Gordon Edwards

Gordon EdwardsGordon Edwards, Canadian Coalition for Nuclear Responsibility, Canada.

Topic (together with Robert Del Tredici): Radioactive Lagacy of the Nuclear Age.
Date: Friday 27 April 2007, 13:15-14:15.
Conference presentation:
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Topic: The Decision Making Process for Dealing with Spent Fuel.
Date: Saturday 28 April, 09:30-10:00.
Conference presentation (PDF, 48 KB)
Conference lecture audio recording (MP3, length 51:24, size 11.8 MB)

Topic: (Panel) The Environmental Consequences of Final Storage Schemes
Date: Saturday 28 April 2007, 12:00-13:00.
Panel discussion (MP3, length 1:02:35, size 14.7 MB)

Selected publications

Contact information:
Canadian Coalition for Nuclear Responsibility,
c.p. 236, Station Snowdon,
Montréal QC,
H3X 3T4 Canada.
Fax: +1-514 489 5118
E-mail: ccnr (@) web.net
Website: www.ccnr.org

Biographical Notes

Gordon Edwards was born in Canada in 1940, and currently lives in Montreal. He graduated from the University of Toronto in 1961 with a gold medal in Mathematics and Physics and a Woodrow Wilson Fellowship. While studying Mathematics, Physics and Chemistry at U of T, he worked for the Ontario Fire Marshal's Office as the Lightning Rod Inspector for the Province of Ontario. At the University of Chicago, he earned Masters degrees in Mathematics (1962) and English Literature (1964). After four years of lecturing at the University of Western Ontario, he obtained a Ph.D. in Mathematics from Queen's University (Kingston, 1972).

Dr. Edwards' professional activities have been diverse. From 1970 to 1974, he was the editor of Survival magazine, an international ecology newsletter with subscribers in a dozen countries, most of them scientists. In 1972 he co-authored a book on Lie Algebras. In 1972-73 he worked on the Economics of Ocean Fisheries, and was published in the Journal of the Fisheries Research Board. In 1973-74 he coordinated a nation-wide study of the role of the Mathematical Sciences in business, industry, government, education and science, for the Science Council of Canada; the study resulted in seven published volumes. In 1979 he made five half-hour television shows for CTV on the evolution of mathematical thought. Since 1974 he has been a professor of Mathematics at Vanier College in Montreal, where he has served as coordinator of the Integrated Science Program and a member of the Board of Directors' Executive Committee.

In 1975 he co-founded the Canadian Coalition for Nuclear Responsibility, and has been its president since 1978. The CCNR is a federally incorporated organization with an educational mandate. In 1977, Dr. Edwards was engaged to give expert testimony and to cross-examine expert witnesses for six weeks during the Cluff Lake Board of Inquiry into Uranium Mining in Saskatchewan. In 1977-78, he performed a similar role over a period of four months for the Ontario Royal Commission on Electric Power Planning. Dr. Edwards has worked as a consultant on nuclear issues (such as reactor safety, health effects of radiation, uranium mining and radioactive waste management) for the Select Committee on Ontario Hydro Affairs, the Auditor General of Canada, the Science Council of Canada, and many other governmental bodies (in eight provinces and territories) as well as for such entities as the United Steelworkers of America, Global Television, the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, the Canadian Environmental Advisory Council, the Chippewas of Nawash, Mohawks of Kanesatake, Congress of Aboriginal Peoples, Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami, Assembly of First Nations, CBC, Global Television, Téléquébec, and National Film Board. He has been qualified as a nuclear expert by judicial and quasijudicial courts in Canada, as well as Quebec, Florida, and Michigan.

Dr. Edwards has written numerous articles and book-length publications on radiation standards, radioactive wastes, uranium mining, weapons proliferation, the economics of nuclear power, non-nuclear energy strategies, and the history of Canada's nuclear industry. He has been featured on many radio and television show including the CBC National Newsmagazine, David Suzuki's The Nature of Things, Pierre Berton's The Great Debate, Méchant Contraste, Le Point, and many others. He has been invited to testify on numerous occasions by legislatures and legislative committees across Canada, including the Select Committee on Ontario Hydro Affairs, the PEI Legislative Assembly, the NB Energy Committee, Territorial Assembly of the NWT, and others. He created the CCNR website at www.ccnr.org. He is married, with three sons and eight grandchildren. Dr. Edwards was granted the Nuclear-Free Future Award for 2006 in the Education category.