Science and Research committee  The water walk is a very important part of the work we do to recognize concerns among community members, make sure their voices are heard and make sure they feel their concerns are considered in the work we do. The water walk is one way for us to communicate with all of the community members in the area, and with the Municipality of South Bruce as well.

Science and Research committee  I'm not responsible for that. Ontario Power Generation manages the interim storage program, but we work together to make sure we understand what they're doing and they understand what we're doing.

Science and Research committee  There are several things we've taken into consideration. As we work through our indigenous knowledge policy, one of the key considerations is this: We will make decisions with indigenous input. I already talked about how we selected the area in the northwest. That was very much a collaborative approach with the indigenous community, as well as the western science work.

Science and Research committee  Okay. Absolutely we will be working in partnership. We will have agreements with the first nations to make sure there is equitable proportion of the projects.

Science and Research committee  From the NWMO's perspective, our engagement program with indigenous communities is quite critical to the success of our work. Without their indigenous knowledge coming to bear on the project, we would not be successful. We recognized that from the get-go. We've always felt that way as we've implemented our work.

Science and Research committee  Thank you for that question. I think it is an indigenous knowledge system and a way of bringing knowledge to a situation. I think that western science offers one viewpoint, whereas indigenous knowledge actually makes it richer and makes it a better product at the end of the day as we align the two systems that we work in.

Science and Research committee  From my perspective, we've learned from indigenous people. We have indigenous people working on staff who have brought us that knowledge through their way of knowing. We have western scientists who bring their perspective. It's enriched our ability to actually understand things.

Science and Research committee  From my perspective, there are from time to time contradictions, but I think what has really helped is building those trusting relationships and taking the time to work in both systems for understanding on both sides. When you take that time and you really delve into the depth of the knowledge systems, you can see how they work together and how they are complementary.

Science and Research committee  Thank you very much. You said that quite well. At the NWMO, we've had an indigenous knowledge policy since 2016. We were one of the first to implement something of that nature in North America. Why I am really proud of that is that it embeds in our work that we will respect indigenous knowledge and the owners of that knowledge.

Science and Research committee  Good afternoon, Mr. Chair, vice-chairs and members of the committee. My name is Laurie Swami, and I am the president and CEO of the Nuclear Waste Management Organization, or the NWMO. It's an honour to appear before you today to discuss how the NWMO works to engage with indigenous communities and how we align with indigenous knowledge in the work we do.

Environment committee  I can answer that. There was a DGR that was proposed by OPG near Kincardine on its existing facility. Our project is looking at a deep geological repository for used fuel in South Bruce, which is inland.

Environment committee  I can speak to that, but Jason may be in a better position.

Environment committee  I think there are a number of things where, of course—

Environment committee  We will be open and transparent about our work. We will have what we'll call a “centre of expertise” where members of the public can come and observe our work, observe the processes we have in place. Of course, we have very robust regulation around transportation in particular, but also around our facility, both through the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission as well as Transport Canada.

Environment committee  Thanks very much. I think this is a really important part of the work we did many years ago now. We established a process for reaching out to communities to understand who might be interested in learning more about the potential to host a used fuel repository in their community.