To the editor,
When the Nuclear Waste Management Organization (NWMO) announced they had bought land outside Teeswater, the rumours soon started: “There must be money involved or are people being paid to promote this nuclear waste repository at all cost?”
Freedom of Information documents from when the NWMO targeted the Village of Pinehouse from 2010-2013 gives insight into how “trusted” people in that community were bought by the NWMO. In 2010, Pinehouse leaders agreed to engage in the NWMO’s “Learn More” program. They were committing to promote the NWMO’s agenda. Unknown to most Pinehouse residents, the funds allocated to Pinehouse by the NWMO were largely dedicated to salaries for three leaders in that community. A cousin of the mayor received a monthly salary of $5,441, an admired community Elder received $3,001 per month, and a Métis Nation leader received a monthly salary of $2,601 paid from a NWMO fund, set up within the Pinehouse accounts.
NWMO “buys” people in the community they target, to promote NWMO’s agenda. In 2016, South Bruce CLC Chair Jim Gowland and Huron-Bruce MPP Lisa Thompson went to the International Geological Conference in France and were wined and dined by the NWMO.
Rumours circulate in the community that a local farmer was awarded the use of NWMO farmland for approaching property owners in South Bruce to see if they were interested in selling their farms to the NWMO. Lack of transparency by the NWMO does not allow for this discussion to be fact-checked.
In the draft willingness study, two participants mentioned that if South Bruce gets the nuclear storage facility with the repackaging plant that one or two people should sit as CEO in representation on the Board of Directors from the NWMO or other nuclear stakeholder entities. These are well paid positions and who from South Bruce is on the NWMO list to get rewarded with these lucrative positions? Community Liaison Committee members, South Bruce Community and Business Association members, and members of council, among others? Mr. Gowland made a comment about this Board in the willingness study.
Are there self-serving residents willing to promote and advocate for this questionable high-level nuclear waste storage experiment and line their own pockets without giving South Bruce residents a voice?
Who benefits from this “never done before experiment?”
Rita Groen
South Bruce
