Over the past few weeks, the COVID-19 pandemic has disrupted the operations and activities of business, governments and citizens around the world. That is no different for Atomic Energy of Canada Limited (AECL) and Canadian Nuclear Laboratories (CNL). During this period of unprecedented change and international activity, both organizations have been confronted with difficult and extraordinary decisions that would have seemed hypothetical only a few weeks ago.
As the leaders of AECL and CNL, we want to start by thanking our respective employees for the tremendous flexibility, responsiveness, dedication and hard work that we have seen over the last few weeks. We are proud of the extent to which our respective employees have stepped up to confront the challenges of these times, to go above and beyond, to respond to the new demands at work, and to look out for their families, friends and neighbours at home.
We recognize the extent of the challenge and the inherent uncertainty of the situation. This makes the work that has taken place over the last many days, even more significant. We also want to assure our respective employees that AECL and CNL are working closely to collaboratively confront this pandemic and the many challenges that it presents to the safe and continued operations of both organizations. We have shared interests, goals and activities during routine times, and this unprecedented international event requires us to pull even tighter together to understand and address the uncertainty that it brings to our work.
In doing so, we recognize that our sites are home to some of Canada’s most unique and innovative facilities, laboratories, equipment and expertise. In times like these, everyone has a part to play. Collectively, we are working closely to understand how our respective organization’s unique capabilities and people can be used to help Canada respond to this pandemic. We know that you are all up to the challenge. This process is just getting underway, but you can expect to hear more about these efforts in the days and weeks ahead.
In the meantime, let’s continue to help one another through COVID-19. We are doing our very best to protect staff through this event by following the direction of public health officials, so we ask that you do the same. As this is a rapidly evolving situation, we invite you to continue to follow our ongoing employee updates, to make sure we act as a team in our response to COVID-19.
We recognize that the need to be creative, flexible, and responsive will remain for some time. We look forward to continuing to work together and with all of you, as we face these challenges together.
Stay safe everyone and keep up the great work.
Richard Sexton
President and CEO, AECL
Mark Lesinski
President and CEO, CNL
Joe McBrearty
Chief Operating Officer, CNL
