News release: Water protector and Mi’kmaq Elder Dorene Bernard did not mince words during a speech by Premier McNeil this morning. The premier’s talk was entitled ‘Open for Business: Nova Scotia on the Move’, which Bernard says is a blatant glossing over of the Indigenous right to free, prior, and informed consent. “We’re only open for business if treaty rights holders give their free, prior, and informed consent,” says Bernard. “That consent doesn’t come from the KMK termination table, it comes from the people and the traditional governments.”

Media advisory: With oil and gas exploration approved off the coast of Nova Scotia for this spring, the Council of Canadians is organizing a hard-hitting coastal speaking tour providing evidence of the serious risks offshore drilling presents to sustainable fisheries, tourism, clean water and our climate.

Media release by the Council of Canadians on renewed industry efforts to do away with the ban on fracking in Nova Scotia. “It is as if they don’t realize that the fracking, salt cavern gas storage, and mining they are talking about  is on unceded and unsurrendered Mi’kmaq territory. Territory for which we as Mi’kmaq Peoples have the inherent Title. Instead of having entire liberty in trade to our best advantage, as is written in our treaties,: we are having our resources stolen and our land poisoned, then being blamed for our own poverty,” said Rebecca Moore.

In this news release Sierra Club Atlantic and the Council of Canadians respond to the Muskrat Falls inquiry announced earlier this week. “There are real concerns with the safety of this dam, and the threat of methylmercury poisoning for all generations to come. The Methylmercury Agreement from last fall by the Premier and leaders of the three Indigenous communities must be honoured, but the project must be put on hold in order for that to happen.”