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“Nature won”

Supreme Court ruling orders province to meet the obligations of the Endangered Species Act.

May 30, 2020 By Jennifer Henderson

“Nature won.” That’s how retired wildlife biologist Bob Bancroft reacted to a judge’s decision on Friday which essentially orders the Department of Lands and Forestry to obey provincial law when it comes to protecting endangered, threatened, and vulnerable species. There are 60 plants and animals identified under Nova Scotia’s Endangered Species Act. But the judicial...

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Filed Under: Featured, News, Province House, Subscribers only Tagged With: Blomidon Naturalists Society, Bob Bancroft, Department of Lands and Forestry (DLF), East Coast Environmental Law Association (ECELAW), Endangered Species Act, Federation of Nova Scotia Naturalists, Halifax Field Naturalists, Jamie Simpson, Jeremy Smith, Justice Christa Brothers, Lahey Report on Forestry, Lisa Jarrett, Nature Nova Scotia, Richard Beasley, Soren Bondrup-Nielsen, Species at Risk Act, Western Canada Wilderness Committee

A community rallies to save Owls Head

Morning File, Tuesday, February 4, 2020

February 4, 2020 By Suzanne Rent 10 Comments

News 1. Zane Woodford Tim Bousquet wrote this item. After a month covering City Hall for the Halifax Examiner, Zane Woodford is leaving to write for SaltWire. He’ll be working on their new weekly newspaper, SALT. [Insert your joke here.] While we’ve seen good subscription growth from Zane’s writing, the Examiner is unable to hire […]

Filed Under: Featured Tagged With: Alexander Quon, Barbara Markovits, Bob Bancroft, Caitlin Porter, Canadian Parks and Wilderness Society (CPAWS), Chris Miller, Chris Trider, councillor Waye Mason, Eastern Shore Cooperator, Eastern Shore Forest Watch Association, Jacque Dubé, Jamie Simpson, Jeremy Lundholm, Matt Dagley, Michael Gorman, Middlemore Home, Owls Head Park, Pamela Wile, Paul LaFleche, QEII redevelopment, robbery Cranberry Crescent, SALT, Sheila Martin, Sydnee Lynn, Zane Woodford

Northern Pulp’s “political game”

It's decision time for the Nova Scotia government. It will either approve a pipeline for pumping mill effluent into the Northumberland Strait, or won't. And it will either extend the Boat Harbour Act, or won't. Those affected by the mill operation are laying out their case and preparing next moves.

November 21, 2019 By Joan Baxter 1 Comment

The story of the bleached kraft pulp mill in Pictou County, which has already dragged on for 53 years, is coming to a nail-biting climax. How — and when — it’s going to end is anyone’s guess. Time is running out, and two key dates loom. The first is December 17, 2019, which is the […]

Filed Under: Environment, Featured, Investigation, News Tagged With: Allan MacCarthy, Boat Harbour Act, Brian Hebert, Chief Andrea Paul, Colton Cameron, Friends of the Northumberland Strait (FONS), Jamie Simpson, Jill Graham-Scanlon, Jim Ryan, Minister Gordon Wilson, Minister Margaret Miller, MP Sean Fraser, North Nova Seafoods, Northern Pulp, Northern Pulp effluent, Northern Pulp focus report, Nova Scotia Environment (NSE), Pictou Landing First Nation (PLFN), Premier Stephen McNeil

“Who speaks for the mainland moose and Canada warbler?” asks judge

September 24, 2019 By Jennifer Henderson

Nova Scotia Supreme Court Justice Christa Brothers will decide whether the Minister of Lands and Forestry has failed to live up to the obligations set out in the Endangered Species Act to protect wildlife in the province. “We seek the Court’s assistance as a last resort,” said lawyer Jamie Simpson, representing the Federation of Nova...

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Filed Under: Environment, Featured, News, Province House, Subscribers only Tagged With: Bob Bancroft, Department of Lands & Forestry (DLF), East Coast Environmental Law (ECELaw), Endangered Species Act, James Gunvaldsen Klaassen, Jamie Simpson, Jeremy Smith, Justice Christa Brothers, Lahey report, Mainland Moose, Richard Beasley, Soren Bondrup-Nielsen

The Archaeology of Loss

How industrial logging in the Mi’kmaq heartland is destroying a lot more than trees 

June 14, 2019 By Linda Pannozzo 1 Comment

“We were in wonderful moose country now.” At least this is how Albert Bigelow Paine described the Nova Scotia landscape he and three others journeyed through in his 1908 book The Tent Dwellers. The book tells the true story of a June trout fishing trip led by two guides, Charlie Charlton and Del Thomas, who […]

Filed Under: Commentary, Environment, Featured, Province House Tagged With: Alain Belliveau, Albert Bigelow Paine, Alces alces Americana, archaeological site, Black ash, Blomidon Naturalists Society, Bob Bancroft, Boreas Heritage, chain pickerel, Charlie Charlton, clearcutting, Dawn Makarowski, Del Thomas, Department of Lands and Forestry (DLF), Donna Crossland, East Coast Environmental Law (ECELaw), eastern ribbon snake, Federation of Nova Scotia Naturalists, Forest Act, Forest and Range Practices Act, Forest Planning and Practice Regulations, Halifax Field Naturalists, Heritage Conservation Act, Indian Gardens, Jamie Simpson, Jeff Purdy, Jonathan Porter, Kejimkujik Lake, Kejimkujik National Park, Kwilmu’kw Maw-klusuaqn Negotiation Office (KMKNO), Lisa Jarrett, Little Tobeatic Lake, Lord Dunraven, Mainland Moose, Mersey paper Company, Mersey River, Mi’kmaq archaeology, Mi’kmaq artifacts, Mi’kmaq reserves, Minister Iain Rankin, Netukulimk, Northern Parula, Ogômgigiag, Provincial Wilderness Areas, Randy Milton, Rossignol Lake, Sam Glode, Sara Beanlands, Special Places Protection Act, Thomas Millette, Tobeatic Wilderness Area, Tobeatic Wildlife Management Area, WestFor, wildlife sanctuaries, William Lahey

We’ll get around to that climate emergency eventually

Morning File, Thursday March 7, 2019

March 7, 2019 By Tim Bousquet 16 Comments

News 1. Court This is an abbreviated Morning File because I have to be at the Supreme Court at 9am. I’m going to court to join the CBC and the Canadian Press in their efforts to rescind the sealing order in the Glen Assoun case. That order was issued by Justice Chipman on October 23, […]

Filed Under: Featured Tagged With: Bill Lahey, Cameron Yetman, climate emergency, Community Energy and Climate Action Plan (CECAP), Environment and Sustainability Standing Committee, Erin Appelbe, Glen Assoun resealing order, iMatter, Jamie Simpson, Justice Chipman, Lily Barraclough, Neria Atwine, Peter Duncan, Robin Tress, Shilo Gempton, Stephen Archibald and real fake wood grain, Youth Climate Action Program

Northern Pulp’s environmental documents: missing mercury, a pulp mill that never was, and oodles of contradictions

March 5, 2019 By Joan Baxter 9 Comments

Cover photo: “Point D,” where treated Northern Pulp wastewater currently flows from Boat Harbour into the Northumberland Strait, just a few hundred metres from Pictou Landing First Nation. There is much to wade through in the documents Northern Pulp submitted to Nova Scotia Environment on February 7, 2019, when it registered its “Replacement Effluent Treatment […]

Filed Under: Commentary, Environment, Featured, Investigation, News, Province House Tagged With: Bell Bay Tasmania, Boat Harbour, Bruce Chapman, Canadian Environmental Assessment Agency (CEAA), Canso Chemicals, Chief Andrea Paul, Clean the Mill Group, Dave Gunning, Dillon Consulting, dioxins and furans, Dr. John Krawczyk, Environment Minister Iain Rankin, Environment Minister Margaret Miller, Gary Porter, Greg Egilsson, Gulf NS Herring Federation, Human Health Risk Assessment (HHRA), Jamie Simpson, Kathy Cloutier, KSH Consulting, mercury, Mi’kmaq Conservation Group, Northern Pulp, Northern Pulp effluent, Northern Pulp environmental assessment, Nova Scotia Environment, oxygen delignification system, Paper Excellence Canada, Pictou Harbour, Pictou Landing, Pictou Landing First Nation (PLFN), Point D, Rachel Boomer, Terri Fraser, Toxikos

By Any Other Name: Nova Scotia’s Department of Lands and Forestry just made “Clearcuts” disappear

February 16, 2019 By Linda Pannozzo 2 Comments

Nova Scotians who signed up to receive proposed harvest plans on Crown land might have noticed some disturbing changes recently. As of a few days ago the maps no longer specify whether a proposed cut is a “clearcut” or not. The word was removed from the legend and the list of harvest prescription types. This […]

Filed Under: Commentary, Environment, Featured, Province House Tagged With: Bruce Nunn, Canadian Council of Forest Ministers, clearcut, Department of Lands and Forestry (DLF), Ecological Forestry of Southwest Nova, Ecology Action Centre, Forest Management Guide, Hardwood Hill, Harvest Plan Map Viewer (HPMV), Interim Retention Guide, Jamie Simpson, Krista Higdon, Minister Lloyd Hines, National Forestry Database (NFD), Premier Darrell Dexter, Ray Plourde, William Lahey

Department of Lands and Forestry employees are lobbying the government to delay cleanup of Boat Harbour

Morning File, Friday, January 25, 2019

January 25, 2019 By Tim Bousquet Leave a Comment

News 1. Scott Brison Writes Jennifer Henderson: “Being the President of the Treasury Board is a bit like peeing in a dark suit,” chuckles Scott Brison.“It gives you a warm feeling, but nobody notices.” Brison, the Liberal Member of Parliament for Kings-Hants, resigned his Cabinet post a couple of weeks ago and, after 22 years […]

Filed Under: Featured Tagged With: Boat Harbour, Boat Harbour Act, Bob Bancroft, Cheryl Rudderham, David Steeves, Department of Lands and Forestry (DLF), Derek Gilby, East Coast Environmental Law Association, Healthy Forest Coalition, Ian Gunn, Jamie Simpson, Jim Rudderham, Northern Pulp Mill effluent, Nova Scotia Forest Notes, Nova Scotia Forest Technicians Association (NSFTA), Rick Andrews, Soren Bondrup-Nielsen

Marlene Brown takes on corporate polluters

Frustrated with provincial inaction over contaminated wells in Harrietsfield, Brown is embarking on an unusual private prosecution of the companies responsible.

May 29, 2017 By Jennifer Henderson

The first citizen-led prosecution under Nova Scotia’s Environment Act will proceed in Provincial Court June 13. Judge Gregory Lenihan has ruled there are sufficient grounds to support charges brought by Harrietsfield resident Marlene Brown against two numbered companies and one individual who ran a construction salvage yard known as RDM Recycling since 2002. Brown has...

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Filed Under: Environment, Featured, Province House, Subscribers only Tagged With: Environment Act, Harrietsfield water, Jamie Simpson, Judge Gregory Lenihan, Marlene Brown, RDM Recycling, Roy Brown

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The Tideline, with Tara Thorne

Mo Kenney. Photo: Matt Williams

Episode #18 of The Tideline, with Tara Thorne is published.

Mo Kenney’s new record Covers is a perfect winter companion — songs from across the rock spectrum that she’s pared down to piano or guitar and turned them into sad ballads. She joins Tara to talk about choosing and arranging them, and opens up for a frank discussion of the alcohol dependency it took a pandemic for her to confront. Plus: Movies are back (again).

This episode is available today only for premium subscribers; to become a premium subscriber, click here, and join the select group of arts and entertainment supporters for just $5/month. Everyone else will have to wait until tomorrow to listen to it.

Please subscribe to The Tideline.

Uncover: Dead Wrong

In 1995, Brenda Way was brutally murdered behind a Dartmouth apartment building. In 1999, Glen Assoun was found guilty of the murder. He served 17 years in prison, but steadfastly maintained his innocence. In 2019, Glen Assoun was fully exonerated.

Halifax Examiner founder and investigative journalist Tim Bousquet has followed the story of Glen Assoun's wrongful conviction for over five years. Now, Bousquet tells that story as host of Season 7 of the CBC podcast series Uncover: Dead Wrong.

Click here to go to listen to the podcast, or search for CBC Uncover on Apple podcasts, Spotify, or any other podcast aggregator.

About the Halifax Examiner

Examiner folk The Halifax Examiner was founded by investigative reporter Tim Bousquet, and now includes a growing collection of writers, contributors, and staff. Left to right: Joan Baxter, Stephen Kimber, Linda Pannozzo, Erica Butler, Jennifer Henderson, Iris the Amazing, Tim Bousquet, Evelyn C. White, El Jones, Philip Moscovitch More about the Examiner.

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Recent posts

  • Nova Scotia’s COVID numbers are creeping upward, as likely community spread appears in two communities February 24, 2021
  • It’s official: New Scotland has a new premier February 24, 2021
  • Council approves rezoning for 17-storey apartment buildings in Clayton Park February 24, 2021
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  • 3 new cases of COVID-19 are announced in Nova Scotia on Tuesday, Feb. 23 February 23, 2021

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