Robertsville, Ontario Canada
Note: This interview with retired Algonquin Chief Bob Lovelace gives insights into why we have to oppose the destructive and unnatural extraction of dangerous minerals like uranium to protect all citizens. First Nations Law forbids the abuse of our Mother Earth, just as the Natural Law of most nations should.

video by Wanyee Kinuthia

Anti-uranium rally at Queen’s Park, south lawn, organized by Cottagers against Uranium Mining and Exploration. The message is clear: Stop the uranium mining industry from staking further claims, and protect all Ontarians by giving them what residents of British Columbia already enjoy—a ban on uranium mining and exploration.

Radioactive fallout and washout from uranium mining sites is carried for up to 400 kms, resulting in a significant increase of cancer fatalities in a wide area.
Kueppers 1994

“Wherever uranium is mined, it contaminates the land, air and water. Yet the province of Ontario is allowing multi-national companies to strip our local cottage-country forests and drill near our source waters in search of uranium. Most of which, is destined for export. And what they’re planning here are open-pit mines,” says Susanne Lauten, founder of Cottagers against Uranium Mining and Exploration. “British Columbia has a ban on uranium mining, Nova Scotia and Labrador have a moratorium, New Brunswick has strict regulations, but Ontario’s a free-for-all.”

Just 2 hours northeast of Toronto, south of Algonquin Park, an American mining company has bulldozed 20 hectares of mature forest, scraping the earth to bedrock. Followed by 40 test drills each 100 metres deep. All without environmental assessment. This took place in the Trent Severn watershed, source water to tens of thousands of residents.

Uranium has not been mined in Ontario since 1996, when the mines at Elliot Lake were closed, and the rich reserves in Northern Saskatchewan—the largest in the world—became Canada’s primary source. And now, just ten years later, the Ontario government is opening the door to uranium mining again. But this time, it’s open-pit mining, and it’s right on Toronto’s doorstep.

Speakers include:

Bruce Cox, Executive Director, Greenpeace Canada

Robert Lovelace, Retired Chief of the Ardoch Algonquin First Nation, and Queen’s University professor, imprisoned for 101 days for resisting uranium prospectors on aboriginal land

Terry Rees, Executive Director, Federation of Ontario Cottagers’ Associations, FOCA

Lorraine Rekmans, Author, and witness to World Uranium Congress, Salzburg

Email: cottagers.vs.mining@sympatico.ca

*There will be road closures downtown that day due to Toronto Waterfront Marathon, and the Word on the Street.