EDMONTON – Fears over what are believed to be unexploded World War II bombs have prompted the Enoch First Nation to shut down a golf course and a cultural centre.
During the Second World War, the land served as a practice bombing range. The military says pilots only ever dropped smoke bombs; but Anvil GeoSpatial Corp.’s Reg Letourneau, who’s been using ground penetrating radar on the land for the past five months, begs to differ.
“It’s live, it’s unstable. It’s an unexploded high explosive,” he said.
Letourneau added that several thousand ‘anomalies’ have been found so far during the process, which is only one-tenths complete.
“Our findings to date indicate there’s more than what we were told. They’re deeper than what we were led to believe. There are more sizes and types than what we were led to believe,” he also said.
“Those things can take apart buildings,” said the chief of the Enoch Cree Nation, Ron Morin.
“And let alone, we could have people out on the cultural grounds. Some of those are just below the ground, and you have a campfire with children and women present — one of those could go off.”
“To say it’s devastating is probably an understatement.”
Morin is demanding compensation and wants the military to come clean.
“Enough secrets. You have a duty, a fiduciary duty.”
In a written statement, the Department of National Defence says cleanup efforts in the area have never found anything other than a practice bomb. It adds:
“DND will be contacting the Enoch Cree Nation for details on the discovery of this piece of ordnance.”
At the moment, though, such assurances offer little comfort.
“It gets me angry,” said resident Douglas Ward. “Never did trust the government.”
With files from Fletcher Kent, Global News
Comments