Why this fight? Why uranium?

Once disturbed, uranium and its by-products are some of the most deadly minerals on earth. No one argues this. Radon gas releases into the atmosphere when uranium is disturbed and, according to Health Canada and the US Surgeon General, it is the second leading cause of lung cancer, after smoking.

Elliot Lake and the Serpent River System, which drains into the Great Lakes, were contaminated in the 80’s and contamination continues to this day. I visited there in September, during the time I was considering the possibility of giving up food, and witnessed for myself the uranium tailings, 30 to 40 feet high, stretching out mile after mile. Each of the dozen or so sites has a treatment plant that will have to be maintained in perpetuity. Such are the burdens we are leaving to those not yet born.
Numerous and ongoing cancers, birth defects and a myriad of other illnesses are the legacy of such shortsighted economic development. The deadly consequences that will result in our community if drilling is allowed to commence, is yet another example of our lack of acknowledgement that community and the environment are at least as important as money.

In a letter Premier McGuinty wrote, “Strong environmental protection is the foundation of the high quality of life and sustainable economic growth we enjoy in our province.”
Drilling for uranium clearly does not protect the environment, and it puts air, land and water at risk. As uranium is a non-renewable resource, it won’t resolve our energy problems, though it will eat up billions of dollars that could be spent more wisely on renewables, conservation and increased efficiency. At most, nuclear energy it is a band-aid that could get us through a few decades while deteriorating health and quality of life for a thousand generations. Further, when the entire life cycle is included, from exploring for uranium, to what to do with the waste at both ends, the idea that nuclear energy is clean and green is one of the most deceptive and dangerous scams ever perpetrated.

Did you get support for your effort?

Support came in words and deeds from around the world. People knit socks, donated warm clothing, which I donnned five layers thick; a minus-25 degree sleeping bag, firewood, juices and teas were delivered, money donated, prayers said, and thousands wrote letters to the Premier and government ministers.

What was the hardest part?

Living on the side of the road, just north of Sharbot Lake in an unheated tent trailer, outside the exploration site, it was the cold that got to me, not the hunger. (My “diet” consisted of maple syrup, lemon juice and cayenne pepper in hot water, herbal teas, and warmed fresh juices.) Due to the cold nights and the fact that I had nothing in me to metabolize and therefore create heat, I wasn’t able to get much sleep, and began feeling weak in strength, if not in spirit. Eventually a wood stove was installed in a large semi-trailer and I moved in out of the cold and began to get some rest and regained some energy.

I understand that you moved from the Robertsville Site to Queen’s Park. Why the move, and what did you hope to accomplish there?

I had handwritten ten letters to the Premier hoping to elicit an emotional response, since his kids would be affected too, and to help him understand why drilling for uranium in Eastern Ontario was neither necessary nor desirable.

When no answer was forthcoming from the Premier, I participated in a Public Witness planned by the Christian Peacemakers, an organization that had been at the site on and off since September. I hand delivered a final letter to McGuinty’s constituency office, only to be locked out for most of three hours. Eventually I was permitted inside just long enough to warm up and to respond to the letter the Premier had had couriered to my home that very day, thoough others visiting with letters of their own remained relegated to the cold.

Back at the site, I learned that if I did not move my tent trailer I risked being held in contempt of court. It seemed time to move my protest to Queen’s Park. The expectation was that I would get more media attention in the Big Smoke and that it would be a further opportunity to increase awareness. Already we’d had coast-to-coast coverage and had opened people’s minds to the fact that uranium was found in southern Ontario, as well as in the north.

Having got some good press on arrival at Queen’s Park, the Premier met with me my second day there. He advised that uranium exploration is required upriver of his children (and mine) “to support Ontario’s nuclear-generated electricity.” When advised, he confessed, as did Michael Gravelle, Minister of Northern Development and Mines, that he was not aware that 80% of Canada’s uranium is exported. (The Canadian Nuclear Association website states that 85% is exported.)

While I was shocked that these leaders were not aware of the export detail, with that new awareness, after our meeting I was very hopeful that we were on the verge of accomplishing our goal of a moratorium or at least a Public Inquiry into the question. While the Premier committed to researching the data and getting back to me, he did not follow through, though I was there for another fifteen days.

You ended your protest just before Christmas. Why?

I received a call the night before the legislature was to recess for the holidays from a representative of several NGOs, including Greenpeace, Canadian Association of Physicians for the Environment, Suzuki Foundation, Canadian Coalition for Nuclear Responsibility, Voice of Women, Students Against Climate Change, Mining Watch Canada and Sierra Club of Canada asking if I would resume eating if they took over the torch, as it were. With my acceptance of their offer, on December 13 The Citizen’s Coalition Against Mining Uranium (CCAMU), with the participation and/or sponsorship of these NGOs, announced a Citizen’s Inquiry on the Impacts of the Uranium Cycle. With that announcement, my hunger strike came to an end, much to the relief of some thousands of supporters around the world.

Did you suffer any health problems from not having eaten for so long? If so, were you able to remedy them and how did they affect your resolve?

When I stood too quickly, there was dizziness from fairly early on. Toward the end, I experienced bloating regularly, headaches, pain in my legs and feet, and in the last couple of weeks my eyes began hurting and stinging and my eyesight blurred. As well, I developed a slight irregular heartbeat. A nurse visited me regularly at the site and took my blood pressure and pulse. In Toronto, I was fortunate to be staying with a nutritionist and visited a Naturopath. When the more serious symptoms started, I was able to deal with them through herbal remedy teas and was very impressed with the results. I’ve had blood tests since my return home and there do not seem to be any long-term effects.

As to resolve, my health was not my primary concern. As a grandmother, the question of where we are going as a species and how we are risking the lives of those not yet born takes precedence in my mind and heart. I did have one sleepless night when, on hearing that I was going to water only, my road-side nurse called and ordered me to end the strike and gave me some horror stories on what could result if I did not. I realized in the morning that if I was to carry one, I would have to put those concerns aside, and I did.

What is it like to begin eating after 68 days without food?

It’s actually tough, much more complicated than I imagined. I am still, almost a month and a half since resuming eating, retraining my stomach to accept food, starting with small amounts of mashed vegetables and well-cooked grains and gradually adding more foods and increasing the quantities. The retraining also involves stretching the stomach and when I am not careful enough and overdue even slightly, my system can get uncomfortable, once causing enough pain to have me in tears overnight. Interestingly, I’ve lost over 5 lbs. since I began eating. This, I suspect, is because I have lots of energy, though strength and endurance needs to be built up, and am doing all kinds of things that no one would let me do on the side of the road.

Can you say more about this Citizens’ Inquiry?

While still in the planning stage, the Inquiry aims to look into the entire cycle, from exploration through to decommissioning. Public hearings will be held in April in Sharbot Lake, Kingston, Peterborough and Ottawa. Submissions will also be received in varying formats from experts, stakeholders and those interested in uranium, social justice, community and the environment. A report, which will be available online by June 28, and in hard copy, will bring all of the information together into one package. Once the official announcement is made, information will be posted to as it becomes available.

Any last words?

Throughout this protest, and while on the side of the road at the mine site, I’ve had a unique opportunity to distinguish between needs and wants and to consider carefully which desires fulfilled today will undermine the well-being of my children and grandchildren and those not yet born.

As a society, it is time we grew up and realized that we live on a finite planet; that we must begin to live on Earth as if we want to stay.

This is not rocket science. It is simply a matter of changing direction. And not the kind of directional change that our current leaders are proposing. What they propose amounts to little more than having us get up from our seats and walk toward the caboose, while the train continues toward the cliff. We must turn the train around, not turn our backs while the train heads for disaster. It is our generation that has brought us to the precipice. It is up to us to pull back before it is too late. What will the Fisher Price toys and the RESPs mean when our grandchildren’s soil is unusable, their water undrinkable and their air unbreathable?

For more information, please contact info Donna Dillman at 2799 McDonald’s Corners Rd, R.R.#3, Lanark, ON, K0G 1K0, 259–9988, or visit the CCAMU website.