Several northern Saskatchewan community members and Indigenous critics of industry caused a stir at a University of Saskatchewan Senate meeting on Saturday.
The group representing the Committee For Future Generations organized a rally to try and have their position heard about industry in northern Saskatchewan during the meeting.
The rally stems from the U of S Senate meeting in October, which featured a presentation by Neil Alexander, director of Sylvia Fedoruk’s Canadian Centre for Nuclear Innovation.
In response, elected senator Mary Jean Hande put in a request to have Candyce Paul, Outreach Coordinator from the Committee For Future Generations and member of the English River First Nation, provide an opposing side to Alexander’s presentation.
That request was denied by the Senate executive committee.
In a letter in response, the executive committee says the “Senate is a forum for receiving information on the work of the University of Saskatchewan and its centres and institutes, and that Senators with interests in alternative views are free to pursue those interests.”
Despite the denied request, supporters of the Committee for Future Generations showed up at Saturday’s meeting anyway with the hope that Paul’s presentation would be added to the agenda.
When that request was denied again, committee sympathizers voiced their displeasure at which point they were asked to leave the area.
Paul says it was important to try and get their message to the U of S Senate because they are the ones who make decisions on what kind of research takes place at the University.
“Sometimes these decision are not in the best interest for Indigenous people,” says Paul. “It seems sometimes it is all about business and they are using programs like Indigenous government and northern development to push corporate development.”
Paul says even though she was denied an opportunity to speak at the Senate meeting, she hopes people will share the committee’s view on the nuclear industry.
“They are selling a product, in the end they have a sales pitch,” says Paul. “We don’t need to be tied to this boom and bust economy, so people in the north need to develop our own locally sustainable economy.”
The Senate meeting continued after a brief recess, and no one representing the U of S Senate was immediately available for comment.