Brief summary

The area of the proposed DGR is 43kms away from the host community of Ignace. There are residents closer to the proposed DGR who have never honestly been consulted and listened to. You have a community of people who reside in the area year-round, camp/property owners and a well-established Tourist camp. Although the NWMO has held meetings, open houses, and information sessions about their plans, there have been no real discussions that have taken place where the concerns of the people closest have been heard. The experiences have left us feeling unimportant, not heard, minimized. These homes, camps and a tourist camp have been there for years before this site was ever thought of. The people in the area had no vote and therefore no voice. We have been consistently told that the site will be good for the area, we won’t have any impacts, etc. It all seems to be word salad dancing around our concerns. The concerns are not just about impacts to people in the area but the land, animals, water, air, trails, and so many other things. If you are planning on building an operation that will leave such a large footprint in the area, should you not at least listen and hear the concerns of the people closest to the site? The tourist camp was established in 1948, 78 years ago. They have clients who have been going there for many, many years and now their kids and/or grandkids are grown up and continuing the tradition. There are homes in the area with residents that have been there for generations. Property owners that use the area, some only in summer and others use their cabins year-round. The area is a quiet, pleasant place with so many things to see and do besides hunting and fishing. The area was chosen because it was not a town or city and there are few people. Now a site is to be built that will bring in 600 – 800 people and more as there will be people wanting to look around the area. It will become a small town and with that come the problems associated with all these people in an area with very little monitoring. Now all the concerns we like to leave at home and get away from it all with a quiet place in a secluded area have been brought to the area and not slowly, it is full on! We have many questions and concerns and would like to be heard.

Additional concerns from the tourist camp owners (Sandy Point Camp) that are less than 7km away from the DGR site:

- Quality of remoteness will decrease with the increase in workers, environmental testing contractors etc, in our direct area. Our guests specifically come to our camp because of the remoteness, knowing it’s a rarity to see anyone else on the lakes and trails. This will decrease the appeal for guests to want to book fishing trips with us.

- Disruptions in our hunts - our BMA as well as area 9A for our moose tag allocations are both surrounding the DGR, the presence of 800 workers in the area could greatly affect the succession of our hunts. It will also decrease the appeal for guests to book hunts with us.

- Our guests use our resources for consumption, in both fishing and hunting, as do we with being property owners. With 800 workers coming to the area, what does that look like for fish, moose, bear and grouse populations?  Likely a decrease.

- boat caches - we have several on the surrounding lakes in the area, an increase in traffic and population means more chances of theft and vandalism.  We can’t just simply check on these on a daily basis.

- General loss of business (that we are currently experiencing) due to the stigma that goes with nuclear waste being buried so close, as well as the plan to have 800 (or more) workers housed in the area.  This is a severe challenge to face as it clearly decreases the appeal of coming to our camp to enjoy our beautiful resources and experience our recreational opportunities.
 

We would appreciate the opportunity to have someone, some agency other than NWMO that will take the time to listen to us. We understand that we are just a small community compared to Ignace and Wabigoon First Nations but we do live, have a tourist camp, enjoy and use the area and its resources and have important things to say and contribute.