A federal judge has allowed the Algonquins of Pikwakanagan First Nation to join a court appeal over the Near Surface Disposal Facility at Chalk River.
Now, two other parties say they want in on the case.
Both the Mining Association of Canada and the Canadian Nuclear Association have filed to join the appeal as interveners.
In a joint motion, the MAC and CNA say the Federal Court “departed from the well-established legal framework” around Indigenous consultation in its previous decision on the NSDF, and that as the national voices for the mining and nuclear industries in Canada, they have a “genuine interest in the legal framework applicable for Indigenous consultation and the incremental implementation of UNDRIP by the federal government.”
UNDRIP is the United Nations Declaration of the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.
In a decision released back in February, Justice Julie Blackhawk ordered Canadian Nuclear Laboratories and the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission to resume consultations on the NSDF with the Kebaowek First Nation.
Justice Blackhawk ruled that the consultations must take place under the principles of UNDRIP and its standard of “free, prior and informed consent.”
CNL announced in March that it had filed with the Federal Court of Appeal to overturn Justice Blackhawk’s decision.
Last week, Federal Court of Appeal Justice John Laskin approved the motion from the Algonquins of Pikwakanagan First Nation (AOPFN) to join the appeal…
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