Indigenous Group: Pictou Landing First Nation

Business: Northern Pulp, Governments of PEI and Nova Scotia

Issue: Pictou Landing First Nation and other First Nations are apprehensive of a plan to dump millions of liters of pulp mill effluent into the Northumberland Strait.

Comment: Nov. 29, 2018: Assembly of First Nations – The AFN Regional Chiefs believe dumping polluting effluent into the Strait will impact their peoples’ inherent rights. “The population surrounding the Northern Pulp mill should not have to bear the burden of this company’s waste. It is crucial that the impact be studied before any dumping occurs and that First Nations in the region be fully informed and give their approval to any proposal.”

In 2019, Federal Environment Minister Catherine McKenna asked for a new recommendation on whether Northern Pulp’s proposed effluent treatment plant should be forced to undergo a federal environmental assessment. The recommendation was made based on the revised federal Impact Assessment Act that places more weight on whether a project impacts aboriginal peoples.
https://novascotia.ca/nse/ea/Replacement_Effluent_Treatment_Facility_Project/

Last Update: Dec. 20, 2021: Halifax Examiner – On December 15, Northern Pulp Nova Scotia Corporation, together with 10 other affiliates, including owners Paper Excellence and Hervey Investment B.V. filed a statement of claim in the Nova Scotia Supreme Court. seeking damages “to compensate them for loss and damage suffered as a result of acts and omissions of officials and representatives of the Province which have forced the closure of the Boat Harbour effluent treatment facility (the “BH-ETF”) and the pulp mill (the “Mill”).”The Northern Pulp mill has been closed since January 2020, when its proposal and focus report for a replacement effluent treatment facility for Boat Harbour failed to get provincial approval, and it found itself with no place to send its effluent.
The attached article provides a detailed account of the history of Norther Pulp and the extensive environmental damage it has produced as well as numerous tax breaks, political favours and “indemnifications” provided by successive governments of all political parties over the years.
https://www.halifaxexaminer.ca/environment/the-pictou-mill-fleecing-nova-scotia-for-53-years-and-counting/