The Nuclear Waste Management Organization (NWMO) is allowed to deliver presentations at Flin Flon high schools following a near-unanimous vote by school trustees.
The school board voted 6-1 Tuesday to approve in-school presentations from NWMO at Hapnot Collegiate and Many Faces Education Centre.
Trustee Trish Sattelberger, board chair, stressed that groups opposing NWMO will also be given the chance to speak to the students.
“[Students] will be allowed to have both sides of the story,” said Sattelberger.
“We have a policy that if controversial stuff is going to happen, then both sides have to be presented fairly.”
That stipulation wasn’t enough to sway Trustee Leslie Fernandes, the lone voice of opposition.
“It’s just something I felt like I needed more information on,” said Fernandes.
No request
Mike Krizanc, communications manager for NWMO, said the organization did not request an invitation to speak to students but would accept one.
He said his understanding is that the board’s motion stems from a conversation between a board representative and a member of the Community Liaison Committee (CLC), which forms a bridge between NWMO and area residents.
Krizanc said agreement was reached on the importance of young people learning about NWMO’s mandate.
“Ours is a very long-term project and today’s students are the decision-makers of tomorrow,” he said.
“If the NWMO receives invitations to do presentations in Flin Flon, Creighton or any other schools, we will accept as we have in other communities. Providing information so that people can make informed decisions is an essential part of our role.”
Across the border, Bob Smith, director of education for the Creighton School Division, said NWMO has not made a formal request to do a presentation at Creighton Community School.
“If they were to do so, we would also be willing to allow groups opposed to storing nuclear waste equal time,” Smith said.
Supportive
Denare Beach resident Buz Trevor, who supports the possibility of NWMO storing nuclear waste near Creighton, believes the organization and its opponents should be allowed in the schools.
“The storage of nuclear waste is something that is going to have more impact on people in school now than it will on people of my generation,” said Trevor, a retired geologist. “I think it is a very good idea to invite both sides into the schools to present the issues.
“This is a question of civics or social studies. It is different from inviting various politicians or religious leaders to speak. That could be seen as proselytizing. I am all for involving young people in public debate.”
Suzanne Daigle, a Flin Flon resident opposed to nuclear waste in the region, is also supportive of the trustees’ decision.
“Although I am opposed to a [nuclear waste repository] being built near our community, I think it is positive that the school board wants to afford their students an opportunity to learn,” Daigle said, “as long as they also balance the information given by the NWMO with information about the risks and possible negative consequences to their proposal by allowing other speakers to also come into the school.”
NWMO’s mandate is to find a location for Canada’s nuclear waste. The agency is working with the Town of Creighton, which has chosen to learn more about waste storage but has not applied to host the material.
