An Indigenous Woman in Nuclear

Tracy Primeau is a retired Shift Manager at Bruce Power who is
now on the Board of Directors at Ontario Power Generation (OPG).
She is a member of the Nipissing First Nation, and was the first
woman to make her way to Shift Manager from the shop floor. She
discusses her first hand perspective as an energy worker while
Ontario transitioned from coal to nuclear, and the life quality
benefits it brought to both workers and the province broadly.
Primeau shares her experience of what it is like working at a
nuclear plant and leading company engagement with surrounding
communities, especially as an indigenous woman. We discuss the
importance of nuclear energy companies engaging towns as
collaborators rather than groups merely to be convinced,
especially given the deep-rootedness of the “nuclear waste story”
in indigenous communities. Finally, we discuss paths forward for
nuclear in indigenous communities, developments underway, and the
likelihood of meeting stated goals to get indigenous communities
in Canada off of diesel by 2030.