Native artifacts find means beachside house worth $1

Homeowner freed from paying property tax

Normally, a brand-new seaside home on the outskirts of Antigonish, N.S. could easily fetch as much as $400,000.

But after homeowner Mike MacDonald stumbled upon a Mi’kmaq axe on the two-acre property, he was quickly able to convince the Province of Nova Scotia that his new home was now effectively worthless.

“Such a property would be considered very valuable under normal circumstances,” reads a decision by a Nova Scotia appeal tribunal.

But with the artifacts throwing the property’s future into limbo, “the value will be set at $1 until the future use of the Mi’kmaq artifacts is determined,” it read.

The rock-bottom assessment — which MacDonald only obtained after several appeals — frees him from paying any property taxes on the beachfront land.

For Nova Scotia’s official property tax assessor, the dramatic devaluation is not sitting right.

“The Citadel Hill site (in downtown Halifax) has native artifacts under it; does that mean it’s also worthless?” said Kathy Gillis, CEO of the non-profit Property Value Services Corporation, which is leading a legal challenge to restore the assessed value to $253,500.

Nova Scotia — like much of Canada — is built atop land laden with First Nations artifacts and graves. If MacDonald’s claim isn’t taken to court, she said, “the same thing is just

“The same thing is just going to happen and happen and happen.

KATHY GILLIS CEO, PROPERTY VALUE SERVICES CORPORATION

going to happen and happen and happen.”

The PVSC refused to ascribe a motive to MacDonald’s appeals for lower assessments, but noted in a statement that “in general, Nova Scotia property owners do not seek to have their property value reduced to one dollar.”

An initial study by the PVSC put MacDonald’s home at $365,000, although that number was later dropped to $253,500.

Mi’kmaq artifacts had been found, assessors noted, but after a quick archeological dig, all it had done was force MacDonald to move the location of a well.

The nearby Paq’tnkek First Nation, notably, had no qualms with MacDonald continuing construction, and he finished a shed, a home and a septic system once the artifacts had been pulled out.

“No further interference with the property is planned at this time,” read assessment documents.

But MacDonald argued successfully that it was only a matter of time before his house became the subject of a Mi’kmaq land claim.