Nuclear Expansion, Major Projects, and the Environment: What’s at Stake for Communities and Rights-Holders?

By Canadian Environmental Network (RCEN)

Canada is experiencing renewed interest in nuclear energy, with governments and industry looking to expand nuclear power generation and advance new projects across the country. But what does this growing interest mean for communities, Indigenous rights-holders, and the environment?

The webinar will examine different types of nuclear projects and their potential impacts on communities, opportunities for meaningful community and rights-holder participation, and how Bill C-39 and other federal legislative changes, including the Building Canada Act and Nuclear Safety and Control Act, could affect environmental oversight and public participation in project decision-making.

The discussion will also highlight opportunities for public engagement and ways communities can make their voices heard as nuclear development moves forward.

Join us for a conversation with community organizers and environmental and Indigenous law experts Brennain Lloyd (Northwatch), Kerrie Blaise (Legal Advocates for Nature's Defence), and Kim Reeder (Passamaquoddy Recognition Group) as we explore the implications of nuclear expansion and the changing regulatory landscape.

Panelists:

• Brennain Lloyd: Brennain Lloyd is a community organizer and public interest researcher and writer in northeastern Ontario. For the last 30 plus years, Brennain has worked with environmental, peace and women’s organizations as a facilitator and adult educator supporting public participation in environmental and natural resource decision-making and various planning processes.  Brennain’s primary organizational affiliation is with Northwatch, the regional coalition of environmental and social groups in northeastern Ontario formed in 1988 to address regional issues related to energy, forests, waste management and water quality and – on a recurring basis – nuclear waste burial schemes.
• Kerrie Blaise: Kerrie Blaise is an accomplished lawyer practicing in the fields of environmental and Indigenous law and the 2026 recipient of the esteemed Guthrie Award. She is one of only a handful of public-interest environmental lawyers serving Northern Ontario and in 2023, founded the environmental law non-profit, Legal Advocates for Nature's Defence. At LAND, she works to advance the protection of Indigenous rights and nature in response to urgent threats to lands and waters and amplify community voices – whether in the courts, before lawmakers or in public forums – to precipitate change.
• Kim Reeder: Kim Reeder is a settler who works for the Passamaquoddy in what is commonly referred to as southwest New Brunswick. Her primary work is focused on nuclear power generation and its impacts. In Passamaquoddy homeland, the Point Lepreau Nuclear Generating station has operated since the early 1980s and currently, there are plans by the government and NB Power to expand nuclear development.