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Atlantic Gold’s lobbying blitz

The company is now in court on charges of harming the environment, regulators are casting a wary eye at its plans for future environmental protection, and investors are getting worried, so Atlantic Gold has hired a lobbyist to fast track federal approval of its Nova Scotia projects.

February 5, 2021 By Joan Baxter

Last year it was a propaganda blitz. For several weeks in the spring of 2020, Atlantic Gold, which operates an open pit gold mine in Moose River in the Halifax Regional Municipality and wants to open three more along the Eastern Shore, bombarded people in Nova Scotia with its PR. Atlantic Gold’s owner, Australia’s St...

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Filed Under: Commentary, Environment, Featured, News, Province House, Subscribers only Tagged With: Aaron Beswick, Alex Barkley, Archibald Lake, Archibald Lake Wilderness Area, Atlantic Canada Opportunity Agency (ACOA), Atlantic Gold, Atlantic Mining NS, Beaver Dam, CBC, Chronicle Herald, Cochrane Hill gold mine, Craig Jetson, Credit Suisse, Darmouth Provincial Court, DDV Gold, Department of lands and Forestry, Dustin O’Leary, Eastern Shore, Environmental Impact Statement, Fifteen Mile Stream mine, Fisheries and Oceans Canada (DFO), Freedom of Information request, Friends of the St. Mary’s River, Goldman Sachs, Impact Assessment Agency of Canada, J.P. Morgan, Joel Bakan, John Perkins, Krista Gillis, lobbyist, Lobbyists Registration Act, Margaret Anne McHugh, Maryse Belanger, Mi'kmaq, Mining Association of Nova Scotia (MANS), Mitchell Glawson, Mogran Stanley, moose, Moose River, Moose River Consolidated Project, Narrative Research, NATIONAL Public Relations, Natural Resources Canada (NRCan), NOPE campaign, Nova Scotia Environment, Nova Scotia Premier Stephen McNeil, open pit gold mine, Ottawa, proposed Beaver Dam mine, protected wilderness areas, Sean Kirby, Sherbrooke, St Barbara Ltd, St. Mary's River, The Corporation, Tiéoulé Traoré, Touquoy mine, Tracy Barron, Wilderness Areas Protection Act

After reading a Halifax Examiner article, two cops showed up at an author reading at Mount Allison University

Joan Kuyek wrote a book about communities protecting themselves from mining companies, and so the RCMP sicced its Criminal Intelligence Section on her.

January 23, 2021 By Joan Baxter 2 Comments

It was an innocuous event, as most book launches are, but the Royal Canadian Mounted Police didn’t think so, and two officers in plain clothes showed up at Hart Hall at Mount Allison University, apparently concerned by what they read in this Halifax Examiner story and in three Facebook posts advertising the launch. It’s a […]

Filed Under: Featured, News Tagged With: Academic freedom, Access to Information Act, Access to Information and Privacy Branch, Atlantic Gold, Atlantic Gold and RCMP, book launch, Criminal Intelligence Section, Dave Thomas, Halifax, Hart Hall, Information Commissioner of Canada, Joan Kuyek, John Perkins, Lisa Croteau, Maryse Belanger, MiningWatch Canada, Mount Allison University, New Brunswick, RCMP, Royal Canadian Mounted Police, Sackville, Sherbrooke, Steven Dean, Tatamagouche, Terry Moser, Twitter, Unearthing Justice, Water Not Gold

Atlantic Gold is waging a propaganda blitz in Nova Scotia

March 25, 2020 By Joan Baxter 4 Comments

By now, many people in Nova Scotia will have seen the Atlantic Gold ads on television, read words of self-praise from the company in newspaper opinion pieces, or received Atlantic Gold flyers in their mailboxes. For the past month or so, Atlantic Gold has been blanketing the province with its propaganda. As the Halifax Examiner […]

Filed Under: Environment, Featured, Investigation, News, Province House Tagged With: Atlantic Gold, Bruce Hudgins, Darrell Dexter, Dustin O’Leary, Historic Mine Tailings Management Plan, historic mines tailings sites, John Perkins, John Wightman, Maryse Belanger, Michael Parsons, mine tailings, Moose River gold mine, Rachel Boomer, Ronald Hawkes, Spur Resources, St. Barbara Limited, Steven Dean, Teck Resources, Touquoy mine, Wally Bucknell

Joan Kuyek: Our job is to take our governments back from the mining interests

October 16, 2019 By Joan Baxter 2 Comments

Joan Kuyek, one of this country’s most distinguished community organizers and analysts of the mining industry, will be in Nova Scotia this weekend to promote her new book, Unearthing justice: how to protect your community from the mining industry. In 1999, Kuyek co-founded MiningWatch Canada, and was its national coordinator until 2009. She has taught […]

Filed Under: Environment, Featured Tagged With: arsenic trioxide, Atikameksheng Anishnawbek, Canadian Minerals and Metals Program, Environmental Racism, Giant Mine, gold mining, Joan Kuyek, John Perkins, Mining Association of Nova Scotia (MANS), mining in Canada, Mining Watch Canada, National Orphaned and Abandoned Mines Initiative (NOAMI), Nova Scotia Gold Show

Licensing bicycles won’t help

Morning File, Wednesday, August 14, 2019

August 14, 2019 By Philip Moscovitch 7 Comments

News 1. John Perkins sues “Sixty-eight-year-old John Perkins of Earltown is striking a blow for democracy after he says he was forcibly hauled out of a public meeting by an RCMP officer last May,” reports Jennifer Henderson: Perkins held a news conference in Halifax yesterday to explain why he is filing a lawsuit against Atlantic […]

Filed Under: Featured Tagged With: Alexa MacLean, Bee Wilson, bike licences, Canadian Women's Wellness Initiative, Consider the Fork, Councillor David Hendsbee, councillor Shawn Cleary, councillor Waye Mason, cycling, ExxonMobil, Helen Creighton, John Perkins, Mental Health Foundation of Nova Scotia, Pat Berman, Peter Kelly CAO Charlottetown, Richard Windsor, Transcendental Meditation, transit fares, Victoria Walton

Roughed up by the RCMP at a public meeting, John Perkins sues Atlantic Gold and the cops

August 13, 2019 By Jennifer Henderson 1 Comment

Sixty-eight-year-old John Perkins of Earltown is striking a blow for democracy after he says he was forcibly hauled out of a public meeting by an RCMP officer last May. Perkins held a news conference in Halifax yesterday to explain why he is filing a lawsuit against Atlantic Gold Corporation which hosted two information sessions on […]

Filed Under: Environment, Featured, News, Province House Tagged With: Atlantic Gold, Atlantic Gold information session, Brian Hebert, Cochrane Hill gold mine, Dustin O’Leary, East Coast Environmental Law Association (ECELAW), Ecology Action Centre (EAC), John Perkins, Justice Minister Mark Furey, Lisa Mitchell, Maryse Belanger, No Open Pit Excavation (NOPE), Police Act of Nova Scotia, Ray Plourde, RCMP Civilian Complaints Commissioner, RCMP officer Justin Greene, Scott Beaver, St. Barbara Limited, St. Mary’s River Association (SMRA), Steven Dean, Sustainable Northern Nova Scotia (SuNNS), Terry Moser

St. Barbara still intends to acquire Atlantic Gold

The violent arrest of John Perkins has put the critical spotlight on gold mining on the Eastern Shore, but for the mining companies, operating in low-regulation and low-royalty Nova Scotia is, well, a gold mine.

June 3, 2019 By Joan Baxter 2 Comments

St. Barbara Limited, the Australian gold mining company that recently announced it was acquiring Atlantic Gold in a $722 million dollar deal, seems to be unfazed by the RCMP’s violent arrest of a citizen last week at a public information session Atlantic Gold was hosting in Sherbrooke (covered by the Halifax Examiner here and here). […]

Filed Under: Environment, Featured, Investigation, News, Province House Tagged With: Andrew Bell, Atlantic Gold, Atlantic Gold and RCMP, Atlantic Gold information session, Ben Wilson, Bonnie Sutherland, David Brady, Ducks Unlimited Canada, Eastern Shore Forest Watch Association, Extractive Industries Transparency Measures Act (ESTMA), gold mining, John Perkins, Lee Millett, Lisa Croteau, Maryse Belanger, Mining Journal, Minister Jonathan Wilkinson, No Open Pit Excavation (NOPE), Nova Scotia Nature Trust, Paul Sobey, Pieridae Energy, Sobey family, St. Barbara Limited, Steven Dean, Sustainable Northern Nova Scotia (SuNNS), Tony Woodfine

Stephen McNeil held a scripted PR event and the compliant media played along

Morning File, Friday, May 31, 2019

May 31, 2019 By Tim Bousquet 8 Comments

News 1. Stephen McNeil to John Perkins: file a complaint “If you aren’t keen on police roughing you up and cuffing you at a pubic meeting, or corporations dialing up the Mounties to act as bouncers, then go file a complaint with one of two watchdogs that investigate actions by RCMP officers,” reports Jennifer Henderson. […]

Filed Under: Featured Tagged With: Avalon Sexual Assault Centre, China Canada photo op, Chinas Ambassador to Canada, Communications Nova Scotia, Icarus Report May 31 2019, John Perkins, Justice Minister Mark Furey, Keith Doucette, Lu Shaye, male sexual assault, ManTalk, New Start, Premier Stephen McNeil, Robert Wright, Sherri Borden Colley, Stephen Archibald and herms, Taryn Grant

McNeil government: if John Perkins doesn’t like being wrestled to the floor at a public meeting, he can file a complaint

May 31, 2019 By Jennifer Henderson 3 Comments

If you aren’t keen on police roughing you up and cuffing you at a pubic meeting, or corporations dialing up the Mounties to act as bouncers, then go file a complaint with one of two watchdogs that investigate actions by RCMP officers. That’s the identical response which Premier Stephen McNeil, Justice Minister Mark Furey, and […]

Filed Under: Featured, News, Province House Tagged With: Atlantic Gold and RCMP, Atlantic Gold public meeting, John Perkins, Justice Minister Mark Furey, Minister Derek Mombourquette, NDP leader Gary Burrill, Nova Scotia Premier Stephen McNeil, PC leader Tim Houston, Raymond Plourde, Serious Incident Response Team, Sustainable Northern Nova Scotia (SuNNS)

Justice Minister Mark Furey hasn’t seen the video of the RCMP arresting John Perkins at Atlantic Gold’s public meeting

May 30, 2019 By Tim Bousquet and Jennifer Henderson 7 Comments

This afternoon, reporter Jennifer Henderson was part of a post-cabinet meeting scrum involving Justice Minister Mark Furey. Henderson relates that Furey was asked about the video of events at a public meeting hosted by Atlantic Gold. The video, which was published by the Halifax Examiner, shows showing an RCMP officer throwing meeting participant John Perkins […]

Filed Under: Featured, News, Province House Tagged With: Atlantic Gold public meeting, John Perkins, Justice Minister Mark Furey, Raymond Plourde, RCMP, Terry Mosher

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The Tideline, with Tara Thorne

Phyllis Rising — Rebecca Falvey (left) and Meg Hubley. Photo submitted

Episode #19 of The Tideline, with Tara Thorne is published.

Meg Hubley and Rebecca Falvey met as theatre kids at Neptune and have been friends ever since. As Phyllis Rising — that’s right, Mary Tyler Moore hive — they’re making films, plays, and are in production on The Crevice, a three-part sitcom streaming live from the Bus Stop in March. They stop by to talk with Tara about its development, their shared love of classic SNL and 90s sitcoms, and the power of close friendship. Plus: A new song from a new band.

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

  • The new provincial rebate is just the first step to getting more electric vehicles on Nova Scotia roads March 3, 2021
  • The cops who shot up the Onslow Fire Hall committed no crime, rules SIRT March 3, 2021
  • Greenwashing the goldfields March 3, 2021
  • Here’s when you can expect to be vaccinated March 2, 2021
  • Public health on life support: underfunded and underappreciated March 2, 2021

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