HUNDREDS OF URANIUM MINE PROtesters are expected to rally outside a public meeting in Kingston next Thursday that will collect feedback on proposed changes to the Ontario Mining Act.
The provincial government announced Aug. 5 that it would hold public meetings in five Ontario communities between Aug. 11 and Sept 8. Stakeholders and members of the public are being asked how the century-old act that regulates mining should be modernized to make it more respectful to private land owners and aboriginals.
Paul Gervan, a Seeleys Bay resident who is organizing the protest, said the consultation process has a serious flaw.
"This review of the mining act, although welcome, is very hasty and doesn't deal with the all-important issue of uranium mining, which really needs to be heard," Gervan said.
Gervan is a member of a local anti-uranium mining group called the Community Coalition Against Mining Uranium. It has been working with local Algonquins to protest the exploration of a potential uranium site north of Sharbot Lake.
Last year, Algonquins, backed by non-aboriginals, refused for months to allow prospector Frontenac Ventures to go on the site.
Bob Lovelace, a former chief of the Ardoch Algonquin First Nation and a Queen's University lecturer, spent about three months in jail for refusing to back down. He was released by a panel of appeal court judges in May.
The Algonquins claim the land is theirs and that the provincial government shouldn't have given a prospecting licence to Frontenac Ventures. Under current provincial mining legislation, anyone with a prospector's licence can access and occupy someone else's land.
The Algonquins and many of their non-native neighbours fear that drilling while prospecting for uranium, and mining for uranium, could poison the region's water tables.
They believe uranium mining must be included in discussions about changing the old mining act. They also question why the provincial government left so little time between the announcement and the meetings themselves.
"The review terms of reference were unilaterally announced and the hearings started almost immediately, within just a few days of the announcement," Gervan said. "There was no opportunity for input in that regard and the provincial government seems intent on exploiting this jurisdictional confusion over uranium to avoid the thorny issue of uranium mining in eastern Ontario."
A spokeswoman for Northern Development and Mines Minister Michael Gravelle said uranium mining won't be included in discussions.
Anne-Marie Flanagan urged people to remember uranium is used in more than just nuclear weapons.
"It's important to remember uranium has a number of uses and one of those is the detection and treatment of cancer," Flanagan said.
Currently, no uranium mining is being done in Ontario, she said, and only one in 10,000 exploration projects become working mines.
In response to concerns about citizens not having enough time to provide input to the review process, she said people have until Oct. 15 to respond by e-mail or mail.
"The public meetings are just one part of the process," she said.
The Ministry of Northern Development and Mines is holding two two-hour meetings -the first at 1 p. m. for invited guests and another at 6:30 p. m. for the general public -in the Harbour Shadows Room of the Radisson Hotel next Thursday.
Representatives from the Community Coalition Against Mining Uranium will attend the morning session as invited guests, but Gervan said he expects more people who represent the coalition will be outside taking part in the protest. He estimates at least 200 natives and non-natives will attend.
The protest at the hotel's entrance will feature a small stage and a presentation by Lovelace.
Representatives of the 22 Ontario municipalities who have demanded the province place a moratorium on uranium mining may also speak.