Darren Campbell
Northern News Services

NNSL (Aug 03/98) - Six members of the Deline First Nation are on their way to the land of the rising sun.

The delegation will be there this week to take part in Hiroshima Day events, set for Aug. 6.

"We want to express our sadness and compassion for the suffering that the uranium from Great Bear Lake has caused elsewhere," said Cindy Kenny-Gilday, chair of the Deline First Nation Committee

The world's first uranium mine was developed on the eastern shores of Great Bear Lake in the early 1940s. The mine was a major source of uranium for the development of the atomic bomb, although American and Africa mines also supplied ore for the war effort.

Young Dene were used to haul ore from the Radium mine from the 1930s through the 1960s. Since then, Deline Dene have reported a high rate of cancer deaths among the men who worked as ore carriers.

Recently, the community has tried to get the federal government to carry out a comprehensive health or environmental assessment and compensate them for the damage done.

The Dene also submitted a 160-page report on the issue to the federal government. They listed 14 points they wanted the government to respond to.

But despite a meeting in June with three cabinet ministers, including Indian Affairs Minister Jane Stewart, the government has still not agreed to address the 14 points.

Kenny-Gilday said the Hiroshima trip will also show their unhappiness over what they say is the government's refusal to deal in good faith with the Deline Dene's concerns.

George Blondin, one of the ore carriers who will be in Hiroshima, said the legacy of what happened at Great Bear Lake in the 1930s is still being felt in Deline today.

"Many people in our community are still suffering directly from what happened," said Blondin. "And the rest of our people, both the elders and the young, are afraid for our health and for our lake and animals like never before."