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The French Connection

People in southern France are battling pollution at a paper mill owned by a corporate behemoth: Paper Excellence Canada, the owner of the Northern Pulp Mill in Nova Scotia

February 24, 2021 By Joan Baxter

They call their association the “Les Flamants Roses du Trébon” or LFRT (Flamingos of Trébon), and it’s a collective of residents in southern France who are fighting to have the six-decades-old Fibre Excellence Tarascon pulp mill in the province of Alpes-Côte d’Azur clean up its environmental act.  French media report that the mill is owned...

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Filed Under: Environment, Featured, Subscribers only Tagged With: A’se’K, Asia Pulp and Paper, bankruptcy, Boat Harbour, Bouches-du-Rhône, British Columbia, Catalyst Paper, Crofton, Darrell Dexter, Fibre Excellence Tarascon, Flamingos of Trébon, France, French President Emmanuel Macron, Haute-Garonne, insolvency, Jean-Francois Guillot, Les Flamants Roses du Trébon (LFRT), Michel Dufy, Nature Comminges, Northern Pulp, Paper Excellence, Paper Excellence B.V., Paper Excellence Canada, Pictou Landing First Nation, pollution, Port Alberni, Powell River, pulp mill, receivership, Saint-Guadens, Seveso, Sinar Mas, Stephen McNeil, Supreme Court of British Columbia, Tarascon, Tax Justice Network, Widjaja family

Lobster: the last, best fishery

Part 1: Stocks are healthy, but why?

November 25, 2020 By Joan Baxter and Linda Pannozzo 2 Comments

Lobster stocks in Atlantic Canada have been flourishing in recent years, ironically not just because of conservation measures, but also because of two ecological disasters — the collapse of groundfish stocks and climate change. But can the lobster fishery survive with current rates and rules for harvesting as waters continue to warm and ecosystems change? […]

Filed Under: Environment, Featured Tagged With: American Lobster Settlement Index, Bay of Fundy, berried lobsters, Browns Bank, Chris Milley, Christine Penney, Clearwater, climate change, cod, conservation measures, Darren Porter, Department of Fisheries and Oceans (DFO), groundfish, groundfish collapse, Gulf of Maine, Gulf of St. Lawrence, Guysborough County Inshore Fishermen's Association, LFA 34, LFA 40, lobster, lobster boom in Maine, lobster fishery, Lobster Fishing Area (LFA) 41, Lobster Institute, lobster stocks, Maliseet, Marshall, Marshall 2, Marshall Decision, Melanie Wiber, Membertou First Nation, Mi'maq, moderate livelihood fishery, molting, Netukulimk, offshore lobster fishery, PEI Fishermen's Association, Peskotomuhkati, Pictou Landing First Nation, Potoltek First Nation, Premium Brands, Ready Seafood, Rémy Rochette, Richard Wahle, Sipek’natik First Nation, St. Mary's Bay, Université Sainte-Anne, University of New Brunswick, UPEI, v-notching

Independent inshore lobster fishers fear the Clearwater purchase could decimate their livelihoods

November 16, 2020 By Joan Baxter 2 Comments

At a November 12 press conference, Sipekne’katik First Nation Chief Mike Sack announced that his Band was launching “hundreds” of lawsuits related to the way governments, some commercial fishers, and the RCMP reacted to its launch of its moderate livelihood fishery on September 17, the 21st anniversary of the landmark Marshall decision that affirmed Mi’kmaq […]

Filed Under: Environment, Featured, Investigation, News, Province House Tagged With: Acadia First Nation, Atlantic Institute for Market Studies (AIMS), Bernd Christmas, Chief Deborah Robinson, Chief Mike Sack, Chief Terry Paul, Clearwater convicted, Clearwater Seafoods Inc, Colin MacDonald, Department of Fisheries and Oceans (DFO), First Nations Finance Authority (FNFA), inshore fishery, John Risley, Keith Colwell, lobster, Membertou First Nation, Miawpukek First Nation, moderate livelihood fishery, Nova Scotia Seafood Alliance, owner operator, Paqtnkek First Nation, Paul Withers, Pictou Landing First Nation, Potlotek First Nation, Premium Brands, Ronald Pink, Sipekne'katik First Nation, Solidarity K’jipuktuk Halifax, We’koqma’q First Nation

Department of Environment slams Northern Pulp’s environmental assessment as “insufficient”

Paper Excellence Canada’s actions suggest maybe it never intended to operate Northern Pulp past 2020. 

April 24, 2019 By Jennifer Henderson 2 Comments

The Nova Scotia Department of Environment has listed nine pages worth of missing information from Northern Pulp’s Environmental Assessment of a new wastewater treatment system to replace the 50-year-old one at Boat Harbour next to the Pictou landing First Nation. The missing information is required to fulfil the “terms and conditions” of a focus report […]

Filed Under: Environment, Featured, News, Province House Tagged With: Boat Harbour, Department of Environment, Northern Pulp environmental assessment, Paper Excellence Canada, Pictou Landing First Nation

Boat Harbour cleanup to be subjected to environmental review

April 11, 2019 By Jennifer Henderson 1 Comment

The Canadian Environmental Assessment Agency announced yesterday it was launching an environmental assessment of the proposed cleanup of the Boat Harbour lagoons where tens of million of litres of daily effluent from the kraft pulp mill at Abercrombie Point have been stored, aerated, and released into the Northumberland Strait for 50 years. Tonnes of watery […]

Filed Under: Environment, Featured, News, Province House Tagged With: Abercrombie Point, Boat Harbour, Canadian Environmental Assessment Agency (CEAA), Caribou Harbour, Friends of the Northumberland Strait, John Hamm government, Minister Margaret Miller, Northern Pulp, Nova Scotia Department of Environment, Nova Scotia Lands Department, Pictou, Pictou Landing First Nation

Fixing freedom of information in NS (and jails), pulp mill politics, and plastics – all that, and more.

Morning File, Wednesday, January 16, 2019

January 16, 2019 By Joan Baxter 7 Comments

I’m Joan Baxter, filling in for Tim today. News 1. Freedom of Information in Nova Scotia – the failure and the fix As Tim wrote, yesterday Nova Scotia privacy commissioner Catherine Tully and auditor general Michael Pickup released their reports on the FOIPOP website security failure. Both painted damning pictures of how the government handled […]

Filed Under: City Hall, Commentary, Environment, Featured, News, Province House Tagged With: Auditor General Michael Pickup, Boat Harbour, Boat Harbour Act, Burnside jail, corporate welfare, forestry, Freedom of Information (FOI) website security failure, Information and Privacy Commissioner Catherine Tully, Lahey report, Minister Derek Mombourquette, Northern Pulp, NS Department of Energy and Mines, Pictou Landing First Nation, plastic bags, Premier Stephen McNeil, Public Accounts

Northern Pulp, Scotsburn Lumber, and U.S. tariffs

Morning File, Tuesday, January 8, 2019

January 8, 2019 By Tim Bousquet 9 Comments

News 1. Northern Pulp, Scotsburn Lumber, and U.S. tariffs Last month, Scotsburn Lumber sent out a letter encouraging “all our employers, contractors, business owners, forest landowners and associated suppliers to call or write a letter to your local or elected official” to express support for Northern Pulp Mill and its efforts to continue operating after […]

Filed Under: Featured Tagged With: Andreas Kammenos, Andy Thompson, Boat Harbour Act, Bruce Nunn, Chester Dewar, Chief Andrea Paul, Darla MacKeil, David Parker, Deborah Wadden, Donald Hume, Duff Montgomerie, former Premier John Hamm, G. Wayne Gosse, Joan Baxter, John Laroche, Larry Turner, Mark Baillie, Marla MacInnis, Neenah Paper Company, Northern Pulp, Northern Pulp history, Northern Pulp Mill effluent, Northern Pulp Scotsburn Lumber government money, Pedro Chang, Peter Boyles, Pictou County Municipal Council, Pictou Landing First Nation, Premier Stephen McNeil, Randy Palmer, Ronnie Baillie, Scotsburn Lumber history, Scott Standen, Shannon Kerr, Spring Garden Road redesign, taxi driver sexual assault, Tracey Ferguson, Transportation and Infrastructure Renewal (TIR), U.S. tariffs, Wayne Murray, Widjaja family, Yarmouth, Yarmouth aggravated assault, Zane Woodford, Zoltan van Heyningen

Moncton’s bid to host the Francophone Games is a disaster

Morning File, Friday, December 14, 2018

December 14, 2018 By Tim Bousquet 7 Comments

News 1. Secret police commission meeting Yesterday, the Police Commission received an update on the street checks report in secret. No legal justification for the secrecy was spelled out beyond “legal matters,” which isn’t actually in any of the governing regulations for holding secret meetings. But even more remarkably, the Commission’s debate about whether to […]

Filed Under: Featured Tagged With: Donald Savoie, Eric Mathieu Doucet, Francophone Games, Greg Turner, Gulf Nova Scotia Fleet Planning Board, Isabelle LeBlanc, Jacques Poitras, Jennifer Choi, Kate Walker, Kevin MacAdam, Mayor George LeBlanc, Moncton, Northern Pulp Working Group, Pictou Landing First Nation, Police Commission, the Maritime Fishermen's Union

Containing Northern Pulp’s mess

A half century of toxic waste in Boat Harbour, a leaky pipeline, and what happens next in the mill saga.

November 3, 2018 By Joan Baxter 8 Comments

The numbers are staggering. Over the past 51 years, the bleached kraft pulp mill on Abercrombie Point in Pictou County has piped about 1.25 trillion litres of toxic effluent into Boat Harbour.[1] That’s enough to fill about half a million Olympic-size swimming pools, or a pipeline one metre in diameter stretching about 1.6 million kilometres, […]

Filed Under: Environment, Featured, News Tagged With: Boat Harbour, Boat Harbour Act, Boat Harbour remediation project, Bruce Nunn, Chief Andrea Paul, Chief Dan Paul, Christine Skirth, Environment Minister Margaret Miller, GHD, Kathy Cloutier, Ken Swain, Mi’kmaq of Pictou Landing, Northern Pulp, Northern Pulp cleanup, Northern Pulp effluent leak, Nova Scotia Environment, Nova Scotia Lands, Pictou County, Pictou Landing First Nation, Rachel Boomer, Stephen McNeil, Sydney Tar Ponds, William Palmer

Battle for the Mill

The plan to pipe effluent from the Northern Pulp Mill into the Northumberland Strait is dividing the community of Pictou, pitting neighbour against neighbour and fishermen against mill workers.

March 20, 2018 By Joan Baxter 4 Comments

This is a follow-up to Linda Pannozzo’s investigative articles in The Halifax Examiner detailing the issues around Northern Pulp’s proposed effluent treatment and disposal system: Dirty Dealing Part 1: Northern Pulp mill and the province are set to roll the dice with Boat Harbour’s replacement, but a cleaner alternative exists; Dirty Dealing Part 2: Wading through the quagmire […]

Filed Under: Environment, Featured, Investigation, News, Province House Tagged With: Andrea Paul, Asia Pulp and Paper, Boat Harbour, Bruce Chapman, Bruce I. Fleming, Central Nova MP Sean Fraser, Cory Rankin, Deputy Environment Minister Frances Martin, Friends of the Northumberland Strait, Government House leader Alan McIsaac, Joan Baxter, Kathy Cloutier, MLA Colin LaVie, MLA Darlene Compton, MLA Karla MacFarlane, MLA Lenore Zann, MLA Peter Bevan-Baker, MLA Tim Houston, Nicole MacKenzie, Northern Pulp emissions, Paper Excellence Canada, Pictou Landing First Nation, Premier Wade MacLauchlan, Ron Heighton, Ryan Fleury, Sinar Mas Group, Terri Fraser

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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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