An environmental watchdog group says it’s uneasy with a proposed deal between two uranium companies and Pinehouse.
Cameco and Areva have started talks with the community on an agreement that would spark jobs and economic development for its residents.
However the Saskatchewan Environmental Society says it’s worried about a clause in the deal that calls for residents to not say or do anything that inferes with company operations.
The society’s Peter Prebble says the terminology suggests residents can’t speak their mind about issues that concern them:
“We feel that it puts local people in communities, where collaboration agreements have been signed, in a very awkward situation. How do they freely express any disagreements they might have about what’s being proposed at a Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission hearing without feeling like they’re compromising the agreement that has been signed between leaders in their community and a particular uranium mining company?”
Prebble previously served as a minister under then-premier Lorne Calvert but he says the clause in this deal that calls on residents to refrain from voicing their objections seems new to him.