Community engagement

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Over the last three years, much of our engagement in municipalities has been focused on explaining the technical aspects of Canada’s plan. Throughout 2022, we also began sharing some of the important socio-economic benefits associated with the project. The NWMO has worked to build community awareness and understanding through multiple channels and in-person events. Our proactive in-person and virtual presence in communities – supporting local events and priorities – has been aimed at sharing information, answering questions and addressing concerns.​

The NWMO has engaged with local municipal leadership and community liaison committees in each of the remaining siting areas. These committees provide input as we work collaboratively to build awareness and understanding. We also conducted other public outreach activities through meetings in person and online, and by phone. For example, we held workshops in the WLON-Ignace area and the SON-South Bruce area to share information and seek input about the environmental baseline monitoring program, which were held virtually once the pandemic began.

Since our Mobile Learn More Centre launched in 2019, this rolling information exhibit has visited interested and neighbouring communities in both potential siting areas, as well as the broader regions. Once we were able to reopen in 2021, we carefully followed pandemic-related safety protocols, including wearing masks, limiting attendance and following public health guidelines to ensure our in-person engagement was the safest possible for the communities.

Our approach to defining willingness for siting the project has always been community-driven. Each of the potential host communities remaining in the site selection process have developed individual processes for defining willingness. The NWMO continues to support the communities and residents by providing the information required to make informed and willing decisions.

In 2022, the NWMO issued responses to the Municipality of South Bruce on its 36 guiding principles, a set of principles developed by the community that reflect its priorities and expectations for the project.  These responses formed the basis of the Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) signed by the NWMO and the municipality in 2022.

This MOU provided the NWMO and the Municipality of South Bruce a starting point to begin negotiations on a draft hosting agreement – an agreement between the community and the NWMO that will provide details around elements such as employment, training, procurement, environmental monitoring, the role of the community in the project and the benefits of the project. Similar discussions took place with the Township of Ignace, creating the foundation for an MOU and negotiation framework.

Over the past three years, Indigenous communities often closed off access to in-person engagement activities out of concern for the health of their vulnerable populations during the pandemic. Through this period of reduced access to these communities, the NWMO continued to engage virtually, and when appropriate, in person, with Indigenous peoples in and near the potential siting areas. As we sought to build sustainable relationships with First Nation and Métis peoples in the siting areas, we maintained ongoing engagement with national, provincial and treaty Indigenous organizations. These engagements include over 22 separate groups and communities across Ontario and New Brunswick.

The NWMO actively engaged with Elders, youth and community members (both on- and off-reserve), as well as Chiefs and Councils or leadership, to provide information about Canada’s plan. We also hosted specialized sessions with subject matter experts on issues such as the environment, geology, radiation, transportation and baseline studies.

Throughout the 2020-22 period, we attended community events, open houses, drop-in sessions, regional learning and sharing gatherings, youth conferences, cultural awareness workshops, assemblies, conferences and special occasions in the area. Extensive use of the Mobile Learn More Centre was featured in Indigenous communities in both siting areas. Once the pandemic restrictions were relaxed, the NWMO also invited interested community members to attend tours of Ontario Power Generation’s used fuel dry storage facilities, as well as to visit our Discovery and Demonstration Centre in Oakville, Ont., and the research reactor at McMaster University in Hamilton, Ont.

There are many ways that funding from the NWMO’s programs for supporting participation in the engagement process are used in and by Indigenous communities, including community well-being activities such as food hampers, traditional land use studies, strategic planning, pandemic supplies, cultural verification, youth gatherings, wellness camps, Reconciliation events and science camps.

The First Nation and Métis communities that we engaged between 2020 and 2022 include:

• Aamjiwnaang First Nation (Ont.)
• Aboriginal People of Wabigoon (Ont.)
• Assembly of First Nations
• Congress of Aboriginal Peoples
• Dryden Native Friendship Centre
• Eagle Lake First Nation (Ont.)
• Grand Council Treaty #3 (Ont.)
• Historic Saugeen Métis
• Lac des Mille Lacs First Nation (Ont.)
• Lac Seul First Nation (Ont.)
• Ontario Coalition of Indigenous Peoples
• MAWIW Council (N.B.)
• Métis Nation of Ontario – Georgian Bay Traditional Territory Métis Community (Ont.)
• Métis Nation of Ontario – Northwestern Ontario Métis Community (Ont.)
• Métis Nation of Ontario Secretariat, including 30 Chartered Councils (Ont.)
• Mi’gmawe’l Tplu’taqnn Inc.
• Naotkamegwanning (Whitefish Bay) First Nation (Ont.)
• Nigigoonsiminikaaning (Red Gut) First Nation (Ont.)
• Ojibway Nation of Saugeen (Ont.)
• Saugeen Ojibway Nation (Chippewas of Nawash Unceded First Nation and Chippewas of Saugeen First Nation) (Ont.)
• Seine River First Nation (Ont.)
• New Brunswick Indigenous Career College (formerly Union of New Brunswick IndiansTraining Institute)
• Wabigoon Lake Ojibway Nation (Ont.)
• Wabauskang First Nation

We held a range of online activities with the Métis Nation of Ontario (MNO) during the pandemic, from environmental workshops and transportation engagement sessions, to in-depth dialogues on the importance of water. All engagement sessions with MNO have seen an increase in participation from years past. In collaboration with MNO staff, we mapped out water sampling locations for a Métis-specific monitoring program, conducted by the Métis, for the Métis, in the South Bruce area.

With lockdown restrictions easing, we also brought the Mobile Learn More Centre to the northwestern Ontario Métis community, as well as all four Métis Councils in the South Bruce/Georgian Bay area. Following several years of engagement, these Métis communities now know more about the project and what aspects of it they want to learn more about. We anticipate that in the following years, engagement with the MNO will have greater focus on those areas of importance to the Métis and how the MNO may collaborate with the NWMO in the future.

In southern Ontario, the NWMO’s Indigenous engagement staff travelled to the SON communities of Chippewas of Nawash Unceded First Nation and Chippewas of Saugeen First Nation on a weekly basis. We held drop-in information sessions and participated in various community events such as the SON Vendor Market and Trade Show and holiday celebrations. The team met with the SON Environment Office staff on a weekly basis to discuss upcoming events, provide updates on engagement and share organizational information. We also met occasionally with SON leadership at joint council meetings and through its advisory team.

In response to the pandemic, our southern Ontario Indigenous engagement staff rolled out a virtual home visit presentation program. They met with groups or families virtually, sharing information with participants and giving them the opportunity to ask questions. To date, the team has delivered approximately 20 of these presentations to SON members, on- and off-reserve.

Building capacity and creating awareness drove our youth engagement over the past three years. We continue to increase youth engagement in new and innovative ways that are interesting to youth. For example, in northern Ontario, we established day camps with a supporting curriculum that incorporates contributions from the NWMO’s environmental, geoscience and Indigenous relations teams.

Education is at the heart of our youth engagement initiatives. The NWMO has expanded educational activities to include secondary, college and university students. In 2020, the NWMO signed a five-year agreement with Ontario Tech University to support access to education. The following year, the NWMO’s Women for STEM Scholarship was awarded to two recipients, and five students received contributions towards tuition costs through the Indigenous Student Success Award.

During this time, we co-funded with the Ontario Research Fund a five-year project bringing together nine academic researchers with diverse expertise, including young scholars. This group of experts works to fully understand and improve the long-term integrity of the NWMO’s multiple-barrier system and the deep geological repository.

We also helped teachers and administrators bring more STEM education into classrooms. Since 2016, we have implemented a funding program called Early Investments in Education and Skills (EIES). Among other investments, the EIES program helps teachers and school administrators purchase and implement technology to teach everything from coding to robotics.

In 2022, the NWMO was awarded a Diversity and Inclusion Award for our work on engaging young Canadians and Indigenous peoples on the development of an Integrated Strategy for Radioactive Waste. This international recognition came from the International Association for Public Participation (IAP2). The award demonstrates effective engagement with marginalized, vulnerable populations, where the size, scope and scale reflect the breadth of geography of Canada (including remote, rural or vastness of geography). 

Over the past three years, the NWMO’s digital communications team has continued to share, listen to and engage with online communities across multiple social media platforms, while also using digital channels such as Google ads and our website to reach them.

In response to the challenges the pandemic posed to in-person engagement, the NWMO further ramped up our use of digital engagement. These efforts included releasing digital content branded with #DistantButSocial, which shared information about Canada’s plan while affirming our commitment to pandemic safety. This hashtag was used to highlight content such as our sponsorship of community initiatives for pandemic supplies and photos demonstrating the safety precautions taken at the NWMO’s events.

Our digital engagement activities aim to grow and foster online communities by sharing engaging content about Canada’s plan. We have fostered that community growth by engaging with community members’ questions and comments. We have also shared local initiatives and news to community members in the WLON-Ignace area and the SON-South Bruce area on a regular and consistent basis.

Our digital campaigns and online presence have sustained year-over-year growth for the NWMO. The information we share is achieving greater reach, and we expect the audience will continue to grow.

Throughout the pandemic, we also used digital engagement to share information about Canada’s plan on YouTube, so that people could access this information in the safety of their homes. This included posting webinars on subjects such as our multiple-barrier system and water protection efforts, as well as #AskTheNWMO videos that seek to demystify Canada’s plan by addressing topics such as the transportation of used nuclear fuel.

Over the past three years, the NWMO’s sponsorship programs continued to demonstrate our commitment to being a good corporate neighbour by supporting the programs that are a high priority within potential host communities and the region. Some of our sponsorship and donation activities are intended to support long-term community development and well-being, while others promote education and environmental stewardship.

From 2020 through 2022, this included helping communities navigate the pandemic and supporting recovery from its impacts. We were able to move quickly to approve sponsorship requests to respond to the unique needs of communities during the pandemic.

We continued supporting partners that are focused on youth education in STEM, Reconciliation and environmental sustainability – sponsoring organizations that are well-regarded and doing good work, while acting on our commitment to be a reliable and committed partner.

We contributed annually to Scientists in School, Science North and Shad Canada to promote STEM learning in the siting areas and beyond. In 2020, the NWMO expanded our sponsorship of Science North in response to the pandemic and made virtual workshops and STEM kits available to communities across northwestern Ontario. In 2021 and 2022, Science North continued to deliver online workshops to students across northwestern Ontario. Shad also held webinars for youth across Canada, and Scientists in School delivered virtual classroom and community workshops in the SON-South Bruce area. We also supported a digital summer camp to teach young people about STEM topics through the Nuclear Innovation Institute.

In 2022, the NWMO continued to provide new sponsorships to organizations aligned with our corporate objectives and work priorities. For example, consistent with our commitment to protecting the environment, we sponsored the Maitland Valley Conservation Authority. We also sponsored the Legacy of Hope Foundation in 2020, in honour of the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation, also known as Orange Shirt Day.

As the NWMO prepares to move into the regulatory decision-making process, it is important that we engage with governments across Canada to ensure they are aware of the project and have the understanding necessary to make informed decisions about it.

Over the past three years, our staff engaged with representatives of federal and provincial governments to provide information about Canada’s plan and our progress implementing it. We remain connected on topics of shared interest such as fieldwork activities, siting process updates and land access. The NWMO’s staff work with key ministries within the federal and provincial governments as our primary points of contact and are working to expand relationships across all relevant government departments.

Our government relations work ensures that federal and provincial elected representatives are aware of updates and advancements in the project, including key ministers, parliamentary assistants, portfolio critics, and representatives of ridings involved in the siting process. Over the past three years, this work has included providing government officials and staff with tours of our Discovery and Demonstration Centre, accompanying the Ontario’s Minister of Energy on a tour of Finland’s deep geological repository, and participating in a roundtable with the Minister of Natural Resources Canada at the International Atomic Energy Agency’s International Ministerial Conference on Nuclear Power.

In 2022, the NWMO participated in a study led by the House of Commons Standing Committee on Environment and Sustainable Development on how nuclear waste should be governed. Following this study, the committee published a report providing recommendations to the Government of Canada, several of which reflected positively on the NWMO’s work, including significant emphasis on prioritizing the need for a deep geological repository for used nuclear fuel.

The Government of Canada issued a formal response to this report that affirmed the effectiveness of the NWMO’s engagement efforts, highlighted how our work is consistent with international best practices, and positioned Canada as a global leader in the advancement of deep geological repositories. Included in this response, Natural Resources Canada also reiterated its support for Canada’s plan to safely contain and isolate used nuclear fuel in a deep geological repository.

Road map to partnership

Throughout the visioning process, residents of both regions were encouraged to reflect on the NWMO’s community well-being framework that includes the pillars of people, economics and finance, infrastructure, community and culture, and the natural environment.

In 2021 and 2022, the NWMO continued to work alongside communities from the two siting areas – as well as the surrounding municipalities, and First Nation and Métis communities – to build awareness of the project, while developing and sustaining relationships.

In 2022, the NWMO invited residents of the two areas remaining in the site selection process to provide feedback on the latest conceptual architectural drawings of the Centre of Expertise. The Centre of Expertise will be a multi-million-dollar investment making it a tangible benefit of the project. As a place for world-class science and innovation, and enriching social services identified by local residents, the Centre will also bring new, high-value jobs to the community for generations to come, including scientists and experts from a wide variety of disciplines.

Public feedback will be reflected in a Centre of Expertise vision summary report that will be shared with the communities in 2023 as part of the NWMO’s ongoing journey of learning and dialogue with the potential siting areas. We will continue to work with the communities in the coming years as we advance the facility requirements for the Centre of Expertise.