Concerned residents of Sept-Iles are furious with the Quebec government today, calling the Minister of Natural Resources Serge Simard a liar after he announced there would be no moratorium on uranium exploration in the area. Simard was responding to a 14,000-signature peitition in support of the moratorium.
Last week we published a piece about the concerns of residents of Sept-Iles, Quebec, around uranium exploration in their area.
As Marc Fafard, a spokesperson for Sept-Iles Sans Uranium (SISUR) explained, their immediate worries are over pieces of possibly radioactive core samples left behind after exploration, unmarked and unprotected. Many people pick up the smooth pieces of rock, or wander through the areas unknowingly, possibly exposing themselves to harmful radiation.
But they have a larger concerns as well: Currently, Saskatchewan is the only Canadian jurisdiction allowing uranium mining, but Sept-Iles residents fear that as exploration increases, the likelihood of outright mining being allowed rises as well.
The Quebec government has repeatedly claimed they would bend ot the will of the people on this issue, and that if enough people pronounced themsleves against uranium exploration they would institute a moratorium. Yet on the heels of polls showing 90 per cent of Sept-Iles residents oppose exploration and a petition bearing the names of 14,000 Quebec residents in favour of a moratorium, Minister Simard stated in a letter (attached) that a moratorium would risk "negative impacts on investment, employment and economic growth" across the province.
SISUR and others vowed today to keep up the pressure. This includes over 20 North Shore doctors who have threatened to resign should exploration continue. The regional health and social services board will be releasing a report in the coming months on the health impact of uranium exploration, and the Quebec government has announced a province-wide consultation on provincial mining laws, which environmentalists hope will increase ecological and health protections.