The Quebec government is rejecting calls for a moratorium on uranium exploration in the province.

On Thursday, 23 doctors from the province’s remote North Shore region sent a letter to the health minister threatening to resign unless the province places a moratorium on uranium exploration in the region.

The doctors from the Sept-Îles Hospital, who are also calling for a province-wide moratorium, said they are concerned about the impact on the health and well-being of the population.

"Our main problem is concern about public health [from] long-term exposure to ionizing radiation," said respirologist Dr. Bruno Imbeault, spokesman for the doctors.

Imbeault said the possibility of uranium mining in the region should be a concern for the entire province.

"If you just take a wind of about 10 km/h, which is not excessive, radioactive contaminants liberated by a mine of uranium in four days can cross about 1,000 kilometres," Imbeault said. "So the problem is not only for the local people living in the vicinity of uranium mining."

Projects depend on public support

During a debate at the national assembly, Junior Health Minister Serge Simard said while permits for uranium exploration have been issued there are currently no plans to mine the radioactive metal.

"If the population of Sept-Îles … doesn’t want this project, there is one thing that is very clear," Simard said. "The government of Quebec will respect the will of the population."

Health Minister Yves Bolduc said that he had met with the doctors in June to hear their concerns but a public health notice confirmed that the plans for exploration in the region pose no threat to the public.

"We are willing to sit with the doctors to look at different situations," Bolduc said.

Martin Beaumont, director of the Sept-Îles Hospital, said the loss of the doctors would be "catastrophic" in a region that is already short of medical staff. Almost half of the doctors are specialists — the only ones in their domain operating at the hospital.

But Beaumont said the administration supports the doctors and said he is calling on the people of the region to do the same.