Serpent River Resurgence: Confronting Uranium Mining at Elliot Lake by Leanne Leddy (review)

Reviewed by: Serpent River Resurgence: Confronting Uranium Mining at Elliot Lake by Leanne Leddy Warren Bernauer (bio) Serpent River Resurgence: Confronting Uranium Mining at Elliot Lake by Leanne Leddy University of Toronto Press, 2022 in the second half of the twentieth century, a series of uranium mines in the Elliot Lake area in Canada played important roles in facilitating the United States' nuclear weapons program and the (closely related) development of "civilian" nuclear power programs in North America. Leanne Leddy's Serpent River Resurgence provides a unique and critically important history of uranium mining in the Elliot Lake area from the perspective of the Serpent River First Nation (SRFN), an Anishinaabe nation in Northern Ontario upon whose territory the settler town of Elliot Lake is situated. Based on a combination of oral history and archival research, Serpent River Resurgence makes critically important contributions to the Indigenous studies literature about uranium mining, settler colonialism, and Indigenous resurgence. Leanne Leddy is a member of the SRFN who grew up in Elliot Lake and is currently an associate professor in Indigenous studies at Wilfred Laurier University. Leddy's meticulous empirical research, combined with insights and analysis reflecting her membership in SRFN, resulted in a rich case study of one Indigenous nation's experiences with colonial dispossession and Indigenous resistance. Serpent River Resurgence contains compelling arguments about the colonial implications of the Cold War nuclear arms race for the Serpent River Anishinaabe, as well as the power of Indigenous resistance and resurgence to challenge colonial relationships and processes. It includes chapters examining the history of SRFN before 1950, the establishment of the settler community of Elliot Lake and associated uranium mines, the construction and operation of a sulfuric acid plant on reserve land, and Anishinaabe resistance. Serpent River Resurgence clearly articulates the profound loss the Serpent River Anishinaabe experienced as a result of centuries of colonial incursions, especially those related to uranium mining. Leddy shows how the establishment of a uranium mining industry on SRFN territory led to an influx of settlers and left a legacy of radioactive tailings and acid waste. The operation of the acid plant on reserve land—which supplied sulfuric acid to the uranium industry—similarly left a legacy of contamination that [End Page 178] seriously disrupted the Anishinaabe land-based economy. The fact that the Serpent River Anishinaabe were excluded from important decisions about the uranium industry undermined their traditional role as stewards of the land. At the same time, Leddy shows that the Serpent River Anishinaabe were not simply passive victims of settler colonialism and the nuclear industry. As the title suggests, her book uses a conceptual framework of Indigenous resurgence and celebrates SFRN's long history of resistance to colonialism: "Whether it was to question rapid and extensive expansion of uranium production at Elliot Lake, to attend meetings in Toronto or Ottawa, or to threaten to block the highway if [the Department of Indian Affairs] continued to impede a clean-up process of the acid site, SRFN community members resorted to creative and consistent means of asserting Indigenous rights" (139). According to Leddy, these strategic interventions led to an important process of Indigenous resurgence, insofar as they resulted in the Serpent River Anishinaabe reestablishing their traditional role in land stewardship. Serpent River Resurgence will be of interest to scholars working in Indigenous studies and beyond, especially those whose teaching and research interests include Indigenous resurgence, settler colonialism, the nuclear industry, Anishinaabe history, and the politics of the Cold War. It will be a useful reading for senior undergraduate and graduate courses in Indigenous studies, political ecology, and environmental studies. The fact that Anishinaabe communities in northern Ontario are currently facing proposals for a repository for Canada's high-level nuclear waste makes Leddy's work timely and relevant to broader public debates about the future of the nuclear industry in the region. [End Page 179] Warren Bernauer WARREN BERNAUER is a postdoctoral fellow in the Department of Environment and Geography and the Natural Resources Institute, University of Manitoba. Copyright © 2023 Regents of the University of Minnesota

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