Editor’s note: The following is an open letter to South Bruce residents and neighbouring communities.
To South Bruce residents and neighbouring communities,
Does the date Jan. 24, 2020 mean anything to you?
Probably not.
It was the day that the Nuclear Waste Management Organization (NWMO), along with landowner Darren Ireland, announced that 1,300 (neighbouring) acres of land had been bought or optioned for the possible site of a deep geological repository (DGR) in the Municipality of South Bruce. Have you ever wondered if those landowners had not been convinced by their neighbour to take the NWMO offer, would the NWMO have any land in South Bruce? Hope those landowners are enjoying their “new found wealth.”
At the time, South Bruce Mayor Robert Buckle stated that he sees potential benefits for decades to come and that there’s “a lot of public support.” Mayor Buckle was also quoted in an Owen Sound Sun Times story dated Jan. 26, 2020 saying, “there’s been very, very little negativity.”
Two years later, can Mayor Buckle stand behind those statements? There is a lot of negativity and lack of public support among many about this controversial project. The community is divided – neighbours and family members do not speak to each other.
There is a South Bruce Community Liaison Committee that is supposed to be the “neutral” committee looking into all aspects of a DGR. Seemingly, they have only looked into things that the NWMO promotes or recommends.
The NWMO, in the last two years, has become a major defining entity in the municipality with the money they are “spreading” about. They pay the salaries of municipal employees hired just for the project. NWMO has given the municipality millions of dollars to spend. But has anyone noticed the “changeover” of staff at the NWMO’s “Learn More Centre” in Teeswater? How come so many have left? This office is going through major renovations. Is this because they have more staff and are planning to make Teeswater a permanent home?
There are many questions, but answers are never available. The municipality and NWMO say there are more studies to be done. Some studies will not be completed before the NWMO chooses the preferred site in 2023. How do you make a decision when your studies are not complete?
Community involvement, willing and informed community, etc. is said all the time. The NWMO does not go to you, you have to go to them. That is how community involvement is done. And if you go and speak of other resources/reports you have found, you are “black listed.” Are people really interested in the results of studies that have nothing to do with digging a hole? A hole to bury highly radioactive nuclear waste which the NWMO is trying to convince you will be safe for thousands of years. Who can predict that?
So, in two years, South Bruce is not “informed” enough about this DGR. Council will not ask the community if a DGR is wanted or not. Remember, this community is deciding for “all of Canada.” Just how many Canadians know about it? This community will continue to be divided as the municipality and NWMO continue to spend money because nobody is informed and willing… yet.
S.A. McDonald,
Culross/Teeswater
