The federal government’s nuclear energy regulator says it discouraged the OPP from visiting people who planned to address hearings on a proposed radioactive dump beside Lake Huron, saying the house calls would be perceived as harassment and intimidation.

The Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission (CNSC) says it knew in advance of the Ontario Provincial Police’s intention to speak to “intervenors” who planned to appear at the Great Lakes nuclear dump hearings, which are now in their second week in Kincardine. Patsy Thompson, director general of the CNSC, said her agency learned of the planned visits while arranging the public environmental assessment hearings.

As the Star’s Thomas Walkom reported this weekend, opponents of the proposed Kincardine nuclear waste dump — and at least one supporter — have been visited by OPP officers at their homes and asked questions about whether they planned to demonstrate. The OPP told one dump opponent that the force’s doorstep visits aren’t intended to stifle free speech.

“The CNSC informed the Ontario Provincial Police that we disagreed and also actively discouraged the OPP from proceeding in this manner,” Thompson said in a statement to the assessment hearing panel.

“The CNSC considered that such actions by the OPP would be perceived as harassment and intimidation. I would also like to add that the CNSC has an open public hearing process that we have always encouraged participation in public hearings from all stakeholders, whatever views people have. And we will continue to do so.”

The nuclear safety commission, along with the federal environmental assessment agency, is running the federal review panel hearings, which are looking into plans to bury low- and intermediate-level radioactive waste along Ontario’s Lake Huron shoreline.

When asked about the OPP’s decision to conduct visits, Commissioner Chris Lewis told the Star on Monday that his force in no way is attempting to interfere with lawful protests.

“We don’t take sides and don’t try in any way to dissuade lawful protest, of course. It’s all well-intentioned,” he said.

Lewis said the OPP’s Provincial Liaison Team routinely reaches out to various groups in a proactive way.

Last week an OPP spokesperson told the Star the OPP’s liaison team, which has been operating for about 10 years, is tasked with the job of trying to anticipate and stop problems before they begin.

He said no outside party asked the OPP to approach witnesses in regards to the dumpsite, and that the force “took it on ourselves” to do so.

Last week a spokesperson for Ontario Power Generation (OPG), which wants to build the dump, said in an email that the OPP’s involvement came at the request of the CNSC and “local municipalities” and that OPG was not involved.

But in a statement this weekend, the OPG retracted the remark, saying it was incorrect and that it was not aware of any actions taken by the CNSC in support of the OPP’s visits.

At Queen’s Park, NDP Leader Andrea Horwath says she can see how some protesters could feel intimidated when police show up on their doorsteps unannounced.

“I think we have to just be careful that we are not sending a message that people don’t have the right to freedom of speech and don’t have the right to publicly state their opinions and that’s the thing that would worry me,” Horwath said.

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Two Liberal cabinet ministers, however, downplayed the visits, saying it’s nothing more than police outreach.

“They (the OPP) have a public relations group who tries to connect with the community and they also like to connect with those who may want to protest. And they have the right to, but just to remind them of the rules. I see that more as a prevention measure . . . I don’t see that as intimidation,” said Community Safety and Correctional Services Minister Madeleine Meilleur.

Energy Minister Bob Chiarelli said, as a former mayor of Ottawa, he was familiar with police reaching out to protesters.

“It’s a normal practice for police these days to be doing that type of thing,” he said.

Conservative MPP Lisa Thompson (Huron—Bruce) in whose riding the proposed site would go, said she suspects the OPP are doing their “due diligence’’ but she has a call in to the force so she can fully understand why they’re doing the visits.

With files by Richard J. Brennan