Debates of October 20, 2004 (day 24)

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I rise in the House today to make a statement about the radioactive contaminated soil mound in Tulita. To be more specific, Mr. Speaker, what I will speak to today is the infuriating federal bureaucracy that can’t seem to get it together to take action on this issue.

From the 1930s to the 1950s, a 2,200 kilometre water transportation route was being used to move uranium and radium ore from Port Radium mine on the Great Bear, down the Bear River, up the Mackenzie River to Fort McMurray where it was shipped by rail to Ontario. The waterway system was called the northern transportation route.

During the investigation of the route in 1991 to 1993, over 47,000 cubic metres of contaminated soil was found to be located in the Northwest Territories alone. Some 11,000 cubic metres were relocated to temporary storage spots because they were dangerously close to where people were living. In Tulita, uranium contaminated soil was temporarily stored in the mound near the airport and, over 10 years later, the federal government still can’t tell us what the plan is or when they will be able to move the contaminated soil.

I received a copy of a letter sent from the federal government to the RWED department. I have been working in the government for some time, Mr. Speaker, so I should be used to it, but when I read this letter I laughed out loud, not because the subject is not serious -- believe me, I take this issue very seriously -- I laughed out loud, Mr. Speaker, because this issue has been bouncing back between agencies, offices and commissions for so long, it makes our people very dizzy. The amount of red tape involved in doing something about this issue is ludicrous.

The issue is the responsibility of the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission in accordance with the Nuclear Safety and Control Act, but it is managed by the low-level radioactive waste management office on behalf of the Government of Canada. However, the Natural Resource Council sets a policy, but the sitting of the mound took place under previous legislation. So how long a mound can remain is a matter to be discussed by the low-level radioactive waste management office and Natural Resources Canada, and then there is the issue that the mound requires a licence to store nuclear substances. Mr. Speaker, I hope someone is explaining all of this to the mound.

I know this issue is serious and technical, and that it involves careful consideration, but, once and for all, I would like to see the federal government get their act together and stop batting this issue around from agency to agency. I would like to see the problem of the radioactive soil mound in Tulita dealt with immediately.

Mr. Speaker, I urge the Minister of Resources, Wildlife and Economic Development…

Mr. Yakeleya, your time for Member’s statement has expired.

Mr. Speaker, I ask for unanimous consent to conclude my Member’s statement.

The Member is seeking unanimous consent to conclude his statement. Are there any nays? There are no nays. You may conclude your statement, Mr. Yakeleya.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Thank you, colleagues. I urge the Minister of Resources, Wildlife and Economic Development to do all that is within his power to push the federal government to clean up the contaminated soil mound in Tulita as well as other contaminated mounds in the Northwest Territories once and for all and as soon as possible. I will have questions for the Minister at the appropriate time. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

---Applause