Chiefs weigh in on proposed RV park
Cape Breton First Nations leaders look forward to consultation on Big Pond Centre development
Local First Nations leaders say environmental protection is the key priority when it comes to the development of an RV park and campground proposed for Big Pond Centre. And the Cape Breton Mi’kmaq chiefs say their communities want a say in the process surrounding the controversial project that vaulted its first hurdle this week when Cape Breton Regional Municipality (CBRM) council narrowly voted to approve the application to amend the municipality’s land-use bylaw to allow for the first phase of the undertaking.
“We are disappointed by the council’s decision, but we know that this is an initial step in a much larger process,” Eskasoni’s Chief Leroy Denny said in a release issued Thursday by the Assembly of Nova Scotia Mi’kmaq Chiefs.
“We want the council’s decision to now open the door for extensive engagement with local Mi’kmaq communities and with those who live around the proposed development area.”
CBRM Mayor Cecil Clarke said that council’s decision to approve the land-use amendment is, in effect, the most expeditious way to bring the Aboriginal community into the process, while planning director Malcolm Gillis noted that the municipality has no mandate or authority to hold consultations with the First Nations.
“There’s no specific statement in the Municipal Government Act or even any intimation that municipalities have a specific responsibility to consult with First Nations Aboriginal Peoples at this stage of a zoning amendment application,” said Gillis, who added that the CBRM is a child of the province and as such must abide by the rules set out in the MGA.
But with the land-use bylaw amended to allow for the contentious development, Clarke said consultation with the First Nations will be triggered when the project proponent moves on to the next step and seeks provincial approval.
Denny echoed the mayor’s sentiment that consultation is an integral part of the relationship between Cape Breton’s First Nations communities and the CBRM.
“We are optimistic that we will be able to continue to work together as this proposed project moves through its various steps — we should all want to ensure that environmental protection is a key priority with any development that happens in our region,” said Denny.
Potlotek (Chapel Island) First Nation Chief Wilbert Marshall also stressed that the protection of the Bras d’Or Lake is his community’s biggest concern with the development.
“We want to ensure that a project this large will not cause any damage to the lake because of the sewage, surface runoff and other water activities before any development begins,” he said.
The Assembly has reached out to provincial Environment Minister Iain Rankin, to whom it expressed a number of its concerns with the proposed development that, if fully approved, could see as many as 541 fully serviced RV sites on a parcel of land that extends to the edge of the Bras d’Or Lake about 40 km west of Sydney.
The project cannot proceed until the proponent has secured several provincial, and possibly federal, approvals that can only be obtained by meeting strict Nova Scotia Environment Department standards in terms of onsite sewage disposal and available public water supply, along with a Transportation Department go-ahead that will only be issued if an accredited traffic study shows that site access plans meet certain criteria.