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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

Port Wallace Gamble: the real estate boom meets Nova Scotia’s toxic mine legacy

Part 1: The making of a toxic mess and the uncalculated costs of previous gold rushes.

March 1, 2020 By Joan Baxter 4 Comments

This is Part 1 of a three-part story about the toxic legacy from historic gold mines in Nova Scotia, which its citizens will be paying many millions of dollars to try to clean up, and how the contamination at just one of these sites — Montague Mines in HRM — is still affecting lives today, […]

Filed Under: City Hall, Environment, Featured, Investigation, News, Province House Tagged With: Alexander Heatherington, arsenic from mining, Atlantic Gold, Barry's Run, Canadian Extractive Industries Transparency Measures Act (ESTMA), Clayton Developments, Cochrane Hill gold mine, Damas Touquoy, Department of Energy and Mines (DEM), Department of Lands and Forestry (DLF), Francis Paul, gold mining, gold mining pollution, Goldenville, James Paul, John Drage, John Hartlen, John Pulsiver, Kerry Rowe, Lake Charles, Lake Loon, Linda Campbell, Lisa Jarrett, mercury, Michael Parsons, mine tailings, Mining Association of Nova Scotia (MANS), Mitchell Brook, Montague Mines, Moose River gold mine, Nova Scotia Auditor General Michael Pickup, Nova Scotia Lands, Paul Paul, Raymond Plourde, Sir Humphrey Gilbert, St. Barbara Limited, Touquoy mine

Bad math at Lands & Forestry

An "arithmetic error" increased the cut for the WestFor timber companies by a whopping 28% — until the Halifax Examiner discovered the mistake.

November 21, 2019 By Jennifer Henderson 5 Comments

In what can only be described as a peculiar series of events, the Department of Lands and Forestry is cancelling the third year of an interim lease signed with WestFor Management Inc. WestFor represents 13 forestry companies which are allocated wood from Crown land in southwestern Nova Scotia previously managed by Bowater Mersey. Back in […]

Filed Under: Environment, Featured, Investigation, News, Province House Tagged With: Cassie Turple, clearcuts, Department of Lands and Forestry (DLF), Jon Porter, Ledwidge Lumber, Lisa Jarrett, Marcus Zwicker, WestFor

After the gold rush

Nova Scotia is ignoring the toxic legacy of past mining manias while rushing headlong into the next

June 25, 2019 By Joan Baxter 3 Comments

If learning from past mistakes were a government tradition in Nova Scotia, the current government would not be exhibiting all the symptoms of gold fever. But it is, and it looks like a raging bout of the affliction. In the past few years, it has amended legislation based on recommendations made by the industry’s cheerleader-in-chief, […]

Filed Under: Environment, Featured, Investigation, Province House Tagged With: 2012 Geological Survey of Canada, Adele Poirier, arsenic from mining, arsenic in well water, Arsenic Task Force, Atlantic Gold, Bruce Nunn, Christian West, Cooper Quinn, cyanide, Department of Energy and Mines, Donald James, Dustin O’Leary, Enfield, Gary Andrea, George O’Reilly, gold mining, gold rush, Gold Show, grants for mineral exploration, Historic Gold Mines Advisory Committee, historic mines tailings sites, IAMGOLD, Jacob Hanley, James Millard, John Wightman, Linda Campbell, Lisa Jarrett, Lori Blackburn, Magnum Resources, mercury, Mineral Resources Development Fund (MRDF), Mining Association of Nova Scotia (MANS), Mining Society of Nova Scotia, Montague Mines, Moose River gold mine, Osprey Gold, Perry MacKinnon, Prospectors and Developers Association Convention (PDAC), Prospectors Association of Nova Scotia, Rick Horne, Sean Kirby, St. Barbara Limited, tailings, tailings dams, Touquoy mine, Waverley

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

The $722 million deal

An Australian company is buying the Vancouver company that owns Nova Scotia’s largest gold mining operation; what’s in it for us?

May 17, 2019 By Joan Baxter 8 Comments

Here’s the deal. On Wednesday, May 14, an Australian gold mining company called St. Barbara Limited, with one gold mine in Australia and a second one in Papua New Guinea, agreed to pay $722 million for Atlantic Gold Corporation, which operates one open pit gold mine in Nova Scotia, has proposed three more along the […]

Filed Under: Environment, Featured, Investigation, News, Province House Tagged With: Acadian Mining Corporation, Anaconda Mining, Atlantic Gold Corporation, Atlantic Gold NL, Atlantic Mining NS Corp, Australia gold mining, Barrick Gold, Beaver Dam, Beedie Investments, Cochrane Hill, David Black, DDV Gold, Department of Energy and Mines (DEM), Dorotheé Rosen, Dustin O’Leary, Eastern Shore Forest Watch Association, Ecology Action Centre (EAC), Freedom of Information request, gold mining, Gwalia gold mine, Hannah Martin, Jamie Kneen, Joan Kuyek, JoAnn Alberstat, Jordan Nikoloyuk, Kevin Spencer, LionGold Corp Ltd, LionGold Mining Canada Inc, Lisa Jarrett, MegumaGold, Mining Association of Nova Scotia (MANS), MiningWatch Canada, Minister Lloyd Hines, Moose River, NOPE, Northern shield Resources, Osprey Gold, Papua New Guinea (PNG), Paul Collier, Raymond Plourde, Robert Atkinson, Robert Lang, Ryan Beedie, Scott Beaver, shell game, Simberi gold mine, SpinCo, Spur Ventures, St. Barbara Limited, St. Mary’s River Association, Stacey Gomez, Steven Dean, Sustainable Northern Nova Scotia (SuNNS), tailings, Tim Netscher, Touquoy mine, Transition Metals, Velocity Minerals

Truth Be Told: Nova Scotia’s forest department hires a PR firm with forest industry ties to help it with transparency

May 10, 2019 By Linda Pannozzo 5 Comments

Cover photo: recent drone shot of a clearcut located between Kejimkujik National Park and Lake Rossignol. Photo courtesy Jeff Purdy. The Nova Scotia Department of Lands and Forestry (DLF) recently hired DG Communications, a public relations firm, to assess the department’s progress in meeting the recommendations of William Lahey’s Independent Review of Forest Practices, specifically […]

Filed Under: Commentary, Environment, Featured, Investigation, Province House Tagged With: clearcut, clearcutting on Crown lands, DG Communications, Ecology Action Centre (EAC), Forest Nova Scotia, Forest Products Association of Nova Scotia, Harvest Plans Map Viewer (HPMV), Jeff Purdy, Keji, Kejimkujik National Park, Lahey report, Lake Rossignol, Lisa Jarrett, Mike Lancaster, Natural Resources Strategy, Northern Pulp, Nova Scotia Department of Lands and Forestry (DLF), Pam Davidson, Ray Plourde, St. Margaret’s Bay Stewardship Association

Forest Confidential

An investigation into Nova Scotia’s biomass harvest data and how the numbers aren’t adding up

April 13, 2019 By Linda Pannozzo 2 Comments

A few months ago I reviewed a film that has been circulating the province about the growing use of forest biomass as a form of so-called renewable energy. The film — Burned: Are Trees the New Coal? — reported on how the biomass industry sells itself as green by making two bogus claims: it uses […]

Filed Under: Environment, Featured, Investigation, Province House Tagged With: biomass, Bowarter Mersey mill, Brooklyn Power, Bruce Nunn, Cellufuel, Community Feed-in Tariff (COMFIT) Program, Danny George, David Rodenheiser, Department of Lands and Forestry (DLF), DRAX power station, Emera, energy wood, Enligna, forest bioenergy, forest harvest data, Forest Sustainability Regulations, Great Northern Timber (GNT), Halifax Port Authority, Hefler Forest Products, Jacques Lapointe, Jessica Gorton, Krista Higdon, Lane Farguson, Lisa Jarrett, Mary Booth, National Round Table on the Environment and the Economy, Nova Scotia Power, Nova Scotia Renewable Electricity Regulations, Partnership for Policy Integrity, PCC silicon metal production plant, Point Tupper, Port Hawkesbury paper (PHP), Premier Stephen McNeil, Registry of Buyers, Saving Iceland, Scotia Atlantic Biomass, Shaw Eastern Embers, Sustainable Biomass Program (SBP), Tony Mee, Utility and Review Board (UARB), WestFor consortium, woodchips

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

  • Nova Scotia will receive the AstraZeneca vaccine; 3 new cases of COVID-19 announced on Wednesday, March 3 March 3, 2021
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  • The cops who shot up the Onslow Fire Hall committed no crime, rules SIRT March 3, 2021
  • Greenwashing the goldfields March 3, 2021

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