Nova Scotia cleanup plan further delays the removal of toxic sludge from First Nation

A councillor with Pictou Landing First Nation in Nova Scotia says a cleanup plan approved by Ottawa further delays the removal of contaminated sludge.

HALIFAX — A councillor with Pictou Landing First Nation in Nova Scotia says a cleanup plan approved by Ottawa will mean further delays in the removal of contaminated sludge that been a scourge on his community for decades.

Federal Environment Minister Steven Guilbeault on Friday gave the Nova Scotia government the go-ahead for the remediation of Boat Harbour in Pictou County, where a pulp mill dumped effluent next to a Mi’kmaq community for more than 50 years.

The decision comes with conditions, including the creation of an advisory committee in partnership with the First Nation to identify possible locations for the long-term storage of the contaminated waste.

Pictou Landing band councillor Derek Francis said Tuesday he is baffled and angry the decision doesn’t include a plan to urgently relocate the toxic sludge away from the First Nation to one of the alternative sites he and other members of council have proposed.

“I really, truly thought this environmental racism was (finished),” he said in an interview Tuesday. “We’ve had enough of this pollution. We don’t want it buried on our land.”

The councillor said the community celebrated the closure of the Northern Pulp plant in January 2020 after then-premier Stephen McNeil decided the plant would no longer be allowed to dump effluent near the First Nation. He had expected that by now, the contaminated sludge would have been removed from the former tidal estuary.

In 2018, the province’s environment minister, Iain Rankin, referred to Boat Harbour as one of the worst examples of environmental racism in Canada.

“We’re angry. We have reason to be angry. We’ve been fighting this for 50 years,” Francis said. “We shut down Northern Pulp five years ago. I remember celebrating when the premier called. The only thing that’s improved is that Northern Pulp has shut down. The sludge is still there.”

The conditions imposed by Guilbeault say that if a suitable location for the sludge is not found within one year, the committee can keep working on finding a solution for 10 years.

Francis called the timeline unacceptable. Failing to urgently remove the waste from the water near the Mi’kmaq community, he said, sends a message that First Nations residents are “just second-class citizens to the Canadian government.”

The federal Department of Environment and the Impact Assessment Agency of Canada did not immediately provide comment.

Beverley Ware, spokesperson for Build Nova Scotia -- the provincial agency overseeing the Boat Harbour cleanup -- says the current cost estimate for the project is $425 million, with funding coming from both the provincial and federal governments.

Other conditions in Guilbeault’s decision include “measures to reduce effects on the Pictou Landing First Nation and the Mi’kmaq of Nova Scotia, including to their health (including mental health and well-being), cultural heritage, and current use of lands and resources for traditional purposes.”

The decision also said the project must take steps to reduce its impact on fish and migratory birds, and implement measures to control erosion and sedimentation to preserve wildlife habitats.

By Lyndsay Armstrong, The Canadian Press

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