Countdown to closure
Pictou Landing First Nation marks the start of a 365-day countdown to Boat Harbour closure
Pictou Landing First Nation held an event to mark the beginning of a 365-day countdown to the closure of the Boat Harbour effluent treatment facility.
PICTOU LANDING, N.S. — Cheryl Denny can’t say exactly what grade it was when she turned her focus toward art, but she can say why.
“You know, I wasn’t that much into school. I’d doodle,” she said on Thursday, Jan. 31, standing in front of a mural.
It depicts a sunset over calm waters spanned by a narrow bridge. There’s a small boat cutting a wake through the center of the scene.
“I’ve come a long way since then.” Enough to be asked to paint the scene behind her, one which the Pictou Landing First Nation community chose to represent the past and hoped-for future of A’se’k, the Mi’kmaq name for the once tidal estuary next to PLFN.
It was a lot of pressure for an artist used to painting 8-by-10 prints.
“It was scary. I was so scared of us running it. There was so much emotion put into it,” she said. “All of this stuff we’re going through with Boat Harbour, I’m so looking forward for the closure.”
The numbers “365” fastened with binder rings to the upper portion of Denny’s scene mark the beginning of a year-long countdown to the legislated closure date of Northern Pulp’s effluent treatment facility on Jan. 31, 2020.
The painting, with its countdown clock, are on display just outside the PLFN community gymnasium. Nearly 250 from the community were inside that gym on Thursday to show their determination that the Boat Harbour Act be upheld. Many were wearing red shirts with the words “A’se’k #31 January 2020” written on them.
“That end date is so sacred to us. Fifty-two years that we’ve carried this,” said Chief Andrea Paul to the crowded room. Paul’s speech presented a united front on behalf of the citizens of PLFN that the community will not accept any extensions for Boat Harbour.
“I’m not speaking as Andrea. I speak for all the people. I always say that when I come, I carry every single person from my community with me. If I could carry them all on my back, they would be on my back,” she said. “We’re at a point where we’re going to get some closure on this.”
An hour before the Pictou Landing event was scheduled to start, Northern Pulp held a press conference in Halifax calling for a one-year extension to the 2020 deadline.
“Some will say that they have heard this before, and look where we are now,” said Northern Pulp spokesperson Kathy Cloutier, speaking at the event in Halifax and addressing past promises to cleanup Boat Harbour. “We recognize this, and relish the opportunity to be the exception rather than the rule.”
However, premier Stephen McNeil has so far maintained that there will be no extension to the 2020 deadline under the Boat Harbour Act.