A post-colonial history of Boat Harbour
1864 – 50 acres of land are set aside for the 159 members of the tribe which became known as Pictou Landing First Nations.
1964 – Scott Maritimes decides to build a mill at Abercrombie Point. It’s established that the mill will need to discharge up to 25 million gallons of toxic wastewater per day as a byproduct of the pulping process. The province agrees to provide adequate supplies of clean water to the mill, as well as a place to discharge the wastewater after its use in pulping. Federal regulations prohibit the discharge directly into the Northumberland Strait and Boat Harbour is established.
1965 – The Pictou Landing First Nations chief and council state concerns about odour. The province and Scott Maritimes take them on a trip to Saint John, N.B., to show them there is no smell. They agree in principle while on the trip.
Oct. 21, 1965 – A resolution is signed for an immediate lump sum payment of $60,000 in consideration of the permanent loss of fishing and hunting revenue and other benefits derived from the use of the land, with a final settlement to be subject to further negotiations between the province and Indian Affairs.
It was also established that a slipway for boats be established and remedial action taken if a septic condition arose on Pictou Landing.
September 1967 – Mill begins operating.
1986 – Pictou Landing First Nation begins action against the federal government for breach of fiduciary duty in the case of Boat Harbour.
1991 – The federal government agrees to negotiate a settlement with Pictou Landing. The province promises to abate the adverse effects of the wastewater when the agreement with Scott Maritimes expires in 1995.
July 1993 – An agreement with the federal government is reached out of court. Pictou Landing First Nations is supposed to receive $35 million.
1995 – There is no alternative site identified by the time the Scott Maritime agreement expires; the province promises Boat Harbour will be closed by December 2005.
2000 – A study by Kimberly Clark shows the cost of building a replacement treatment facility will cost between $48 million and $60 million. A plan is launched to build a pipeline directly to the channel instead.
2004 – Mill ownership is transferred to Neenah Paper.
Dec. 31, 2005 – The province and Neenah state that a pipeline to the channel is not feasible as it would not likely pass environmental assessment. They ask for an extension to December 2008.
May 2008 – Province agrees to extend licence after December 2008 on a month-to-month basis.
June 2008 – The business transfers to Northern Pulp. The province asks that Pictou Landing not protest the extension of the licence to Dec. 31, 2008, and promises not to extend it beyond that date without further consultation.
Nov. 19, 2008 – Band council chief writes to province advising them they will not agree to any further extensions.
March 2009 – The band council begins meeting with a negotiator, but meetings halt following the June 2009 provincial election. Talks don’t resume until September, when the current minister of transportation asks for time to study the issue.
April 19, 2010 – Pictou Landing First Nations asks the province to terminate the licence, effective June 30. The date passes with no change.
Sept. 9, 2010 –A lawsuit is filed against the province and Northern Pulp.
June 10, 2014 – An effluent leak in the pipeline near Indian Cross Point sparks a peaceful protest that seeks a commitment from the province for firm deadlines in finding a more suitable location for Northern Pulp’s effluent and the remediation of Boat Harbour.
June 16, 2014 – Agreement in principle signed by Pictou Landing First Nation chief and Minister of Environment Randy Delorey, stating firm timelines on a new effluent treatment facility in return for the end of the blockade.
April 17, 2015 – First reading of the Boat Harbour Act is held in the Nova Scotia Legislature. It promises the closure of the Boat Harbour Treatment Facility by Jan. 31, 2020.
April 28, 2015 – An engineer for Northern Pulp says that meeting the deadline of Jan. 31, 2020, will be hard for the company.
May 5, 2015- The Boat Harbour Act is passed in Nova Scotia Legislature.
Jan. 14, 2018 – Northern Pulp details their plans to switch from an aerated stabilization basin process in Boat Harbour to an activated sludge treatment process that will treat mill wastewater at a new, more compact facility on company property, then pump it directly into the Northumberland Strait through a pipeline.
July 6, 2018 – A #NoPipe Land and Sea Rally is held in Pictou, drawing several thousand people to the Pictou waterfront to send a message to government and Northern Pulp that people will not tolerate a treated effluent pipe going into the Northumberland Strait.
July 17, 2018 – While in Pictou County for an announcement on highway twinning, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau was asked whether the federal government would be willing to step in to do a federal assessment of Northern Pulp’s proposed new effluent treatment facility. He said he would leave it to provincial jurisdiction.
Aug. 21, 2018 – A Chronicle Herald article reveals that the province is paying for at least part of design work for Northern Pulp’s new effluent treatment facility.
Oct. 23, 2018 – A survey boat hired to plot a course to lay a pipeline as part of Northern Pulp’s effluent treatment facility is forced back to shore by fishermen.
January 2019 – Northern Pulp Nova Scotia Corporation’s effluent treatment facility project is registered with Nova Scotia’s Environment Department.
April 23, 2019 – The Nova Scotia Department of Environment makes a list of questions it would like answered in a focus report before it will make a decision on whether to approve Northern Pulp’s new effluent facility.
May 23, 2019 – The federal government commits $100 million to the cleanup of Boat Harbour.
Sept. 3, 2019 – Then-federal Environment Minister Catherine McKenna asks for a new recommendation on whether Northern Pulp’s proposed effluent treatment plant should be forced to undergo a federal environmental assessment.
Oct. 4, 2019 – Northern Pulp’s Focus Report is made public. It proposes a diffused outfall near outside of Caribou Harbour in the Northumberland Strait.
Dec. 17, 2019 – Environment Minister Gordon Wilson announces that Northern Pulp will be required to complete an environmental assessment report before the Department of Environment can make a decision on whether to approve the project. In response Northern Pulp says it’s future will be in jeopardy if an extension is not granted to the Boat Harbour Act.
Dec. 20, 2019 – Premier Stephen McNeil is expected to make an announcement on whether he will or won’t grant an extension to the Boat Harbour Act.