Chief Teddy Clark of Clearwater River Dene Nation reports

INDIGENOUS NATION PARTNERS CALL FOR THE IMMEDIATE APPROVAL OF NEXGEN'S ROOK I PROJECT

Clearwater River Dene Nation has issued the following statement.

Clearwater River Dene Nation (CRDN), Metis Nation-Saskatchewan (MN-S) and MN-S Northern Region II (NRII) are unaccepting of the recent announcement by the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission (CNSC), the federal uranium mining regulator, of the final approval step in NexGen Energy Ltd.'s Rook I project being conducted in two parts, with Part 1 scheduled for Nov. 19, 2025, and Part 2 scheduled for Feb. 9 to Feb. 13, 2026. As voiced regularly and clearly to the CNSC, NexGen has done absolutely everything right and the project, located on our collective traditional territories, is clearly safe to both humans and the environment. Moreover, we and our other indigenous brothers and sisters have participated throughout the environmental assessment process, which began over six years ago in 2019, and support the Rook I project through signed impact benefit agreements. The government of Saskatchewan approved the project in November, 2023, after a thorough consultation and technical assessment processes. Further, the CNSC itself, after an additional 12 months of re-review, missing its own self-imposed deadlines, in November, 2024, confirmed the project has passed its technical review and the federal environmental impact study was deemed final.

For the CNSC now to indicate a delay of the approval until following the second hearing scheduled for Feb. 9 to Feb. 13, 2026, is beyond comprehension, inconsistent with previous direction from the CNSC and extremely detrimental to the interests of our communities, the people of Saskatchewan and Canadians across the country.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, will you and your Liberal government please step in and support our community like you promised in 2016 when you visited after the tragic events in La Loche. This is your opportunity to support our community by directing the CNSC to bring forward the commission hearing date to Q2 2025 and approve the Rook I project for construction starting this summer. We are not requesting any favours, just do what the project deserves and as committed to by you and your Liberal government further echoed by new leader Mark Carney.

We all respect and fully endorse a thorough review process for any mining project, the CNSC, however, in this case, is both obstructionist and now proved to be incompetent. The absence of any transparency, accountability and action by the federal CNSC and the political apparatus associated with it should cause all Canadians tremendous concern as it does our nations.

Chief Teddy Clark quoted: "This is the only shovel-ready project in Canada that is fully supported not only financially, provincially, but by the impacted indigenous nations impacted by the project. No other project has had this level of support from the indigenous communities as no other project has had such a positive impact like the Rook I project will with our community. These delays that we have seen from the CNSC have delayed the critical employment and economic opportunities that our members are counting on to provide for their families. CRDN and NexGen have worked together since day one and our partnership for this project that Canada and the world needs is the gold standard in addressing the Truth and Reconciliation Calls to Action No. 92. As chief of CRDN, the most impacted community, I want the CNSC to fully realize by delaying this project the negative impacts on our community is substantial."

To be clear, there is no reason for this delay. The regulatory process has been abused and turned into a tyranny of inaction, deceit and dishonesty. Again, the project was already approved by the Province of Saskatchewan in November, 2023, and formally endorsed through the execution of impact benefit agreements by all of the indigenous communities in the project area. Yet, the CNSC and government of Canada are delaying this project unnecessarily and at the detriment of our people.

To provide context as to the perverse inaction and repeated delays by the CNSC, below are some recent events that have emphasized this reality. These are just the recent ones and there are countless more examples continuing for years.

Following provincial approval of the project, our nations formally requested the approval of the project on or before March 31, 2024, and received no response from the CNSC, Minister of Natural Resources Canada or the Prime Minister. Following the successful conclusion of the repeatedly delayed CNSC technical review of NexGen's environmental impact statement, in November, 2024 -- one year after the provincial approval of the project -- we, again, requested the approval of the project on or before March 31, 2025. Again, no response. In December, 2024, the CNSC indicated to us that we would able to commence construction in 2025 following a commission hearing that was outlined as likely to be in Q3 2025. By February, 2025, they informed us it may be Q4 2025, but that they were going to look for efficiencies in the process to expedite the project as it was a priority project for the CNSC. No reasonable or acceptable cause of this delay has been explained or communicated. Simply, this is because no acceptable reason exists for these delays other than endemic bureaucracy.

In recent meetings held between ourselves and the CNSC, committed CNSC deliverables and actions have been repeatedly delayed and/or missed entirely. The process, steps and timelines have been known since 2019, yet the CNSC is just now scrambling to continue the process and, in doing so, is intent on delaying the approval. To be clear, the province and all stakeholders have made it clear that this project should and must be approved immediately.

In meetings in January and February, 2025, a commitment was made to share with us a copy of the timelines for developing the CNSC staff reports required for the hearing and showing where efficiencies had been incorporated. It was indicated that this information was available. We have yet to receive this information and now the commission hearing date has been set to conclude on Feb. 13, 2026.

We request that the delay in approving this project stop and that the CNSC commission hearing date be rescheduled to no later than June, 2025, from the current date of Feb. 13, 2026.

The inaction and obstruction need to stop in order to ensure Canada's energy and mining sectors continue to prosper. Our communities, our people and all Canadians deserve better from their government. We need to see this critically important project approved immediately. Words will not suffice; action is needed.

Chief Teddy Clark

Clearwater River Dene First Nation