Uranium mining hearings are underway in Quebec. The first of several pre-consultations is taking place in Montreal today and tomorrow.
Gordon Edwards, the head of the Canadian Coalition for Nuclear Responsibility, will be in attendance. He would like to see Quebec follow the lead of the two coastal provinces of British Columbia to the west and Nova Scotia to the east, and ban uranium mining outright.
The only essential use of uranium is for nuclear weaponry because everything that reactors can do can be done by other agencies. For example we know how to generate electricity without uranium. We know how to generate medical isotopes without uranium. Gordon Edwards.
The Quebec Environmental Public Hearings Office will be conducting consultations in several regions of the province in May and June in preparation for more in depth sessions over the next 12 months.
The Cree native community in northern Quebec has imposed a moratorium on uranium mining on its territory which contains some rich uranium deposits. The Cree are part of the organizing committee of an international symposium on the subject to take place next May when the consultation process is completed.
Quebec has some other fierce opponents of the practice. In 2010, nealy two dozen doctors in the city of Sept Iles threatened to resign their positions if uranium exploration continued in the region.
Quebec mining laws, don’t provide much protection from mining exploration and updating both the regulatory framework and a cost-benefit analysis will be among the issues discussed in these hearings.
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