [ http://www.nunatsiaqonline.ca/stories/a ... _decision/ ]

“To deny the project approval in the absence of significant, unresolvable issues is inconsistent with current economic strategies and development policies that speak to responsible resource development that can contribute to self-reliance and improved quality of life,” Vincent Martin, the CEO of Areva Resources Canada said in a July 3, 2015 letter.

But in their submission to the review board, Makita questioned Areva’s record of ‘responsible resource development’ in other parts of the world. [ http://www.nunatsiaqonline.ca/stories/a ... m_project/ ]

The mining company left enormous environmental and social problems behind in the African countries of Niger and Gabon, Makita said, citing European newspapers.

And letters from a host of community-based organizations show strong opposition to the project, Makita wrote, including from the Baker Lake Hunters and Trappers Organization, the Kivalliq Wildlife Board and the Beverly and Qamanirjuaq Caribou Management Board.

“[Makita] believes that the public record demonstrates that Areva’s proposal should not be approved at this time, and that Areva’s request to overturn the NIRB decision was unfounded and inappropriate,” Ukpatiku wrote in his letter to Bennett.

But Areva touts the uranium mine project as a major economic boost for the territory, capable of creating hundreds of jobs.

“With few other sources of economic development on the horizon, the mining industry forms a cornerstone of the North’s economic and social development plan,” Martin told Valcourt in July, 2015.

= = = = =

Please find below a letter to the Honourable Carolyn Bennett, regarding AREVA's proposed Kiggavik uranium mine, from the Nunavut-based citizens' group Nunavummiut Makitagunarningit.


Carolyn Bennett
Minister, Indigenous and Northern Affairs Canada

AREVA Canada Inc.’s Proposed Kiggavik Uranium Mine

(January 24, 2016?)

Dear Ms. Bennett,

In the coming weeks, your government will make a decision that will have major repercussions for the future of Nunavut.

In May 2015, the Nunavut Impact Review Board (NIRB) released its final hearing report, recommending the Kiggavik uranium mine not be approved at this time. AREVA Resources Canada Inc. (AREVA) then wrote to your predecessor, requesting the Minister reject the NIRB recommendation. This was followed by a series of letters – from the Baker Lake Hunters and Trappers Organization (HTO), Kivalliq Wildlife Board, Aqiggiq HTO, Hamlet of Chesterfield Inlet, Beverly and Qamanirjuaq Caribou Management Board, and Mining Watch Canada – requesting the Minister uphold the NIRB recommendation and reject the Kiggavik proposal.

I hope you will carefully consider the facts and arguments presented in the NIRB final hearing report and subsequent correspondence. Nunavummiut Makitagunarningit believes that the public record demonstrates that AREVA’s proposal should not be approved at this time, and that AREVA’s request to overturn the NIRB decision was unfounded and inappropriate.

Nunavummiut Makitagunarningit also welcomed the statements made by the Hon. Hunter Tootoo during the election campaign. In an interview with Nunatsiaq News, Mr. Tootoo promised that, under the Liberal Party, it would be “the government that grants the licences, but the communities that grant permission.” The NIRB report and submissions to your predecessor clearly show that the most affected communities have not granted permission for this project to go ahead. Mr. Tootoo also told CBC News that the “Liberal party will go along with decisions made by a regulatory body without political interference.”

Many Inuit from Nunavut heard these promises and elected Mr. Tootoo. I urge you to keep the promises made during the recent campaign, and reject AREVA’s proposed Kiggavik uranium mine.

Eric Ukpatiku
Nunavummiut Makitagunarningit

c.c.: Hunter Tootoo, Member of Parliament for Nunavut
Elizabeth Copeland, Chair, Nunavut Impact Review Board