A House of Commons committee is currently studying the management of Canada’s nuclear laboratories at Chalk River. The nuclear research site is run by Canadian Nuclear Laboratories (CNL).
Under a new contract signed at the end of 2025, CNL is managed by a consortium of U.S. companies with ties to the weapons industry. CRED-NB outlined our concerns in a brief filed today with the Parliamentary committee. Read it HERE.
NB Power and nuclear industry partners want to build a radioactive waste pit in Northwestern Ontario. But they are hiding the risks of transporting the waste more than 2,900 km from Point Lepreau through communities in New Brunswick, Quebec and Ontario.
Current plans envision more than 2,100 transport packages of New Brunswick’s used nuclear fuel travelling approximately 2,900 kilometres, through public roads in the province and across Canada, over a period of 10 to 15 years.
Nuclear Waste Management Organization (NWMO, including NB Power) – filed their official project plan but did NOT include the 2,900 km drive from Point Lepreau. Why? To stop the public from raising concerns about it.
CRED-NB and three other groups in the province, along with 70 other groups across Canada signed a letter sent Dec. 16 to Prime Minister Carney and two federal cabinet ministers asking them to oversee the nuclear industry’s proposal for radioactive waste burial in Northwestern Ontario.
NB Power is a member of the industry’s Nuclear Waste Management Organization (NWMO) proposing the project, opposed by the Chiefs in Assembly of Treaty 3, Nishnawbi Aski Nation, Anishnabek Nation and the Chiefs of Ontario.
The letter raises particular concern with the NWMO plan to exclude the transport of radioactive waste (including across roads in New Brunswick) from the Impact Assessment of the project. Read the letter HERE.
A new Atlantic Economic Panel was announced, a “private-sector-led initiative established to catalyze economic transformation in Atlantic Canada.” The announcement makes no mention of how the economy is expected to flourish without considering the impact that greenhouse gas-emitting projects will have on the climate and the natural world.
CRED-NB core member Sam Arnold of the Sustainable Energy Group – Carleton published a critical commentary in the NB Media Co-op, HERE. His commentary points out that an environmental expert is needed. Business and environmental experts must work in concert to safeguard a sustainable economic future for present and future generations – and for nature.
As the urgency to transition to low-carbon energy grows, Pabineau First Nation is emerging as a key player in Indigenous-led climate action and renewable energy development. The Mi’kmaq community in northern New Brunswick near Bathurst is demonstrating how renewable energy can support both climate goals and economic reconciliation.
Read the new article co-written by Chief Terry Richardson and CRED-NB Champion Emma Fackenthall: “Pabineau First Nation’s path toward economic reconciliation and climate justice through wind energy,” published by the NB Media Co-op, HERE.
Canada is decommissioning a nuclear power plant for the first time, marking a new chapter in the country’s nuclear history. The decommissioning of Gentilly-1 in Bécancour, Quebec — on the St. Lawrence River in Wabanaki territory — is a milestone in the country’s reckoning with its radioactive legacy, setting a precedent that will influence how future projects are approached across Canada.
Decisions and actions for this project will shape the expectations, policies, and protections in place when it comes time to decommission Point Lepreau. Read the full story in the NB Media Co-op by CRED-NB champion Mayara Gonçalves e Lima, HERE.
CRED-NB and nearly 100 other groups and prominent individuals signed a letter to express concern that Canadian Nuclear Laboratories (CNL) has decided to consolidate radioactive waste at the Chalk River Laboratories site without consultation with First Nations or the public, and without parliamentary debate. Canadian Nuclear Laboratories (CNL) is only a private contractor, not a government agency. Read the letter HERE.
CRED-NB is one of 128 Indigenous groups and organizations across the country that signed a letter in support of the Gitanyow Hereditary Chiefs in British Columbia who oppose a proposed LNG project in their homeland.
The letter alerts banks and pension funds about the significant negative impacts and risks posed to the Gitanyow people and the natural resources on which they rely from the proposed Ksi Lisims liquefied natural gas project. Read the letter HERE.
Uranium, when disturbed, dissolves readily in water thus contaminating wells and aquifers. When ingested, uranium is chemically toxic, affecting the kidneys, bones and other organs.
Uranium mine wastes contain 85% of the ore’s radioactivity and continue to generate new radioactive byproducts for thousands of years.
Uranium mining is hidden away in marginalized or Indigenous areas. The health effects on affected citizens remain understudied and are best described by them. Read the full December bulletin from the SMRs Information Task Force, HERE.
Ralph Torrie presented his renewable energy plan for the Maritimes in Fredericton in late October. The NB Media Co-op published a video of his talk, HERE. His visit to New Brunswick was co-hosted by a coalition of groups, including CRED-NB.
Torrie’s work on energy in the Maritimes is part of a major Corporate Knights project, Climate Dollars, which shows that solving the climate emergency would cost less than perpetuating the polluting, 20th-century energy system we have today. The Climate Dollars project report is expected to be published soon.