An Activist’s Bedtime Story

This is me in 1982. I am 7 years old.

I live in Halifax, which is the name settlers gave K’jipuk’tuk.

Here are some of the things I love: 



My family, which contains a Mom and two wonderful grandparents. I took this picture of them. I also have a hamster called Pinky and a dog called Princess.

My sticker collection!

I carry it to school in a huge photo album, like all of my friends.

We need big backpacks.

I love climbing trees! I am also a master of the jungle gym.

Here are some things I am learning: How to speak French. Bonjour! Comment ça va?

How to draw people who aren’t stick people. This is really important to me! Here’s my self-portrait…

I’m also learning how to be an activist, because of what’s been happening in my home province of Nova Scotia, which is the name settlers gave Mi’kmak’i.

This past fall, 1981, Nova Scotia placed a moratorium (or stop) on uranium exploration in the province, which had been carried out by mining companies for several years.

At first, many of us didn’t even know that the companies were here or what they were looking for.

It was activists who brought uranium mining to our attention.

Like many others, I am learning to ask questions about uranium and how it’s different from other kinds of metals.

Here’s what I’ve learned so far.

What is uranium?

• Uranium was discovered in 1789 by Martin Klaproth, a German chemist. It was named after the planet Uranus, which had been discovered eight years earlier. It is a heavy metal.

• Small amounts of uranium can be found in most rocks, and even in seawater.

• There are uranium mines around the world, but more than 85% of uranium is produced in six countries: Kazakhstan, Australia, Namibia, Niger, Russia, and Canada.

• Most of Canada’s uranium supply comes from mines in Northern Saskatchewan.

What can you make with uranium?

You can make electricity, at a nuclear power plant.

You can make medical isotopes to help people who have cancer.

You can make nuclear weapons. The first nuclear bomb, dropped on Hiroshima, Japan in 1945, was made from enriched uranium. And depleted uranium (DU) weapons have been used in the 1991 Gulf War, in the Balkans and Kosovo (1992-1995), and in Afghanistan in 2001.

What’s the problem with uranium?

It is radioactive. This means that over time uranium particles break apart and slowly disintegrate, releasing dangerous rays over thousands of years. Exposure to these rays can cause cancer and long-term damage to the environment.

Why are uranium mining companies coming to Nova Scotia?

In the 1970s, mining companies became very interested in looking for uranium in Nova Scotia. They explored and did tests in many areas of the province. They found enough uranium in places like Vaughan, New Ross, and Bear River that might mean mines could be opened there.

More countries have been building nuclear reactors for electricity and need uranium fuel to power them. Our neighbour New Brunswick began building the Point Lepreau nuclear reactor in 1975.

Still, many people have major concerns about long term effects of uranium mining on health and the environment. These concerns will lead to a provincial inquiry on uranium mining.

Why would people get upset about uranium mining in their communities?

There were two main reasons why people choose to speak out against uranium mining in Nova Scotia:

First, the dangerous nature of the uranium mining process.

And second, the casual attitude of the provincial government toward uranium exploration by mining companies.

What are the problems with mining uranium?

To get uranium, you need to

• Drill and blast a lot of rocks. This causes major disruption to the land (the mining phase).

• Extract the uranium ore from surrounding rocks (the milling phase).

The rocks around the uranium, called tailings, are almost as radioactive as the uranium itself. The mining companies can’t use them, so they leave them behind at the mine site where they will keep giving off toxic radiation for 76,000 years. People and animals living near the mine site would be constantly exposed to this radiation.

More problems…

Uranium mines are often located in remote or rural areas, sometimes near farms. The surrounding land, air and water can be contaminated by radioactive dust particles, which can be passed through the crops consumed by farm animals, all the way up the food chain to humans.

People also worry that if we allow uranium mining here, it could open the door to companies dumping uranium mining waste from other places.

What would you do if you found out that a company wanted to build a uranium mine close to where you lived?

How does a grassroots environmental movement get started?

FIRST STEP

Two women in Lower Burlington, Hants County, find out that a uranium mining company wants to open a mine at the headwaters of the Avon River, not far from where they are farming.

SECOND STEP

They take this information to their Women's Institute group. (This is a kind of group once common in rural Nova Scotia that promoted education, civic engagement, and cultural activities).

THIRD STEP

The women's group takes their concerns to their local municipal council in West Hants.

FOURTH STEP

The council votes in favour of bringing citizen concerns about uranium mining to the provincial government. The news media picks up the story and wants to interview the women from Lower Burlington.

FIFTH STEP

The women create an environmental organization to educate people in other communities. They travel around the province, explaining the dangers of uranium mining and mobilizing action. Their group is called CAPE (Citizen Action to Protect the Environment).

There is increasing public pressure on the NS government to ban uranium mining.

WHAT HAPPENS NEXT?

In response to public concerns, on February 9, 1982, the Nova Scotia government begins an official inquiry into uranium mining in the province. Judge Robert J. McCleave is named as the commissioner. A moratorium is placed on further exploration for uranium.

44 public meetings are held around NS during 1982 to find out what the public thinks about uranium mining, including what to do with mining waste.

Judge McCleave compiled information from all the presentations and submitted his final report to the government on January 30, 1985. The moratorium is upheld.

What is the government of NS doing about uranium mining?

In his presentation to the provincial uranium inquiry in July 1982, my grandfather pointed out that there are no specific regulations pertaining to uranium mining in Nova Scotia.

Instead of laws that would protect the environment and people from the effects of uranium exploration and mining, the Department of Mines and Energy published a set of “guidelines” for mining companies, several years after exploration activity had already started. The provincial government would rely on the good will of mining companies to play by the rules.

But if a company chose to break the rules, damaging the land, people’s health, and livelihoods, the government would have no legal power to hold them accountable.

What is the mining company doing?

The uranium mining company does its best to win over rural Nova Scotians: it sponsors a local soccer team and sets up a “public information” meeting to talk about how safe uranium mining is.

Because local activists have been busy educating their communities about the dangers involved in mining, the audience is already well-informed and makes it clear it is not happy about the company’s plans.

There are no more “public information” sessions–- but the company does decide to visit public schools with uranium core samples for students to take home as souvenirs.

Did you know?

Under the Mineral Resources Act, the province and mining companies have the right to explore for minerals on private property, even if the landowner doesn’t want them to. If enough minerals are found on the property, the land can be expropriated.

What is an activist?

If you notice that something is really wrong—that is hurting people and the environment—you really have 2 choices. You can do nothing, or you can take action to change the wrong. This is what activism is, people taking action.

Elizabeth May has spoken about that strong impulse to do something when she noticed bad things happening to the environment. It led her to the leadership of the federal Green Party.

Greta Thunberg used School Strike Fridays as her action, to draw attention to the climate crisis.

Noticing, learning, and then taking action, these are the tools of the activist.

Who can be an activist?

There is a myth that only well-off urban people are environmental activists. But during the uranium inquiry, it’s the people from rural areas of the province that are coming to meetings in small towns and villages like Windsor, Vaughan, Chester, Truro, Barrington, Bridgewater, and Margaree Harbour. They come because they are worried: about their livelihoods, about the land, air and water, about their families.

A lot of them are farmers. A lot of them are parents.

Many of them are giving up many hours of their time to learning about uranium and its dangers, and preparing presentations to give at the inquiry.

Together we are stronger

People in rural areas form activist groups with their own special names:

• Kings County Association to Save the Environment (KASE)
• Residents Enlisted to Save Communities from Uranium Exploration (RESCUE) in Vaughan
• in New Ross, Communities Organized to Protect the Environment (COPE)
  • in Chester, Citizens Against Uranium Mining (CAUM).

The members of these groups are not being paid, yet the work they are doing becomes the catalyst for a major victory for the environment.

Why are people coming to my house for meetings?

My mom and I live in a really small house in Halifax—it’s only six metres long by six metres wide—but it’s often a gathering place for people who are worried about uranium mining. I have a single mom and she would need to pay for babysitting if the meetings were held somewhere else. So everyone crams into our small living room. I have to make sure there’s no Lego left on the couch for someone to sit on! Then, I get ready for bed.

Maybe today, this kind of a meeting would happen on Zoom or in a Facebook group, but in 1982 there’s no internet!

Something special happens when people get together in person, and ideas and energy get shared.

People who are worried about the world feel less alone when they join a group of people who feel the same way. They can support each other and offer encouragement.

What do we talk about?

Some of the people who come to my house for meetings give presentations at the uranium inquiry.

They talk about the natural beauty of Nova Scotia and what it means to them.

They talk about how important having clean air, land and water is.

They wonder who would be responsible for monitoring dangerous uranium tailings after the companies have taken what they want and leave the province.

They talk about the legacy we will be leaving our children, grandchildren, and many future generations.

This is Millet Falls in Hants County, once an area of interest to uranium mining companies. Today, it is a popular swimming area.

In 1982, the uranium inquiry brought together people who might not otherwise have had much in common. Moose hunters and doctors. Professors and dairy farmers. High school students and fishers. Tourism operators, nurses, grandparents, social workers, and those who cared for children.

Our province’s fight against uranium mining reminded us of our common humanity. This is the place we share, the only home we have.

Would a transnational mining company share our love for our home?

Has the government kept its promise to ban uranium mining?

The moratorium on uranium mining in NS is challenged by the Conservative government of Rodney MacDonald in 2007. He wants uranium mining allowed in the province.

Many of the same activists from the 1980s—along with a new generation, including me—have to explain to the government again why we don’t want uranium mining. The reasons haven’t changed in 25 years.

When the MacDonald government loses the provincial election in 2009, the new NDP government introduces a legislated ban on uranium mining.

Nova Scotians have had to say “no” to uranium mining twice.

What happened after the uranium inquiry was over?

The uranium inquiry was a time that citizens came together to oppose a large-scale environmental threat in our province.

It wasn’t the last time.

In 2014, hydraulic fracturing (fracking) for natural gas was being considered in Nova Scotia. As in the time of uranium, an inquiry was formed to test public opinion on fracking. Just like in uranium mining, fracking releases radioactivity from rocks, as well as contaminating large volumes of water. And just like in the 1980s, hundreds of Nova Scotians came to public meetings around the province to speak out against fracking.

The government was listening, and we now have a moratorium on fracking.

What did we learn?

The legislated ban on uranium mining showed that average citizens can take on powerful forces in government and industry and turn our concerns into action.

Why did we do it?

In the words of my grandfather, speaking at the uranium inquiry:

“We, the people of Nova Scotia are the stewards of a sacred trust and a heavy responsibility rests upon us.”

He believed that we all have a responsibility to protect the natural world for future generations of plants, animals and people.

I’m grown up now.

I have a son who’s older than I was at the time of the uranium inquiry. We love spending time outdoors!

Earlier this summer, we travelled to one of the places where there could have been a uranium mine. It’s in the heart of the province, on the road between Chester and Windsor. We swam in clear, cool water pouring over a waterfall, as old-growth hemlock trees whispered in the soft wind.

We stopped to watch the swishing blades of the South Canoe wind farm, built in 2014-15, in the area where a uranium tailings pond might have been.

We know that wind power is not perfect—no form of electrical generation is—but its impact on our health and the environment is less than that of uranium mining.

Watching the wind turbines turning, I felt proud of the activists. Especially the older ones who fought so hard for a different future for our province.

This story has a happy ending.

I am grateful I got to know so many activists early in my life. This story is my thank you to them.

You might want to thank an activist too!

References:

Ecology Action Centre. Interview notes with Sylvia Mangalam and Marilyn Manzer Harding, Jim. Canada’s Deadly Secret: Saskatchewan Uranium and the Global Nuclear System, Black Point: Fernwood Press, 2007

Leeming, Mark. In Defence of Home Places: Environmental Activism in Nova Scotia. Vancouver: UBC Press, 2017 Natural Resources Canada. “Uranium and Nuclear Power Facts.” 2007.

Orton, David. “Uranium Exploration and Mining: Some Considerations.” GreenWeb, November 8, 2007.

Public Archives of Nova Scotia. Robert J. McCleave Fonds (Nova Scotia Uranium Inquiry: 1982-1985) RG 44, vols 195-210.

World Nuclear Association. “Uranium and Depleted Uranium.” 2016-2021