The defacement of the well known Mi’kmaq billboard at the NS-NB border is not an isolated incident. Pockets of Nova Scotia’s social media are abuzz with anti-Indigenous sentiments and the likes of Rebel Media are fanning the flames.
In the aftermath of the Northern Pulp decision there are a lot of racist social media comments directed at the people of Pictou Landing First Nation (PLFN). To see racist comments on Facebook is of course not unusual, but this is getting out of hand. If we don’t push back it will continue to get worse.
I went to the rally of Northern Pulp and forestry workers at Province House. It will be a sad day tomorrow no matter what McNeil decides.
Stand together for closure of Boat Harbour treatment facility on schedule. Thursday December 19, 11 AM, Pictou Landing First Nation. Bring cookies!
“So what will happen if the mill just defies the Boat Harbour Act and keeps on operating, using Boat Harbour for its effluent?” Not a whole lot of anything, writes Betsy MacDonald. Which is why we urgently need honesty and clarity from Premier McNeil, she argues.
Very pleased to post the brief but well-argued Save our Seas and Shores submission in response to the Northern Pulp proposal to dump its effluent pipe into the Northumberland Strait. “Northern Pulp’s focus report reads as if they are dumping into pristine waters, rather than the deeply degraded fragile ecosystem the Northumberland Strait and Gulf of St Lawrence have now become in 2019,” write Mary Gorman and Percy Hayne.
Many different groups have challenged Mi’kmaw sovereignty over A’Se’k and the area around it, and for centuries, the Mi’kmaq have resisted and protected their homeland. Historian Colin Osmond describes how today’s Mi’kmaq protectors of A’se’k walk in the footsteps and shadows of generations of Mi’kmaq who have done the same.
I am curious about how grassroots activism intersects with traditional politics, so with a federal election coming up I figured I do a couple of interviews with candidates, and ask my questions.
Here is the first interview, with Betsy MacDonald, who is running for the NDP in Central Nova. We talked with her about Boat Harbour, poverty, climate change, how activism shapes her views, and what to do about the many challenges people face in rural Nova Scotia.
PSA – A’se’k: On October 4 walk together with us. #Boat Harbour #Nopipe
Joanne Bealy on some of the many strong local documentaries in the lineup at the Atlantic International Film Festival this year. “What these films show us is that the people of Nova Scotia are visionaries, the provincial and municipal politicians … not so much.”