Richard Gleeson
Northern News Services

NNSL (Jun 15/98) - The government's got the message, but members of the Deline uranium committee are not celebrating yet.

Last Wednesday, the committee and community elders told the federal government of their concerns about radiation contamination on their community, land and people.

Drawing from a 123- page report it spent over a year preparing, the committee presented 14 points it wanted the government to address.

The government has agreed to meet with the delegation again early this week to determine how best to address the group's concerns.

"What came out of this meeting is the government is very sympathetic," said committee member Gina Bayha. "They showed a willingness to discuss some of these issues."

But Bayha said sympathy is not what the committee was looking for.

"I feel we've been listened to, but the true test will be putting it into print and developing an action plan to address the issues."

Bayha's "experience" includes a government commitment to provide $146,000 in funding to do a small focus study to sample the effects of contamination from the Eldorado radium and uranium mine, on Great Bear Lake.

The committee has yet to see a cent of that money. The study, said Bayha, is the "tip of the iceberg."

"What they're talking about is peanuts compared to the issue of tailings in Great Bear Lake," said Bayha.

She pointed to a 1989 NWT Mineral Deposits Compilation included in the report which notes 1.7 million tonnes of tailings from the mines were "dumped."

The government-owned mine operated from the early 1930s to '60s. During that time Dene from the Deline area were used to transport uranium and radium in sacks from the mine down the Great Bear River.

For years, members of the community have said exposure to the radioactive material caused cancer in the Dene employed by the mine.

The 14 points the committee wants addressed include: immediate crisis assistance, acknowledgement of responsibility, cleanups and environmental mitigation and open disclosure of all documents and knowledge related to the mine and dangers of exposure to uranium.

Great Bear Lake, the biggest lake in the North, is a source of food and water for the people of Deline. Internationally recognized as the home of the world's largest lake trout, it is also a source of tourism dollars.