Uranium Mining in Northern Saskatchewan―What You Need To Know; Part 2, Small Nuclear Modular Reactors (SMRs) and Consent in Saskatchewan: What You Haven’t Been Told

Originally broadcast as a live-to-air online webinar, this four-part series was shortened to audio for your listening pleasure. We want to help you learn more about uranium mining in Northern Saskatchewan, why it is happening, and what the future looks like for Indigenous Peoples and allies resisting uranium mining and nuclear waste in their traditional territories.

Tori Cress hosts this episode's guests, including Paul Belanger, Keepers of the Water Science Advisor. Dr. Gordon Edwards, President and co-founder of the Canadian Coalition for Nuclear Responsibility, and Benjamin Ralston BA, JD, LLM, Assistant Professor at the College of Law, University of Saskatchewan. Between our guests, you will gain decades of combined knowledge of uranium extraction and nuclear energy. You can watch the original broadcast on Facebook and YouTube. Please note the YouTube video is of lower quality due to connectivity issues during the live broadcast.

In this episode, we will hear from Dr. Gordon Edwards, president and co-founder of the Canadian Coalition for Nuclear Responsibility. Dr. Edwards is dedicated to education and research on all issues related to nuclear energy, whether civilian or military, including non-nuclear alternatives. A retired professor of mathematics and science at Vanier College, Doctor Edwards has also served as a consultant on nuclear issues for governmental and non-governmental bodies for over 45 years. He has been accepted as an expert witness by US and Canadian courts and tribunals, has cross-examined nuclear experts during provincial commissions of inquiry, and has been invited to address various countries.

Nuclear energy is not clean energy that will save us from the climate crisis. This false solution is being sold to citizens by the same industries that are the source of the climate problem. Nuclear power, including SMRs, is not a climate solution because it is filthy to mine, physically dangerous, too expensive and very slow.

The rise of nuclear energy as a solution to the climate crisis is a looming threat to clean, fresh water for the entire planet. Current extraction practices and policies have brought us to this global crisis, and colonial practices are not how we save ourselves from ourselves. Natural law shows us that we are not separate from our environment, and the time to pay attention to that teaching is now.

This episode was edited and produced by Beverly Andrews.