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[peaceful soundtrack playing]

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Downloaded from
YTS.MX

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[announcer]
<i>What kind of country is Canada?</i>

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Official YIFY movies site:
YTS.MX

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<i>That depends on the eyes you put on it.</i>

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[Ellen Page] <i>Nova Scotia:</i>
<i>Canada's ocean playground.</i>

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<i>I grew up in the capital city, Halifax.</i>

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<i>Drive less than an hour away</i>
<i>in any direction</i>

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<i>and you're on a scenic shoreline</i>
<i>without a worry in the world.</i>

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<i>In some ways,</i>
<i>Nova Scotia is the embodiment</i>

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<i>of what many view Canada to be.</i>

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<i>A sweet escape.</i>

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<i>As a child, this is the image</i>
<i>I had of the province.</i>

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<i>Connected to nature, open-hearted...</i>

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<i>and welcoming to all walks of life.</i>

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<i>After all,</i>
<i>Canada takes care of its people.</i>

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-[woman] Are you Canadian?
-[man laughs]

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[Ellen]
<i>We have universal healthcare.</i>

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<i>Marriage equality became a reality</i>
<i>14 years ago.</i>

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[cheering and applause]

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<i>And we're the second country</i>
<i>in the world to legalize weed.</i>

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-[laughing]
<i>-♪ Cannabis, cannabis ♪</i>

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[Ellen] <i>But when you look</i>
<i>beneath the surface,</i>

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<i>the picture-perfect image begins to crack.</i>

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[protesters chanting]
No way! No way! No way!

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[chanting continues]

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[Ellen] <i>Politicians promise one thing</i>
<i>and they do another...</i>

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<i>Our history of colonialism</i>
<i>continues today.</i>

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<i>And our chances to save the environment</i>
<i>are becoming slimmer every day,</i>

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<i>as corporate interests seem</i>
<i>more important to the government</i>

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<i>than public concerns.</i>

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<i>And the more I saw, the more</i>
<i>I couldn't help but use my platform</i>

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<i>to speak out.</i>

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Do you have any idea how we can get
the public and the media

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to pay more attention to what's
happening in global warming?

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I just want to say, too, people,
particularly the most marginalized people,

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and particularly people in the world
that had nothing to do with this,

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are the ones that are
suffering the most currently.

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Including in Canada.

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Including the environmental racism
that's happening in Canada,

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including the province I'm from.

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It's like, this <i>is</i>
something that's happening.

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And it's happening,
the most marginalized people,

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and we need to be talking about it.

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[Ingrid over speaker] Hello. Ingrid.

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-[woman] Hi, Ingrid.
-Hey, Ingrid.

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-[Ingrid] <i>Hi. I'll let you in.</i>
-[women laugh]

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Thank you.

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[Ellen] <i>I'm going to meet</i>
<i>with Professor Ingrid Waldron,</i>

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<i>who wrote the essential book</i>
<i>on environmental racism in Nova Scotia,</i>

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There's Something in the Water.

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[Ellen] Nice to see you.

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-Thank you for everything.
-Nice to meet you. Oh, no problem.

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I woke up one morning in my office
and I went to my Twitter.

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And I saw somebody new following me.
It said "Tiny Canadian."

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It didn't say "Ellen Page, actress,"
so I didn't think anything of it.

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And then I think I went back
a month later

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and my Twitter page had
all these comments.

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Like never before.

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And I was like, "What is going on?"

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And I realized it was you!

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And it was there that this journey began.

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Environmental racism is the condition,

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is the problem,

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of disproportionate exposure

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of indigenous communities,
black communities,

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other communities of color,
to environmental burdens,

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to pollutants and contaminants.

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But it's also about the slow response by
government, right?

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To address these issues.

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What we know is that where you live

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has bearing on your well-being.

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In Canada, your postal code
determines your health.

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So we know that certain communities

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are less healthy
because of where they live.

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Most African Nova Scotians live

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in historical African Nova Scotian
communities,

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which are rural communities,

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and many of them are near landfills.

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And we know indigenous communities
as well are the ones

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that tend to be disproportionately located
near to these hazardous sites.

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When you're living in out-of-the-way,
invisible communities

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that often lack a voice,

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that are invisible to government,

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um, then often your voice isn't heard.

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You have to look
at environmental racism

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within the context of the history
of Nova Scotia,

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within the context of colonialism
in Nova Scotia and Canada.

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There is a reluctance,
a hesitance in Canada,

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to name racism.

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Racism imbeds itself
into all of our social structures,

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and in Canada we tend
to steer clear of that.

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Racism and environmental racism

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have real impacts on the ground,

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with respect
to these particular communities.

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It has impacted black
and indigenous communities socially,

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economically, and politically.

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When you look at particular communities
as not being worthy...

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of having no humanity...

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of, uh, not being valuable,

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which is how we typically think
of non-white peoples...

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then it makes sense in many ways

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that you're not going to respond

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in the similar way as you would
with a white community

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because...

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these communities don't mean
anything to you, to individuals.

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So I think there's a detachment,

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as if you're not taking time
to meet communities

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and get a sense of their priorities.

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Their experiences, their challenges

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will never get written
into environmental policy.

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It requires that you listen
to these communities,

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and that's typically what's not happening.

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[Ellen] <i>If you look</i>
<i>at a map of Nova Scotia</i>

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<i>and you plot out the points where black</i>
<i>and indigenous communities are located,</i>

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<i>and then you mark where landfills</i>
<i>and toxic industries are placed,</i>

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<i>a disturbing connection becomes clear.</i>

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<i>I'm heading to a few of these communities</i>
<i>to hear how these environmental burdens</i>

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<i>impact people's lives.</i>

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<i>The first place I'm going</i>
<i>is the town of Shelburne,</i>

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<i>just about 20 minutes away</i>
<i>from where some of my family's from.</i>

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<i>Seen by many</i>
<i>as a lily-white coastal town...</i>

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<i>Shelburne County once had</i>
<i>the highest population</i>

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<i>of freed black people in North America...</i>

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<i>their descendants now living mostly</i>
<i>in the south end of Shelburne.</i>

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<i>But from the moment</i>
<i>they settled here 250 years ago,</i>

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<i>black citizens never received</i>
<i>the same treatment</i>

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<i>as their white counterparts.</i>

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<i>A reality that they still face today...</i>

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<i>as a dump that was placed</i>
<i>in the town in the 1940s</i>

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<i>continues to haunt residents</i>
<i>in South Shelburne</i>

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<i>years after it was closed.</i>

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<i>I'm going to speak with local activist</i>
<i>Louise Delisle to find out more.</i>

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[producer] Hey, you really like dogs.

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[Ellen] Hi, precious!

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-It's so nice out here.
-Yep.

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Yeah, it's beautiful here.

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You know my family is from Lockeport.

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-Yes, I heard that.
-Yeah.

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-So I've spent a lot of time...
-I know some peo--

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-Do you know Fred Page?
-...in Shelburne.

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-Fred? No.
-No.

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-I just know my dad was Dennis Page...
-From Lockeport.

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Dennis Page, Lorie Page.

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-I know Lorie Page.
-Yeah.

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[man] Oh, jeez.
Zach does that all the time:

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"My cousin, my cousin, my cousin."

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-Oh, Zach Page.
-Lorie. I know Lorie.

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-Oh, yeah.
-Yeah.

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-Yeah.
-Nice, nice!

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From the time that the black loyalists
landed here,

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we, like I said, we were indentured.

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When we got here,
we got here with a promise

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of something better

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for us, because we were slaves.

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A lot of people coming through
the Underground Railroad

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and people coming on ships
into the harbor,

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and we're descendants of those people,

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and I feel very, very honored

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that I am part
of that strong, strong family

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of black loyalists.

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In the early '40s,
they started to gather together.

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Well, you know how people are.

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They gather around their family
and whatever.

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And people started to build
their homes around each other.

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In the late '40s, uh...

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they decided they were gonna put...
it was called a dump.

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Where everything went.
Nothing was sorted.

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All the garbage from surrounding areas,

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Shelburne, and Shelburne municipality,
all went there.

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There was things like
garbage from the hospital.

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In other words, there would be
body parts, probably.

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Uh, there were things from the navy base,

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that we don't know what was dumped there.

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Things from the shipyards,
like paint and oil.

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There were old cars.

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There was food from stores,

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there were animals dumped there,

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like dead animals.

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There was anything and everything...

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was dumped on that dump.

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They had to get rid of it because
it was like a mountain of garbage.

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So they set it afire.

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And that would burn for days and days...

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on end, and the smell would be horrendous.

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And the smoke

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would cover you.

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You couldn't open your windows.

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I remember that, um...

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someone would say,
"Oh, the dump's afire."

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First thing, the seagulls
would start yelling really loud.

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And they would be gone.

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And then the smoke would be
just like a black cloud.

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And then the soot,
when it started to die down

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or it started to rain,
the soot would be all over everything.

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I remember getting up and going to school
in the morning

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and we'd be lucky if we got to school

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without, uh, smelling like

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we'd been in some kind of, uh...

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chemical warfare.

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And then get to school

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and then have the teacher say,

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uh...

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"Did you wash this morning?"

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Was horrible.

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We have been drinking water

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from brooks

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and wells that are in this community

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for generations.

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Who knows when that dump
has leached into our wells?

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Who knows?

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When you're talking about, uh...

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how environmental racism
has affected this community,

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it has... it's killing us.

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We didn't put that there.

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Our families didn't ask for that.

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And now we're reaping
the fallout from that

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by losing the ones we love.

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They're gone.

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Like, you know, there's so much
cancer in our community,

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and people will say,
"Oh, there's cancer everywhere."

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But in this area,

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we have one of the highest rates
of multiple myeloma.

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People dying from it in this area.

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Why?

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It's from the dump.

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My mother is there.
That's her sitting there.

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And this is where... in our yard.

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But that's me with my braids.

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-Cute.
-[Louise laughs]

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Where were you in the seven?

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-Were you...
-[Louise] The oldest.

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That's my brother Robert.

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Robert here. Right here.
That's the one that...

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Him and... who passed away with cancer.

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And that's my sister Babe,
who has multiple myeloma.

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And my youngest brother, Frank.

238
00:13:17,756 --> 00:13:18,882
That's us.

239
00:13:18,966 --> 00:13:24,847
That's my uncle
who just passed away recently with cancer.

240
00:13:24,930 --> 00:13:27,933
Two years ago, he passed away.

241
00:13:28,016 --> 00:13:31,228
After my father passed away to cancer,

242
00:13:31,311 --> 00:13:35,607
he sort of stepped up and was
the father figure.

243
00:13:35,691 --> 00:13:37,109
But they're gone.

244
00:13:45,242 --> 00:13:46,410
I don't wanna...

245
00:13:47,202 --> 00:13:50,122
I don't wanna say things
that hurts anybody,

246
00:13:50,205 --> 00:13:51,999
but I try to tell the truth.

247
00:13:52,082 --> 00:13:54,001
That's, that's the thing, right?

248
00:13:54,626 --> 00:13:58,505
It's hard sometimes, especially
when you're talking about racism

249
00:13:58,589 --> 00:14:00,465
and discrimination.

250
00:14:03,677 --> 00:14:05,220
Couple of roosters. [chuckles]

251
00:14:06,680 --> 00:14:10,642
The black community actually starts here.

252
00:14:12,060 --> 00:14:16,064
These people, we did a well test here.

253
00:14:16,148 --> 00:14:19,526
And these people had, um...

254
00:14:20,027 --> 00:14:22,779
high levels of arsenic in their water.

255
00:14:23,363 --> 00:14:27,159
This community, this community
is a small community.

256
00:14:27,242 --> 00:14:30,120
This family lost members

257
00:14:31,079 --> 00:14:33,290
of, uh... for cancer.

258
00:14:33,373 --> 00:14:37,836
This man is diagnosed
and probably won't live much longer.

259
00:14:37,920 --> 00:14:41,548
He, uh, he has, uh, lung cancer.

260
00:14:41,632 --> 00:14:43,258
Man that lives here.

261
00:14:44,218 --> 00:14:45,969
Very nice people there.

262
00:14:46,053 --> 00:14:47,930
Should have took you in
and introduced you to them,

263
00:14:48,013 --> 00:14:51,808
but I didn't let them know
we were coming, so better not.

264
00:14:51,892 --> 00:14:53,227
[laughs]

265
00:14:59,149 --> 00:15:01,151
These people's well is contaminated.

266
00:15:02,236 --> 00:15:03,904
Can't drink their water.

267
00:15:06,448 --> 00:15:08,242
This lady's husband died of cancer.

268
00:15:08,325 --> 00:15:10,452
She lives alone there.

269
00:15:10,536 --> 00:15:12,871
This lady's husband died of cancer.

270
00:15:13,455 --> 00:15:15,666
He, uh... But she moved on.

271
00:15:15,749 --> 00:15:18,669
Found somebody else.
A very nice man from Newfoundland.

272
00:15:19,711 --> 00:15:22,089
All the family that lived in this house

273
00:15:22,673 --> 00:15:24,007
died of cancer.

274
00:15:24,091 --> 00:15:27,135
This is now... now belongs
to somebody else

275
00:15:27,219 --> 00:15:31,682
who moved in the community
and is trying to fix it up, live in it.

276
00:15:31,765 --> 00:15:34,434
But everybody that lived
in that house died of cancer.

277
00:15:37,813 --> 00:15:40,774
This lady's husband died of cancer.

278
00:15:40,858 --> 00:15:43,694
She's quite sick now herself with cancer.

279
00:15:44,570 --> 00:15:48,282
The man that built this house,
him and his wife died of cancer.

280
00:15:48,991 --> 00:15:52,119
Their daughter lives in Birchtown now.

281
00:15:52,202 --> 00:15:54,955
She had cancer, survived cancer.

282
00:15:56,331 --> 00:15:57,541
But, uh...

283
00:15:58,750 --> 00:16:02,337
the sons, the other two sons,
died of cancer.

284
00:16:05,465 --> 00:16:06,508
Yeah.

285
00:16:08,302 --> 00:16:09,469
Not good.

286
00:16:13,432 --> 00:16:15,767
This... this house here...

287
00:16:15,851 --> 00:16:17,895
is the closest house

288
00:16:19,062 --> 00:16:20,522
to the dump.

289
00:16:20,606 --> 00:16:22,191
This young woman

290
00:16:22,274 --> 00:16:24,318
had to move back home here

291
00:16:24,985 --> 00:16:26,486
and live here.

292
00:16:27,654 --> 00:16:30,949
Her mother died of cancer.
Her father died of cancer.

293
00:16:31,700 --> 00:16:35,787
And she's back there now.
She has five kids living in that house.

294
00:16:35,871 --> 00:16:38,165
She has no place else to live.

295
00:16:38,248 --> 00:16:40,042
So she has to move back into there.

296
00:16:44,254 --> 00:16:46,798
And you can, just through those trees,

297
00:16:46,882 --> 00:16:49,259
is where the foot of that dump was.

298
00:16:50,177 --> 00:16:51,720
It's not very far.

299
00:16:53,472 --> 00:16:55,849
Yeah. We used to play in those woods.

300
00:16:58,143 --> 00:16:59,186
Yeah.

301
00:17:00,771 --> 00:17:01,855
Not good.

302
00:17:03,524 --> 00:17:05,859
Ellen, do you want to get out
and walk up?

303
00:17:05,943 --> 00:17:07,736
[Ellen]
Can we walk up to the dump?

304
00:17:07,819 --> 00:17:11,532
We'll... Well, there's a sign
that says "no trespassing."

305
00:17:11,615 --> 00:17:13,659
But I know how to get in there.

306
00:17:16,245 --> 00:17:18,372
This is Mr. Clyke.

307
00:17:18,455 --> 00:17:20,582
Mr. Clyke is very eccentric.

308
00:17:21,542 --> 00:17:23,418
And Mr. Clyke is now diagnosed--

309
00:17:23,502 --> 00:17:28,173
He's probably the oldest black man,
I think, in the community.

310
00:17:28,924 --> 00:17:30,926
I don't know if he's home or not.

311
00:17:35,222 --> 00:17:36,306
Huh?

312
00:17:36,390 --> 00:17:38,892
[man speaking in the distance]

313
00:17:38,976 --> 00:17:40,519
What are you doing?

314
00:17:40,602 --> 00:17:42,312
This is Mr. Clyke.

315
00:17:42,396 --> 00:17:43,772
This is Ian.

316
00:17:43,856 --> 00:17:45,023
Ian what?

317
00:17:45,107 --> 00:17:46,525
Ian, I don't know what...

318
00:17:47,526 --> 00:17:48,569
[Ian] Daniel.

319
00:17:48,652 --> 00:17:50,696
-Daniel.
-Ian Daniel.

320
00:17:50,779 --> 00:17:52,364
Look at all these cameras.

321
00:17:52,447 --> 00:17:53,657
[Louise laughs]

322
00:17:53,740 --> 00:17:55,075
Here, man, look at me.

323
00:17:55,158 --> 00:17:56,368
-[Louise laughs]
-You look great.

324
00:17:56,451 --> 00:17:58,078
-I'm Ellen.
-What?

325
00:17:58,161 --> 00:18:00,330
-My name's Ellen.
-Ellen. Ellen what?

326
00:18:00,414 --> 00:18:02,040
-Page.
-Page.

327
00:18:02,624 --> 00:18:04,751
Ellen's coming and talking about
the dump.

328
00:18:04,835 --> 00:18:06,336
Oh...

329
00:18:06,420 --> 00:18:08,046
Yeah, and we were talking.

330
00:18:08,130 --> 00:18:10,632
We were talking about, uh...

331
00:18:11,508 --> 00:18:15,721
how the smoke and the soot
and the ash and all that stuff...

332
00:18:15,804 --> 00:18:17,264
and what we wanna get.

333
00:18:17,347 --> 00:18:18,307
Yeah.

334
00:18:18,390 --> 00:18:21,977
[Louise] Because everybody's gone.
'Cause you're the oldest one left now.

335
00:18:22,060 --> 00:18:23,687
-Oh, I think so.
-[Louise] Yeah.

336
00:18:23,770 --> 00:18:25,522
The oldest man, aren't you?

337
00:18:25,606 --> 00:18:29,234
Yeah, because Wally Davis is about 70.

338
00:18:29,318 --> 00:18:31,904
Wallace, yeah. Wallace is...

339
00:18:31,987 --> 00:18:33,697
He's treatin' fast.

340
00:18:33,780 --> 00:18:37,826
Wallace is getting treated again
for lung cancer, yeah.

341
00:18:37,910 --> 00:18:40,120
And I go this week.

342
00:18:40,204 --> 00:18:41,663
You go this week?

343
00:18:41,747 --> 00:18:42,873
Next Friday.

344
00:18:42,956 --> 00:18:45,083
Next Friday.
You go to see how you're doing.

345
00:18:45,167 --> 00:18:46,210
-Yeah.
-Yes.

346
00:18:46,293 --> 00:18:49,004
I get rechecked.
I go once a year.

347
00:18:49,087 --> 00:18:53,300
Yeah. Do you think the dump had anything
to do with your cancer?

348
00:18:53,383 --> 00:18:54,468
Who knows?

349
00:18:54,551 --> 00:18:56,178
Who knows, yeah?

350
00:18:56,261 --> 00:18:57,429
For sure?

351
00:18:58,972 --> 00:19:00,682
'Cause the whole neighborhood's got it.

352
00:19:00,766 --> 00:19:02,434
-Yeah.
-Yeah.

353
00:19:03,268 --> 00:19:05,437
[Louise] All the men
are gone, aren't they?

354
00:19:05,521 --> 00:19:10,067
There's Frank and Selden and Ed,
and your friend Ed,

355
00:19:10,150 --> 00:19:11,235
is all gone, aren't they?

356
00:19:11,318 --> 00:19:15,113
-[Mr. Clyke] And Berne and Shirley.
-And Berne and Shirley, yeah.

357
00:19:15,697 --> 00:19:18,325
So we're just gonna go over here
and we're gonna walk around.

358
00:19:18,408 --> 00:19:20,369
We're going to sneak along the fence.

359
00:19:20,452 --> 00:19:22,162
Oh, yeah, there's a path right there.

360
00:19:22,246 --> 00:19:24,164
Yes, we'll go along the path.

361
00:19:41,890 --> 00:19:43,892
I hope that... I hope that...

362
00:19:44,935 --> 00:19:49,022
if anybody gets anything from this...

363
00:19:50,524 --> 00:19:52,234
I hope...

364
00:19:52,317 --> 00:19:58,323
environmentally, I hope that people learn
how to use stuff.

365
00:19:59,783 --> 00:20:01,577
That way there's no dump.

366
00:20:02,160 --> 00:20:03,662
I... Wouldn't it be nice

367
00:20:03,745 --> 00:20:05,539
if we could find a way to...

368
00:20:05,622 --> 00:20:10,711
everything that we need,
that we need, can be...

369
00:20:11,461 --> 00:20:14,464
used again and again and again
and again?

370
00:20:16,091 --> 00:20:17,467
How nice would that be?

371
00:20:18,552 --> 00:20:20,429
So we would never have this issue,

372
00:20:20,512 --> 00:20:25,058
of people dying of things
that we've consumed and...

373
00:20:27,895 --> 00:20:29,354
set afire.

374
00:20:33,817 --> 00:20:36,904
[Ellen] <i>The dump was</i>
<i>permanently closed in 2016.</i>

375
00:20:38,238 --> 00:20:40,032
<i>When you walk around it today,</i>

376
00:20:40,115 --> 00:20:42,534
<i>if it wasn't for scattered remains</i>
<i>lying around,</i>

377
00:20:43,118 --> 00:20:45,454
<i>you may not know it had ever been a dump.</i>

378
00:20:46,455 --> 00:20:49,124
<i>The concern now</i>
<i>is what's buried in the ground</i>

379
00:20:49,208 --> 00:20:52,920
<i>and what impact that might have</i>
<i>on the water and soil nearby.</i>

380
00:21:01,094 --> 00:21:04,973
[Ellen] I imagine, too, it's just like
daunting all the time

381
00:21:05,057 --> 00:21:06,975
when you're just like,
"Is it in my water?

382
00:21:07,059 --> 00:21:08,810
Has it reached the water?"

383
00:21:08,894 --> 00:21:13,690
Thank God, now,
the water testing that we've done

384
00:21:14,191 --> 00:21:16,777
and talking, going into people's houses.

385
00:21:16,860 --> 00:21:19,905
I've been going to everybody's house
and talking about,

386
00:21:19,988 --> 00:21:21,406
"You gotta get your well tested.

387
00:21:21,490 --> 00:21:23,867
I'm here, I've got a team of people,
let's do it."

388
00:21:24,576 --> 00:21:28,580
And people are becoming
conscious of that now

389
00:21:28,664 --> 00:21:30,916
because they've got that water test back

390
00:21:30,999 --> 00:21:32,876
that says there's something in my water.

391
00:21:32,960 --> 00:21:36,004
Whether they say it's not
from the dump or whether--

392
00:21:36,088 --> 00:21:38,215
we know it's our water
that's making you--

393
00:21:38,298 --> 00:21:43,554
When you have coliform and E. coli
in your well,

394
00:21:43,637 --> 00:21:48,183
that you use in your home to cook with,
to feed your children

395
00:21:48,267 --> 00:21:51,728
and your husband or...
and to brush your teeth with

396
00:21:51,812 --> 00:21:55,732
and to bath with and whatever,
you know.

397
00:21:56,525 --> 00:21:59,820
And when you find out that there's
something wrong with your water,

398
00:21:59,903 --> 00:22:01,738
well, it's your life.

399
00:22:01,822 --> 00:22:03,282
That's your life.

400
00:22:03,365 --> 00:22:04,533
Your whole life.

401
00:22:05,784 --> 00:22:10,163
You know, it's our God-given right...
to clean water.

402
00:22:10,247 --> 00:22:11,498
[Ellen] You shouldn't have
to fight for this.

403
00:22:11,582 --> 00:22:13,458
We shouldn't have to fight for this.

404
00:22:13,542 --> 00:22:16,461
We should--
And the people that we vote for

405
00:22:16,962 --> 00:22:21,133
in this community should be
fighting side by side with us

406
00:22:21,216 --> 00:22:22,759
for clean water.

407
00:22:22,843 --> 00:22:24,511
But wake up.

408
00:22:24,595 --> 00:22:27,764
They're not even... it's not an issue.

409
00:22:28,265 --> 00:22:31,101
Doesn't seem to be an issue
'cause it's not affecting them.

410
00:22:31,185 --> 00:22:36,023
Because they have what they call
clean, potable water

411
00:22:36,106 --> 00:22:39,234
because they have town water.

412
00:22:39,860 --> 00:22:41,028
We don't even have that.

413
00:22:41,111 --> 00:22:43,322
We don't have that option.

414
00:22:43,405 --> 00:22:45,282
We don't even have the option of saying,

415
00:22:45,365 --> 00:22:47,951
"Okay, well, I'm not going to use
this well anymore

416
00:22:48,035 --> 00:22:50,120
because it's contaminated,

417
00:22:50,204 --> 00:22:52,497
so I'll just hook up to town water."

418
00:22:52,581 --> 00:22:53,707
We don't have that option.

419
00:22:53,790 --> 00:22:56,960
They have-- They find it not feasible

420
00:22:57,044 --> 00:22:59,963
to put in pipes
so we can have clean water.

421
00:23:02,716 --> 00:23:08,597
Why are we any less in this community

422
00:23:09,681 --> 00:23:12,142
than the people in that community?

423
00:23:18,190 --> 00:23:21,443
[Ellen] <i>For the past few years,</i>
<i>Louise has been speaking out,</i>

424
00:23:21,527 --> 00:23:25,030
<i>pushing the government to pass</i>
<i>an environmental bill of rights</i>

425
00:23:25,113 --> 00:23:28,492
<i>that would guarantee a healthy environment</i>
<i>for every resident,</i>

426
00:23:28,575 --> 00:23:31,495
<i>especially</i>
<i>historically marginalized people.</i>

427
00:23:32,204 --> 00:23:36,083
<i>But the response from local politicians</i>
<i>has been upsetting.</i>

428
00:23:37,626 --> 00:23:42,631
So racism has carried on
and it's still here.

429
00:23:42,714 --> 00:23:46,552
And if we don't talk about it,
identify it,

430
00:23:46,635 --> 00:23:49,096
it's never, ever gonna stop.

431
00:23:49,179 --> 00:23:51,181
And my speaking out about it

432
00:23:51,265 --> 00:23:55,269
has separated me from some members
in my community,

433
00:23:55,352 --> 00:23:58,522
because they don't want to talk about it.

434
00:23:59,231 --> 00:24:01,066
[Ellen]
You mentioned the mayor.

435
00:24:01,149 --> 00:24:03,694
-Oh.
-[Ellen] Okay, there's my answer.

436
00:24:03,777 --> 00:24:04,987
[both laugh]

437
00:24:05,070 --> 00:24:05,904
-Oh, the mayor.
-[Ellen] I was gonna say,

438
00:24:05,988 --> 00:24:07,739
what is your mayor doing?

439
00:24:08,532 --> 00:24:12,619
[Louise] The mayor doesn't think
that I have the right to speak.

440
00:24:12,703 --> 00:24:14,037
[Ellen] How come?

441
00:24:14,746 --> 00:24:16,665
Because she...

442
00:24:16,748 --> 00:24:19,126
She actually has told me that, you know,

443
00:24:19,209 --> 00:24:23,005
"The community doesn't want you
to talk about this.

444
00:24:23,797 --> 00:24:25,090
The community doesn't care."

445
00:24:26,008 --> 00:24:27,551
But I'm sorry.

446
00:24:28,802 --> 00:24:29,845
I'm gonna say it.

447
00:24:32,556 --> 00:24:34,016
It's...

448
00:24:34,099 --> 00:24:37,811
It's my God-given right to tell you

449
00:24:37,895 --> 00:24:42,983
that you are destroying my family,
my community,

450
00:24:43,066 --> 00:24:45,068
and it's been destroyed
because you decided

451
00:24:45,152 --> 00:24:47,654
to dump your garbage in my backyard.

452
00:24:49,323 --> 00:24:50,199
Sorry.

453
00:24:50,741 --> 00:24:52,409
But that's how it is.

454
00:24:52,492 --> 00:24:56,663
You either help us or you're against us,
one or the other, right?

455
00:25:00,709 --> 00:25:03,587
When election time comes,

456
00:25:03,670 --> 00:25:07,841
they come into this community
and they promise you the moon.

457
00:25:07,925 --> 00:25:09,676
"Oh, we're gonna do this,
we're gonna do that,

458
00:25:09,760 --> 00:25:11,595
we're gonna do this for you,
we're gonna do that for you,"

459
00:25:11,678 --> 00:25:13,138
and people trust.

460
00:25:13,222 --> 00:25:14,932
My people trust people.

461
00:25:15,641 --> 00:25:18,602
And they vote for these people,
and these people just...

462
00:25:19,102 --> 00:25:20,020
[scoffs]

463
00:25:21,563 --> 00:25:24,525
And if you can't take care
of your neighbor...

464
00:25:26,068 --> 00:25:29,530
or the people around you, or your family,

465
00:25:29,613 --> 00:25:32,533
what good are you to anyone?

466
00:25:33,200 --> 00:25:36,119
Like, why are you here?

467
00:25:36,620 --> 00:25:40,123
If you don't care
about your brothers or your sisters

468
00:25:40,207 --> 00:25:41,708
or whoever...

469
00:25:42,668 --> 00:25:44,503
why bother?

470
00:25:44,586 --> 00:25:47,506
Like, you know?
What do you get up for every day?

471
00:25:48,173 --> 00:25:50,634
Yourself? It must be awful lonesome.

472
00:25:51,134 --> 00:25:53,136
If that's what they're living for.

473
00:25:53,720 --> 00:25:54,721
Right?

474
00:25:56,265 --> 00:26:00,811
The love for people needs to come first.

475
00:26:00,894 --> 00:26:04,606
We have to be there for each other.

476
00:26:04,690 --> 00:26:06,441
We only go one way.

477
00:26:07,860 --> 00:26:09,570
And if we don't do it right
the first time,

478
00:26:09,653 --> 00:26:12,364
we don't get another chance
to do it again.

479
00:26:13,448 --> 00:26:17,911
So, if it means making sure

480
00:26:17,995 --> 00:26:22,916
that my neighbor is healthy,
in some way,

481
00:26:23,000 --> 00:26:26,253
and if it's just one little thing
that I can do to ensure that,

482
00:26:26,336 --> 00:26:27,754
then I'm going to do it.

483
00:26:33,218 --> 00:26:34,845
[Ellen] <i>Installing a community well</i>

484
00:26:34,928 --> 00:26:37,514
<i>to provide clean drinking water</i>
<i>at a location</i>

485
00:26:37,598 --> 00:26:42,227
<i>that Louise is proposing would cost</i>
<i>approximately $10,000.</i>

486
00:26:43,437 --> 00:26:47,232
<i>This year alone</i>
<i>the town budgeted $35,000</i>

487
00:26:47,316 --> 00:26:49,735
<i>for their annual Founder's Day Festival.</i>

488
00:27:10,464 --> 00:27:12,341
<i>Just three hours north of here,</i>

489
00:27:12,424 --> 00:27:14,676
<i>the community</i>
<i>of Pictou Landing First Nation</i>

490
00:27:14,760 --> 00:27:18,764
<i>is also confronting a toxic legacy</i>
<i>of government neglect.</i>

491
00:27:21,016 --> 00:27:23,435
<i>The current fight of</i>
<i>the Mi'kmaq people here</i>

492
00:27:23,519 --> 00:27:25,854
<i>is reflective of a long line of struggles</i>

493
00:27:25,938 --> 00:27:28,357
<i>between indigenous communities</i>
<i>and the government</i>

494
00:27:28,440 --> 00:27:32,236
<i>since the colonization</i>
<i>of present-day Canada began.</i>

495
00:27:33,487 --> 00:27:37,908
<i>Genocide, assaults from federal agents,</i>
<i>and Catholic residential schools</i>

496
00:27:37,991 --> 00:27:39,326
<i>have stripped the Mi'kmaq</i>

497
00:27:39,409 --> 00:27:42,496
<i>of much of the land and culture</i>
<i>they once knew.</i>

498
00:27:43,914 --> 00:27:46,875
<i>Today, they're also dealing</i>
<i>with an environmental disaster</i>

499
00:27:46,959 --> 00:27:50,754
<i>which has been plaguing</i>
<i>their community for over 50 years.</i>

500
00:27:56,593 --> 00:27:57,636
[bird calling]

501
00:27:57,719 --> 00:27:59,304
[announcer 2] <i>Boat Harbour, Nova Scotia.</i>

502
00:27:59,388 --> 00:28:02,766
<i>Thousands of fish</i>
<i>gasping for breath and dying.</i>

503
00:28:02,850 --> 00:28:07,479
<i>Most people who saw these pictures</i>
<i>on the news were disgusted, indignant.</i>

504
00:28:07,563 --> 00:28:08,772
<i>How could it happen?</i>

505
00:28:10,023 --> 00:28:13,944
<i>But these pictures are just the latest</i>
<i>in a long history of pollution here.</i>

506
00:28:16,780 --> 00:28:18,448
-[gasps]
-Oh, hello!

507
00:28:18,532 --> 00:28:20,868
-It's so nice to meet you.
-Nice to meet you, too.

508
00:28:20,951 --> 00:28:22,786
-Come on in.
-Yeah, sorry about that.

509
00:28:22,870 --> 00:28:26,623
GPS just... The next thing you knew,
I was getting it stuck in the mud.

510
00:28:26,707 --> 00:28:30,627
I kind of knew that it was the back road.
I was like, "road closed." Hmm.

511
00:28:30,711 --> 00:28:32,254
[laughing] Yeah.

512
00:28:37,551 --> 00:28:40,512
[Michelle] Pre-pollution,
what we now know as Boat Harbour

513
00:28:40,596 --> 00:28:42,264
was called A'Se'K.

514
00:28:42,347 --> 00:28:44,474
A'Se'K means "the other room."

515
00:28:44,558 --> 00:28:48,729
It was the place that
our community members ran to

516
00:28:48,812 --> 00:28:51,023
when the Indian agents used to come

517
00:28:51,106 --> 00:28:52,649
to collect kids.

518
00:28:52,733 --> 00:28:55,360
They used to run to A'Se'K.

519
00:28:55,444 --> 00:29:01,074
So A'Se'K... and one of our elders
says it so eloquently, at one time

520
00:29:01,158 --> 00:29:03,535
was like a parent to them.

521
00:29:03,619 --> 00:29:06,205
Um... they protected them.

522
00:29:06,288 --> 00:29:08,540
They fed them when they were hungry.

523
00:29:08,624 --> 00:29:11,627
You know, they kept shelter,
you know, and when...

524
00:29:12,503 --> 00:29:15,797
the mill came along in 1965

525
00:29:15,881 --> 00:29:20,719
and started their very intentful plan
to, uh...

526
00:29:20,802 --> 00:29:22,930
infiltrate our land,

527
00:29:23,013 --> 00:29:24,973
um, and our A'Se'K...

528
00:29:26,558 --> 00:29:29,937
uh... all that was taken away.

529
00:29:30,020 --> 00:29:31,313
All that was taken away.

530
00:29:31,396 --> 00:29:33,857
[announcer 2] <i>In 1965,</i>
<i>the Scott Paper Company</i>

531
00:29:33,941 --> 00:29:36,818
<i>wanted to build</i>
<i>a pulp-and-paper mill in Nova Scotia.</i>

532
00:29:37,528 --> 00:29:39,905
<i>They knew exactly where</i>
<i>they wanted to go.</i>

533
00:29:39,988 --> 00:29:41,865
<i>The town of Pictou.</i>

534
00:29:41,949 --> 00:29:43,784
[indistinct speech]

535
00:29:43,867 --> 00:29:45,869
<i>It was their consultant, Dr. John Bates,</i>

536
00:29:45,953 --> 00:29:48,664
<i>who had selected the site</i>
<i>a few years earlier.</i>

537
00:29:48,747 --> 00:29:49,915
<i>This is what he proposed,</i>

538
00:29:50,624 --> 00:29:53,335
<i>that Scott Paper build a kraft pulp mill.</i>

539
00:29:54,169 --> 00:29:57,881
<i>The waste for the mill would be piped</i>
<i>under Pictou Harbour</i>

540
00:29:57,965 --> 00:30:00,843
<i>and dumped into Boat Harbour.</i>

541
00:30:02,094 --> 00:30:06,265
<i>Eventually, the industrial waste</i>
<i>would make its way into the ocean.</i>

542
00:30:07,641 --> 00:30:09,101
<i>By the time this was proposed,</i>

543
00:30:09,184 --> 00:30:12,062
<i>Dr. Bates was no longer</i>
<i>a consultant for Scott.</i>

544
00:30:12,938 --> 00:30:16,358
<i>He had become the head</i>
<i>of the Nova Scotia Water Authority.</i>

545
00:30:16,942 --> 00:30:19,403
<i>Everything was in place</i>
<i>for a very lucrative deal</i>

546
00:30:19,486 --> 00:30:22,364
<i>between Scott Paper</i>
<i>and the province of Nova Scotia.</i>

547
00:30:23,866 --> 00:30:26,493
<i>The government agreed to look after</i>
<i>the waste from the mill</i>

548
00:30:26,577 --> 00:30:29,204
<i>and began buying up land in the area.</i>

549
00:30:30,247 --> 00:30:34,751
<i>The only problem was the Indians</i>
<i>who lived on the edge of Boat Harbour.</i>

550
00:30:35,627 --> 00:30:38,881
[Michelle] The Water Authority
had approached my grandfather,

551
00:30:38,964 --> 00:30:42,885
who was chief at the time,
and, uh, the council,

552
00:30:42,968 --> 00:30:46,763
and said, "Yeah, well, you know,
we wanna bring this mill here.

553
00:30:46,847 --> 00:30:48,807
Um, yeah, don't worry about it.

554
00:30:48,891 --> 00:30:51,393
Everything's gonna be great.
It'll be a fresh-water lake.

555
00:30:51,476 --> 00:30:54,021
It's not gonna impact,
you know, anything."

556
00:30:54,104 --> 00:30:57,900
There was documented concerns
about the impact on the environment,

557
00:30:57,983 --> 00:31:01,737
the impact on their fisheries,
so they were raising the concerns

558
00:31:01,820 --> 00:31:04,823
as our leadership, you know,
have done for decades.

559
00:31:04,907 --> 00:31:08,827
So once they found out that we were
worried about these things,

560
00:31:08,911 --> 00:31:11,371
"Oh, we'll just, you know,
we'll take them on a trip."

561
00:31:11,455 --> 00:31:13,790
They went and they took my grandfather

562
00:31:13,874 --> 00:31:17,878
and another councillor, Martin Sapier,

563
00:31:17,961 --> 00:31:21,089
to, uh, a place in, uh...

564
00:31:21,673 --> 00:31:22,716
New Brunswick,

565
00:31:22,799 --> 00:31:25,886
which wasn't even a treatment facility

566
00:31:25,969 --> 00:31:27,763
similar to the one
that they were building.

567
00:31:28,347 --> 00:31:29,973
Mr. Wigglesworth come down,

568
00:31:30,057 --> 00:31:33,644
took us up St. John's, or Lancaster,

569
00:31:33,727 --> 00:31:35,562
or whatever you wanna call it,
a pulp mill up there.

570
00:31:36,522 --> 00:31:42,694
And he showed us that there was
no discolor in the water, no odor.

571
00:31:42,778 --> 00:31:44,571
[reporter] He showed you there was
no discolor in the water.

572
00:31:44,655 --> 00:31:45,697
Discolor in the water.

573
00:31:45,781 --> 00:31:48,909
There's no odor or anything coming out
of that pulp mill.

574
00:31:49,993 --> 00:31:52,579
[announcer 2] <i>The smoke here</i>
<i>is from the pulp mill in St. John.</i>

575
00:31:53,205 --> 00:31:55,332
<i>But the Indians were never taken there.</i>

576
00:31:55,415 --> 00:31:58,210
<i>All they were shown</i>
<i>was a water treatment plant</i>

577
00:31:58,293 --> 00:32:01,296
<i>for domestic sewage a few miles away.</i>

578
00:32:05,384 --> 00:32:08,762
That was, you know, a facade in itself.

579
00:32:08,846 --> 00:32:11,849
Um, and, you know,
spewed some lies to them,

580
00:32:11,932 --> 00:32:15,227
you know, made them, you know,
try and understand

581
00:32:15,310 --> 00:32:16,687
that, "It's not gonna impact this.

582
00:32:16,770 --> 00:32:18,564
It's gonna be a lake.

583
00:32:18,647 --> 00:32:20,816
You're still gonna be able to enjoy it,
recreation,

584
00:32:20,899 --> 00:32:23,277
you're still gonna be able
to do the things, you know,

585
00:32:23,360 --> 00:32:26,071
that you want to do."

586
00:32:26,154 --> 00:32:27,698
And there were conditions.

587
00:32:27,781 --> 00:32:30,200
There were conditions in the agreement
that were totally ignored.

588
00:32:30,284 --> 00:32:33,829
You know, they wanted to,
they wanted to know...

589
00:32:34,872 --> 00:32:37,624
um, for sure, you know,
what's the impacts,

590
00:32:37,708 --> 00:32:39,543
and that was never followed through with.

591
00:32:39,626 --> 00:32:41,336
The only thing that
was followed through with

592
00:32:41,420 --> 00:32:44,256
was, uh, $60,000.

593
00:32:44,339 --> 00:32:48,093
You know, $60,000 back then
to an oppressed community

594
00:32:48,177 --> 00:32:50,095
that, you know, had been suffering

595
00:32:50,179 --> 00:32:54,266
under the impacts of, you know,
residential school and... and...

596
00:32:54,349 --> 00:32:55,392
It was a lot.

597
00:32:55,475 --> 00:32:57,978
I can just imagine what was going through
my grandfather's mind.

598
00:32:58,061 --> 00:32:59,938
"I'm doing so--
like, oh, my God.

599
00:33:00,022 --> 00:33:02,691
The environment isn't gonna be impacted.

600
00:33:02,774 --> 00:33:05,194
You know, I feel for the county.

601
00:33:05,277 --> 00:33:06,987
I feel for, you know, I'm helping.

602
00:33:07,070 --> 00:33:08,947
Nothing bad is gonna come out of this."

603
00:33:10,240 --> 00:33:13,076
My grandfather,
right there in New Brunswick,

604
00:33:13,160 --> 00:33:14,620
along with Martin Sapier,

605
00:33:14,703 --> 00:33:16,246
signed on a piece of paper.

606
00:33:17,748 --> 00:33:20,584
A piece of paper.
Right then and there, they had him.

607
00:33:24,421 --> 00:33:27,424
[announcer 2] <i>The Indians had signed away</i>
<i>their rights to Boat Harbour,</i>

608
00:33:28,008 --> 00:33:30,469
<i>for about $65,000.</i>

609
00:33:36,558 --> 00:33:39,436
<i>Two years later,</i>
<i>the plant was in operation.</i>

610
00:33:42,940 --> 00:33:45,567
<i>And the waste started flowing</i>
<i>into Boat Harbour.</i>

611
00:33:46,818 --> 00:33:48,529
They killed every fish out there,

612
00:33:48,612 --> 00:33:51,365
over the next day up there,
all along the shore.

613
00:33:51,448 --> 00:33:54,868
Dead fish, [indistinct] seals,
and everything all around.

614
00:33:56,119 --> 00:33:58,497
They killed them right away, overnight.

615
00:34:00,582 --> 00:34:03,085
[reporter] That was within a week
of the plant start-up.

616
00:34:03,168 --> 00:34:05,712
[man] That's about three, four days
after it started.

617
00:34:05,796 --> 00:34:07,923
Yeah. Killed everything with it.

618
00:34:15,848 --> 00:34:20,269
And just to think about the grief he felt

619
00:34:20,352 --> 00:34:24,314
when he realized
that Boat Harbour was dead.

620
00:34:25,858 --> 00:34:28,777
He died, you know, thinking that

621
00:34:28,861 --> 00:34:30,153
it was his fault.

622
00:34:34,157 --> 00:34:37,244
And then he passes that down
to, you know...

623
00:34:37,327 --> 00:34:41,957
that sense of guilt down to, you know,
his kids and the family

624
00:34:42,040 --> 00:34:44,918
and how did they cope,
you know, when...

625
00:34:45,002 --> 00:34:46,295
Then you have...

626
00:34:46,837 --> 00:34:50,549
[sighs]
It's just a cycle that needs to be broken.

627
00:34:51,216 --> 00:34:54,011
What would life be like for my family...

628
00:34:54,678 --> 00:34:56,388
if Boat Harbour didn't happen?

629
00:34:58,932 --> 00:35:02,102
My grandfather and my grandmother
had 13 kids.

630
00:35:06,148 --> 00:35:08,400
My grandfather passing away
at a very, you know,

631
00:35:08,483 --> 00:35:10,402
very young, late 40s.

632
00:35:10,485 --> 00:35:11,862
Um...

633
00:35:11,945 --> 00:35:15,365
Right now, to this day,
my mother is still living, and my aunt.

634
00:35:17,159 --> 00:35:19,661
All others have been lost to cancer.

635
00:35:20,537 --> 00:35:21,872
To suicide.

636
00:35:24,666 --> 00:35:26,543
You know, alcoholism and drugs.

637
00:35:26,627 --> 00:35:28,879
You know, took a driver's seat.

638
00:35:29,838 --> 00:35:33,383
So I often wonder...
if this didn't happen,

639
00:35:33,467 --> 00:35:35,260
would we have had a chance...

640
00:35:38,514 --> 00:35:40,057
to live in a way...

641
00:35:43,060 --> 00:35:45,145
where we could grow old together?

642
00:35:53,779 --> 00:35:59,743
I'll be taking you guys out
to see the Effluent Treatment Facility...

643
00:36:00,953 --> 00:36:03,705
uh, over at Simpson's Lane.

644
00:36:03,789 --> 00:36:05,791
Just not far from our community.

645
00:36:07,000 --> 00:36:09,837
This is the entrance
to the treatment facility

646
00:36:09,920 --> 00:36:13,340
that's been here since 1967.

647
00:36:21,014 --> 00:36:25,185
This is what is directly coming
out of the mill.

648
00:36:26,520 --> 00:36:28,689
Raw, untreated effluent.

649
00:36:31,358 --> 00:36:34,987
That used to dump directly
into, onto our land.

650
00:36:35,070 --> 00:36:37,489
There was no, like,
treatment system for it,

651
00:36:37,573 --> 00:36:39,449
so the pipe just used to dump.

652
00:36:43,996 --> 00:36:46,623
I get so sad coming down here.

653
00:37:06,685 --> 00:37:08,437
That's what our community smells like.

654
00:37:08,520 --> 00:37:11,148
Sometimes you go into
our community buildings and our homes

655
00:37:11,231 --> 00:37:14,985
and you feel that,
like it just sticks to the walls.

656
00:37:23,118 --> 00:37:24,870
These are the aerators.

657
00:37:24,953 --> 00:37:28,957
They're supposedly giving oxygen
to the water, which is fairly sad,

658
00:37:29,041 --> 00:37:32,878
but, uh, back in the day when they said
that it would have no impact...

659
00:37:33,879 --> 00:37:35,380
this is what we're left with.

660
00:37:39,551 --> 00:37:43,597
Uh, all this is boiling over
into our community,

661
00:37:43,680 --> 00:37:45,516
so not only are we suffering,

662
00:37:45,599 --> 00:37:48,352
knowing that, you know,
this exists to our water,

663
00:37:48,435 --> 00:37:50,312
look at our air as well.

664
00:37:52,022 --> 00:37:53,649
And, uh... yeah.

665
00:37:53,732 --> 00:37:55,192
It's...

666
00:37:55,275 --> 00:37:56,485
It's sad.

667
00:37:59,279 --> 00:38:01,073
[Ian]
Do you worry about your own health?

668
00:38:05,410 --> 00:38:07,246
It's so funny that you mention that,

669
00:38:07,329 --> 00:38:10,582
because, uh, just knowing, you know,
where I came from

670
00:38:10,666 --> 00:38:13,377
and, you know, the family
that's gone before me,

671
00:38:13,460 --> 00:38:15,254
I've never expected to live long.

672
00:38:15,337 --> 00:38:17,673
I'll be 41, you know, next week.

673
00:38:19,925 --> 00:38:21,677
And...

674
00:38:21,760 --> 00:38:24,721
knowing that, you know,
everybody passed away so young...

675
00:38:25,806 --> 00:38:28,475
uh, I'd always felt that,

676
00:38:28,559 --> 00:38:31,728
you know, I wasn't gonna get
a chance to grow old.

677
00:38:32,563 --> 00:38:34,273
And sometimes I think that way.

678
00:38:37,401 --> 00:38:40,779
Grief... and I say that word a lot,

679
00:38:40,863 --> 00:38:43,282
because I don't know how else
to describe it...

680
00:38:45,158 --> 00:38:46,577
takes many forms.

681
00:38:46,660 --> 00:38:48,829
It's... It's, you know...

682
00:38:48,912 --> 00:38:50,581
How do you cope with this?

683
00:38:53,083 --> 00:38:54,960
How would <i>you </i>cope with this?

684
00:38:59,882 --> 00:39:01,466
[reporter] Was that a concern of yours,

685
00:39:01,550 --> 00:39:03,594
that the lagoon was so close

686
00:39:03,677 --> 00:39:06,221
to the Indian reserve?

687
00:39:08,682 --> 00:39:12,186
Well, it wasn't doing them any harm.

688
00:39:14,104 --> 00:39:18,150
They weren't in the water,
they weren't living in the water.

689
00:39:19,568 --> 00:39:21,695
They were living in sight of the water.

690
00:39:23,614 --> 00:39:25,699
And, uh, so what?

691
00:39:28,702 --> 00:39:31,371
[Michelle] So these are some
of the community members that we've lost

692
00:39:31,455 --> 00:39:33,957
since the opening of the mill.

693
00:39:35,501 --> 00:39:36,627
Yeah.

694
00:39:36,710 --> 00:39:39,004
And, yeah, you can clearly see that...

695
00:39:40,047 --> 00:39:44,176
They die young, they die young. Yeah.
No, it's true.

696
00:39:44,885 --> 00:39:46,762
I don't like to count the dead.

697
00:39:46,845 --> 00:39:47,888
We had a lot.

698
00:39:47,971 --> 00:39:50,057
We have a lot of people
that should be here.

699
00:39:50,140 --> 00:39:51,600
[laughs] They should be here.

700
00:39:51,683 --> 00:39:53,560
They should be fighting alongside us.

701
00:39:53,644 --> 00:39:56,647
They should be seeing the end to...

702
00:39:57,856 --> 00:39:59,900
the water, the pollution.

703
00:39:59,983 --> 00:40:01,652
They should be, but they're not.

704
00:40:01,735 --> 00:40:04,571
So we wanted to try and commemorate that,

705
00:40:04,655 --> 00:40:06,073
where, you know, they're gonna be here.

706
00:40:06,156 --> 00:40:07,824
They see what's happening.
They see what we're doing.

707
00:40:07,908 --> 00:40:08,951
They're going to be proud of us.

708
00:40:09,952 --> 00:40:14,164
This just reminds me, it just reminds me,
you know, why I'm doing what I'm doing,

709
00:40:14,248 --> 00:40:15,791
because...

710
00:40:16,375 --> 00:40:17,376
[sighs]

711
00:40:19,461 --> 00:40:20,504
Enough is enough.

712
00:40:22,214 --> 00:40:26,802
[Ellen] <i>In 2014, tensions came to a head</i>
<i>when the mill's pipe broke,</i>

713
00:40:26,885 --> 00:40:31,765
<i>spilling 47 million liters of toxic</i>
<i>untreated effluent into the area...</i>

714
00:40:32,349 --> 00:40:35,519
<i>on land known</i>
<i>to be Mi'kmaq burial grounds.</i>

715
00:40:37,855 --> 00:40:41,233
<i>The government had pledged</i>
<i>to close Boat Harbour several times</i>

716
00:40:41,316 --> 00:40:42,776
<i>but never kept their word.</i>

717
00:40:43,360 --> 00:40:46,113
<i>This time, Michelle and her community</i>
<i>sprung into action</i>

718
00:40:46,196 --> 00:40:47,865
<i>and created a blockade,</i>

719
00:40:47,948 --> 00:40:51,535
<i>vowing not to leave</i>
<i>until Boat Harbour was closed,</i>

720
00:40:51,618 --> 00:40:55,414
<i>forcing the provincial government</i>
<i>to finally step up.</i>

721
00:40:56,582 --> 00:40:59,376
[Michelle] Since, you know, June 2014,

722
00:40:59,459 --> 00:41:01,753
it was, you know, highly in the media,

723
00:41:01,837 --> 00:41:03,922
of our peaceful protest

724
00:41:04,006 --> 00:41:05,632
during the effluent break

725
00:41:05,716 --> 00:41:07,509
from the pipeline.

726
00:41:07,593 --> 00:41:09,261
We were on the front lines.

727
00:41:09,344 --> 00:41:10,637
Just fed up.

728
00:41:10,721 --> 00:41:13,765
Just fed up that, you know,
this keeps happening,

729
00:41:13,849 --> 00:41:16,393
this effluent, you know,
that's been a burden since,

730
00:41:16,476 --> 00:41:20,105
you know, for five decades,
is continuing to harm us.

731
00:41:20,731 --> 00:41:22,024
We were going back and forth.

732
00:41:22,107 --> 00:41:25,277
Our leadership was, you know,
we're meeting with government

733
00:41:25,360 --> 00:41:28,405
quite frequently
and trying to figure out a resolve

734
00:41:28,488 --> 00:41:30,324
to what was happening.

735
00:41:30,407 --> 00:41:32,910
We met in our gymnasium,
our community gymnasium,

736
00:41:32,993 --> 00:41:35,287
and leadership would come back
and say, "Okay,

737
00:41:35,370 --> 00:41:37,664
well, we've had discussions
with the government

738
00:41:37,748 --> 00:41:38,916
and this is what they say,"

739
00:41:38,999 --> 00:41:41,168
and, of course, we don't trust,
you know.

740
00:41:41,251 --> 00:41:44,379
This is rule number one, is,
the trust has been broken,

741
00:41:44,463 --> 00:41:45,756
through several governments,

742
00:41:45,839 --> 00:41:49,092
and, you know, through several,
several broken promises

743
00:41:49,176 --> 00:41:51,261
throughout, you know,
the decades and decades.

744
00:41:51,345 --> 00:41:52,804
So, that was the biggest thing.

745
00:41:52,888 --> 00:41:56,767
That was the height of us trying
to figure out,

746
00:41:56,850 --> 00:41:59,019
is what they're saying, is it the truth?

747
00:41:59,102 --> 00:42:02,397
We were fortunate
to come to an agreement,

748
00:42:02,481 --> 00:42:06,318
an agreement that we weren't
totally happy with, um...

749
00:42:06,401 --> 00:42:09,947
that they were finally going
to acknowledge the devastation

750
00:42:10,030 --> 00:42:12,491
and they were going to propose
a closure date

751
00:42:12,574 --> 00:42:14,868
of the Boat Harbour
Effluent Treatment Facility.

752
00:42:15,661 --> 00:42:19,623
So the date they proposed
wasn't the date that we wanted.

753
00:42:19,706 --> 00:42:21,208
Um...

754
00:42:21,917 --> 00:42:23,043
We were hoping sooner.

755
00:42:23,126 --> 00:42:24,169
[laughs]

756
00:42:24,253 --> 00:42:27,089
The date they gave us
was January 31st, 2020.

757
00:42:27,172 --> 00:42:30,926
Um... We thought long,
we thought hard about that.

758
00:42:31,009 --> 00:42:32,803
Um...

759
00:42:32,886 --> 00:42:35,514
But we compromised.

760
00:42:37,850 --> 00:42:41,895
[Ellen] <i>To be clear, the compromise made</i>
<i>was not to shut down the mill,</i>

761
00:42:41,979 --> 00:42:44,064
<i>but the Boat Harbour Effluent Facility,</i>

762
00:42:44,147 --> 00:42:46,775
<i>which had harmed</i>
<i>the community for decades.</i>

763
00:42:48,402 --> 00:42:51,989
<i>The government of Nova Scotia</i>
<i>passed the Boat Harbour Act,</i>

764
00:42:52,072 --> 00:42:56,034
<i>a law that orders</i>
<i>that by January 31st, 2020,</i>

765
00:42:56,118 --> 00:42:57,536
<i>using the Boat Harbour facility</i>

766
00:42:57,619 --> 00:43:02,165
<i>"for the reception and treatment</i>
<i>of effluent from the Mill must cease..."</i>

767
00:43:02,875 --> 00:43:04,960
<i>allowing time for two things:</i>

768
00:43:05,043 --> 00:43:07,713
<i>to plan and build</i>
<i>a new wastewater treatment plant</i>

769
00:43:07,796 --> 00:43:09,798
<i>and to plan the cleanup of Boat Harbour.</i>

770
00:43:11,258 --> 00:43:15,387
<i>Northern Pulp was given five years</i>
<i>to come up with an alternative plan.</i>

771
00:43:15,971 --> 00:43:18,932
<i>But four years later,</i>
<i>the best plan they could propose</i>

772
00:43:19,016 --> 00:43:20,434
<i>was to build a new pipeline</i>

773
00:43:20,517 --> 00:43:21,977
<i>that would dump the effluent</i>

774
00:43:22,060 --> 00:43:23,812
<i>into the Northumberland Strait,</i>

775
00:43:23,896 --> 00:43:25,689
<i>right next to Pictou Landing...</i>

776
00:43:26,565 --> 00:43:30,861
<i>lucrative fishing grounds for both</i>
<i>the native and non-native community,</i>

777
00:43:30,944 --> 00:43:33,488
<i>a plan that created public outrage.</i>

778
00:43:37,868 --> 00:43:39,828
Yeah, we wanna be happy.

779
00:43:39,912 --> 00:43:42,122
We wanna celebrate the closure
of something.

780
00:43:42,206 --> 00:43:43,248
We wanna start healing.

781
00:43:43,332 --> 00:43:47,544
We want to do all those things
that we feel that...

782
00:43:47,628 --> 00:43:49,254
we should have been able to do.

783
00:43:49,338 --> 00:43:52,591
And, how can we celebrate that
knowing that they're proposing

784
00:43:52,674 --> 00:43:56,011
a new pipeline or a new treatment plant

785
00:43:56,094 --> 00:43:59,056
that just takes it from our backyard
and puts it in our front yard?

786
00:43:59,139 --> 00:44:01,683
But what really bothers me
is that they say,

787
00:44:01,767 --> 00:44:04,436
"treated effluent, treated effluent,
treated effluent."

788
00:44:04,520 --> 00:44:07,356
We've been impacted
by this treated effluent

789
00:44:07,439 --> 00:44:09,149
for more than five decades.

790
00:44:10,526 --> 00:44:14,655
Like, we shouldn't
have to continue to fight.

791
00:44:14,738 --> 00:44:17,407
We shouldn't have to be out there

792
00:44:17,491 --> 00:44:20,869
saying, "What the fuck is wrong with you?

793
00:44:20,953 --> 00:44:23,622
Why are you proposing to put that there?"

794
00:44:23,705 --> 00:44:27,626
Like, why is the government
okay with that?

795
00:44:28,168 --> 00:44:32,714
After knowing full well of the devastation
that we've been through.

796
00:44:32,798 --> 00:44:33,966
Our history.

797
00:44:35,968 --> 00:44:39,471
We're...
We're never gonna be free of it.

798
00:44:42,391 --> 00:44:46,603
[Ellen] <i>In early 2019,</i>
<i>the Pictou community came together</i>

799
00:44:46,687 --> 00:44:50,899
<i>to keep public awareness focused</i>
<i>on the planned 2020 closure date.</i>

800
00:44:50,983 --> 00:44:53,193
[reporter] <i>The room was filled</i>
<i>with optimism</i>

801
00:44:53,277 --> 00:44:56,864
<i>as the Pictou Landing First Nations</i>
<i>kicked off their one-year countdown</i>

802
00:44:56,947 --> 00:44:59,408
<i>to the Boat Harbour</i>
<i>Treatment Facility closure.</i>

803
00:44:59,491 --> 00:45:02,244
Together, we want a clean environment.

804
00:45:02,327 --> 00:45:07,040
Together, we want to make things right,
and that's what this is all about.

805
00:45:07,124 --> 00:45:12,004
This date means so much
to not just Pictou Landing First Nation,

806
00:45:12,087 --> 00:45:13,922
but it means a lot to everybody.

807
00:45:14,006 --> 00:45:17,968
"I want my kids to already be able
to swim and fish in Boat Harbour

808
00:45:18,051 --> 00:45:19,344
at my current age.

809
00:45:19,428 --> 00:45:21,847
So then they have the childhood
that I didn't."

810
00:45:22,431 --> 00:45:25,726
[Ellen] <i>At the very same time</i>
<i>the community was celebrating,</i>

811
00:45:25,809 --> 00:45:29,021
<i>Northern Pulp decided</i>
<i>to have their own gathering.</i>

812
00:45:29,104 --> 00:45:31,607
<i>Without an alternative</i>
<i>treatment plan in place</i>

813
00:45:31,690 --> 00:45:34,193
<i>and hoping to avoid</i>
<i>a full mill shutdown,</i>

814
00:45:34,943 --> 00:45:39,156
<i>they asked for an extension</i>
<i>to keep the Boat Harbour facility open.</i>

815
00:45:39,239 --> 00:45:42,242
We all have the same goal

816
00:45:42,326 --> 00:45:46,997
and that is to see Boat Harbour
return to its natural state.

817
00:45:47,080 --> 00:45:52,711
We simply need a bit more time
to ensure the time and due diligence

818
00:45:52,794 --> 00:45:54,588
to carry out each phase,

819
00:45:54,671 --> 00:45:57,007
from environmental assessment

820
00:45:57,090 --> 00:46:01,220
to construction, and finally commissioning
of this new facility.

821
00:46:02,846 --> 00:46:05,265
Well, today was meant to be a celebration,

822
00:46:05,349 --> 00:46:07,643
just an hour before the event kicked off,

823
00:46:07,726 --> 00:46:11,396
Northern Pulp Mill made an announcement
that they would be requiring an extension

824
00:46:11,480 --> 00:46:13,941
to shut down the Boat Harbour facility.

825
00:46:14,024 --> 00:46:17,778
Chief Andrea Paul says the timing
of that announcement is disappointing

826
00:46:17,861 --> 00:46:20,364
and says an extension
would be unacceptable.

827
00:46:20,447 --> 00:46:22,574
They knew by 2015,

828
00:46:22,658 --> 00:46:26,995
and had they taken that time
to be proactive

829
00:46:27,079 --> 00:46:30,040
instead of reactive to the news,

830
00:46:30,123 --> 00:46:34,336
they would have been further ahead
in what they wanted to accomplish.

831
00:46:34,920 --> 00:46:39,007
[Ellen] <i>And then, Stephen McNeil,</i>
<i>the premier of Nova Scotia,</i>

832
00:46:39,091 --> 00:46:42,261
<i>and the first head of government</i>
<i>to be firm on a closure date,</i>

833
00:46:42,344 --> 00:46:45,138
<i>now also seemed to be bending.</i>

834
00:46:45,222 --> 00:46:48,225
We gave them five years,
and I've been very clear about that,

835
00:46:48,308 --> 00:46:51,353
that on January 31st, 2020,
is our deadline.

836
00:46:51,436 --> 00:46:54,314
I've also said, to the community
and to this company,

837
00:46:54,398 --> 00:46:56,441
if you can come together and find a path

838
00:46:56,525 --> 00:46:59,361
that you can find
and land on an extension,

839
00:46:59,444 --> 00:47:00,904
then I would consider that.

840
00:47:01,488 --> 00:47:03,657
Instead of manning up and to say,

841
00:47:03,740 --> 00:47:09,079
"No, A'Se'K's government created
a legislation to close January 31st, 2020,

842
00:47:09,162 --> 00:47:11,206
and we're going to stick by that,"

843
00:47:11,290 --> 00:47:12,583
they chose to...

844
00:47:13,959 --> 00:47:15,669
use us as a scapegoat.

845
00:47:16,295 --> 00:47:20,799
"Okay, well, you know, we could maybe,
if Pictou Landing agrees..."

846
00:47:20,883 --> 00:47:22,759
I thought that was very unfair.

847
00:47:22,843 --> 00:47:24,428
That was very unfair to us.

848
00:47:25,304 --> 00:47:28,682
If it was true, a true relationship...

849
00:47:29,224 --> 00:47:31,143
like they like to boast about,

850
00:47:31,226 --> 00:47:33,937
they would have said,
"January 31st, 2020.

851
00:47:34,021 --> 00:47:36,231
We created the legislation,
we're gonna stick with it,

852
00:47:36,315 --> 00:47:37,566
that's it, the end."

853
00:47:37,649 --> 00:47:39,026
But they didn't.

854
00:47:39,735 --> 00:47:42,613
I just want so desperately
to believe in something,

855
00:47:42,696 --> 00:47:43,739
and...

856
00:47:45,157 --> 00:47:48,243
and right now I believe
in January 31st, 2020.

857
00:47:49,328 --> 00:47:51,872
I just hope that people will realize

858
00:47:51,955 --> 00:47:55,125
that, you know, we're not doing
these things to be troublemakers

859
00:47:55,209 --> 00:47:59,004
and to, you know,
to cause everybody grief.

860
00:47:59,087 --> 00:48:02,508
We're doing it because we need a future.

861
00:48:02,591 --> 00:48:05,260
We need to be connected to the land.

862
00:48:05,344 --> 00:48:08,597
We need to, you know,
have sustainable environment,

863
00:48:08,680 --> 00:48:10,641
um, for our kids,

864
00:48:10,724 --> 00:48:12,226
for our kids' kids.

865
00:48:12,309 --> 00:48:16,897
And, you know, we do it because
we're meant to be here and do this.

866
00:48:16,980 --> 00:48:20,400
The bottom line is,
is that we're sick of being sick.

867
00:48:21,902 --> 00:48:24,071
And we hope to heal.

868
00:48:24,154 --> 00:48:27,824
We hope to heal from all this,
eventually,

869
00:48:27,908 --> 00:48:30,702
but there's a quote
that I always go back to,

870
00:48:30,786 --> 00:48:33,080
is that you can't, you can't heal

871
00:48:33,163 --> 00:48:35,707
in the same environment
that made you sick.

872
00:48:35,791 --> 00:48:39,044
So in order for us to start healing,
that water has to stop flowing.

873
00:48:41,797 --> 00:48:44,758
[Ellen] <i>If or when the waste water</i>
<i>does stop flowing,</i>

874
00:48:44,842 --> 00:48:47,302
<i>an intensive cleanup process is needed,</i>

875
00:48:47,886 --> 00:48:50,180
<i>estimated to take up to five years</i>

876
00:48:50,264 --> 00:48:52,558
<i>and cost over $200 million,</i>

877
00:48:52,641 --> 00:48:56,061
<i>to remove toxins like mercury</i>
<i>from Boat Harbour.</i>

878
00:48:56,895 --> 00:48:59,606
<i>The hope is that eventually</i>
<i>the area will return</i>

879
00:48:59,690 --> 00:49:02,359
<i>to something close to its original state.</i>

880
00:49:03,318 --> 00:49:06,488
We've already started to talk about...

881
00:49:08,073 --> 00:49:10,868
what would Boat Harbour look--

882
00:49:10,951 --> 00:49:12,870
what will it look like in the future?

883
00:49:12,953 --> 00:49:17,416
What do you want to see, you know,
when we're able to revisit A'Se'K,

884
00:49:17,499 --> 00:49:20,002
when we're able to reclaim that again?

885
00:49:20,085 --> 00:49:22,796
Because we talk about,
you know, we call it Boat Harbour,

886
00:49:22,880 --> 00:49:25,382
you know, but that is the pollution name.

887
00:49:25,465 --> 00:49:27,050
Boat Harbour is
the pollution name of that.

888
00:49:27,134 --> 00:49:28,177
You know, it was A'Se'K,

889
00:49:28,260 --> 00:49:30,304
so when we get back to A'Se'K,
what do you wanna see?

890
00:49:32,306 --> 00:49:35,184
We talk about nature
and we talk about, you know,

891
00:49:35,267 --> 00:49:41,690
they just want to be able
to reconnect with the land.

892
00:49:44,735 --> 00:49:49,239
Something as simple as that
is healing, you know, for people.

893
00:49:51,533 --> 00:49:55,537
I want, you know, my grandfather
to rest peacefully.

894
00:49:56,163 --> 00:50:01,710
I want all the Boat Harbour warriors
before us to rest peacefully.

895
00:50:01,793 --> 00:50:03,670
And I want them to be proud

896
00:50:03,754 --> 00:50:07,132
that we fought right till the end.

897
00:50:23,565 --> 00:50:25,984
[Ellen] <i>While Michelle and her community</i>
<i>continue to push</i>

898
00:50:26,068 --> 00:50:28,237
<i>towards Boat Harbour's closure date,</i>

899
00:50:28,320 --> 00:50:32,157
<i>only an hour away,</i>
<i>history could very well repeat itself,</i>

900
00:50:32,241 --> 00:50:35,536
<i>with the government being influenced</i>
<i>by corporate interests,</i>

901
00:50:35,619 --> 00:50:38,830
<i>again at the expense</i>
<i>of an indigenous community,</i>

902
00:50:38,914 --> 00:50:40,874
<i>which brings me to my last stop,</i>

903
00:50:40,958 --> 00:50:42,793
<i>where, in the town of Stewiacke,</i>

904
00:50:42,876 --> 00:50:45,295
<i>they are fighting</i>
<i>to keep that from happening.</i>

905
00:50:46,004 --> 00:50:48,757
<i>The Alton Gas Corporation</i>
<i>is proposing to build</i>

906
00:50:48,841 --> 00:50:53,011
<i>an underground storage facility</i>
<i>on unceded Mi'kmaq territory.</i>

907
00:50:54,680 --> 00:50:56,807
<i>Alton Gas discovered</i>
<i>underground salt caverns</i>

908
00:50:56,890 --> 00:50:58,809
<i>near the Shubenacadie River</i>

909
00:50:58,892 --> 00:51:00,727
<i>that could store natural gas.</i>

910
00:51:00,811 --> 00:51:02,437
<i>In order to do that,</i>

911
00:51:02,521 --> 00:51:06,483
<i>they've planned to dissolve the cavern's</i>
<i>salt deposits with river water</i>

912
00:51:06,567 --> 00:51:10,195
<i>and then dump that salt water mixture</i>
<i>back into the river,</i>

913
00:51:10,279 --> 00:51:12,823
<i>up to 3,000 tons per day.</i>

914
00:51:13,448 --> 00:51:15,659
<i>The brine mixture carries salinity levels</i>

915
00:51:15,742 --> 00:51:19,955
<i>six times higher than what's considered</i>
<i>safe for fish to survive.</i>

916
00:51:20,038 --> 00:51:24,543
<i>Naturally, community members</i>
<i>and local leaders are not pleased.</i>

917
00:51:25,419 --> 00:51:27,337
Community is not happy about it.

918
00:51:27,421 --> 00:51:29,965
[reporter] <i>The Sipekne'katik Band</i>
<i>is against the project.</i>

919
00:51:30,048 --> 00:51:33,427
<i>Chief Rufus Copage says</i>
<i>the latest environmental report</i>

920
00:51:33,510 --> 00:51:36,597
<i>wasn't properly explained</i>
<i>to his band council.</i>

921
00:51:36,680 --> 00:51:38,265
I was hoping we'd have a chance
to talk to them,

922
00:51:38,348 --> 00:51:41,560
but it don't seem like the government
wants to give us an opportunity,

923
00:51:41,643 --> 00:51:43,437
so I guess we'll have to fight.

924
00:51:44,271 --> 00:51:47,316
They've never done this
anywheres in the world before.

925
00:51:47,399 --> 00:51:50,277
Why do they want to do it here
in little Nova Scotia?

926
00:51:50,360 --> 00:51:52,696
Why do they want to do it in our river

927
00:51:52,779 --> 00:51:56,033
that our kids fish every year,

928
00:51:56,116 --> 00:51:58,035
where they get their food from,

929
00:51:58,118 --> 00:52:00,662
where our community members
have gathered

930
00:52:00,746 --> 00:52:02,581
for many, many, many generations?

931
00:52:02,664 --> 00:52:06,168
The real public safety issue is Alton Gas.

932
00:52:06,251 --> 00:52:08,962
[chanting]

933
00:52:09,046 --> 00:52:11,715
[Ellen] <i>I'm going to meet</i>
<i>with the local Water Protectors</i>

934
00:52:11,798 --> 00:52:13,509
<i>in the Sipekne'katik district,</i>

935
00:52:13,592 --> 00:52:16,261
<i>who are known</i>
<i>as the Grassroots Grandmothers.</i>

936
00:52:17,054 --> 00:52:18,263
<i>They're leading the resistance</i>

937
00:52:18,347 --> 00:52:20,933
<i>to prevent not only</i>
<i>an environmental catastrophe,</i>

938
00:52:21,016 --> 00:52:23,435
<i>but also a travesty</i>
<i>of their treaty rights.</i>

939
00:52:25,187 --> 00:52:28,941
<i>And several of them were arrested</i>
<i>just a few days before our visit.</i>

940
00:52:29,024 --> 00:52:31,527
[protestors chanting]

941
00:52:31,610 --> 00:52:35,030
[reporter] <i>The Mi'kmaq women say</i>
<i>they're protecting the land and water,</i>

942
00:52:35,113 --> 00:52:38,784
<i>and when they wouldn't leave voluntarily,</i>
<i>they were taken into custody</i>

943
00:52:38,867 --> 00:52:41,161
<i>for civil contempt of an injunction order.</i>

944
00:52:41,245 --> 00:52:43,956
<i>They say their movement is far from over.</i>

945
00:52:44,039 --> 00:52:47,000
We're going to always stand
and protect the sacred.

946
00:52:47,584 --> 00:52:50,420
We're not going to stop.
Mark my words, Alton Gas...

947
00:52:50,504 --> 00:52:52,130
you're not going to be successful.

948
00:52:57,719 --> 00:53:01,348
[Ellen] <i>I'm meeting Dorene and Michelle,</i>
<i>two of the Water Protectors.</i>

949
00:53:02,850 --> 00:53:05,519
<i>They're taking me</i>
<i>to the main Alton Gas gate,</i>

950
00:53:05,602 --> 00:53:08,188
<i>where they've been</i>
<i>actively disrupting the project.</i>

951
00:53:14,111 --> 00:53:17,197
We're going to, uh, the...

952
00:53:18,198 --> 00:53:20,659
the Alton Gas gate.

953
00:53:21,285 --> 00:53:24,621
Where they arrested the ladies, yeah,
the women.

954
00:53:24,705 --> 00:53:26,290
[Michelle P.] They took
the tobacco ties off.

955
00:53:26,373 --> 00:53:28,166
-[Dorene] Yes, they did.
-[Michelle P.] Oh, no.

956
00:53:28,250 --> 00:53:29,835
I'm gonna ask them about those.

957
00:53:29,918 --> 00:53:31,378
[Michelle P.] Why is there a police car
right here?

958
00:53:31,461 --> 00:53:32,296
I don't know.

959
00:53:32,880 --> 00:53:34,381
[Ellen] <i>Over the last four years,</i>

960
00:53:34,464 --> 00:53:36,508
<i>this has been the front line</i>
<i>of resistance,</i>

961
00:53:36,592 --> 00:53:39,344
<i>resulting in almost daily conflict.</i>

962
00:53:39,428 --> 00:53:43,223
[Dorene] I just came down to check in
on the tobacco ties,

963
00:53:43,307 --> 00:53:46,059
those prayer ties that were on the gate.

964
00:53:46,685 --> 00:53:48,437
[Michelle P.] That was done in ceremony.

965
00:53:48,520 --> 00:53:50,731
We put those ties up in ceremony.

966
00:53:50,814 --> 00:53:53,150
We did do our best to respect them.

967
00:53:53,233 --> 00:53:56,695
We made sure the other side stayed up
and we double-taped those.

968
00:53:57,529 --> 00:53:59,031
I can give them to you now.

969
00:53:59,114 --> 00:54:02,117
I... Can I just collect them?
I'll just get them myself?

970
00:54:02,201 --> 00:54:06,079
I can't let you over the gate,
but I can bring them over to you.

971
00:54:07,539 --> 00:54:10,000
[Michelle P.]
That's not right, that's disrespectful.

972
00:54:24,097 --> 00:54:28,435
[Ellen] <i>Alton Gas even ended up creating</i>
<i>a designated protest area</i>

973
00:54:28,519 --> 00:54:31,188
<i>to keep them from disrupting</i>
<i>the entrance.</i>

974
00:54:31,271 --> 00:54:32,940
[Dorene] So this is our cage.

975
00:54:33,440 --> 00:54:36,235
This is the protest cage that they built.

976
00:54:36,818 --> 00:54:39,154
I won't step inside of that cage.

977
00:54:39,238 --> 00:54:41,365
'Cause my spirit won't go in that cage.

978
00:54:43,534 --> 00:54:46,787
"Peaceful protestors
can use this designated area

979
00:54:46,870 --> 00:54:50,916
during daylight hours
to maintain a safe and clean area for all.

980
00:54:50,999 --> 00:54:52,167
Please remove all garbage.

981
00:54:52,251 --> 00:54:54,878
Do not park vehicles,
camp or light fires.

982
00:54:55,462 --> 00:54:59,591
Note that the use of alcohol and drugs
is strictly prohibited. Thank you."

983
00:55:00,801 --> 00:55:04,221
The level of ignorance and disrespect

984
00:55:04,847 --> 00:55:07,516
that those words convey...

985
00:55:08,475 --> 00:55:09,768
[sighs]

986
00:55:11,645 --> 00:55:12,938
What are you guys doing here?

987
00:55:13,939 --> 00:55:17,818
[officer] We were talking to them about
playing it safe.

988
00:55:17,901 --> 00:55:19,194
She knows we're concerned.

989
00:55:20,404 --> 00:55:22,197
I just don't recognize you, that's all.

990
00:55:22,281 --> 00:55:24,283
-Oh.
-Your faces.

991
00:55:24,366 --> 00:55:26,577
I recognize this. [laughs]

992
00:55:26,660 --> 00:55:28,203
But not your faces.

993
00:55:28,954 --> 00:55:33,125
A lot of money is being
spent by the province...

994
00:55:34,960 --> 00:55:38,255
to allow, aid and abet the real criminal.

995
00:55:39,631 --> 00:55:42,342
And the criminalization
of our own people...

996
00:55:43,802 --> 00:55:47,472
has not, uh, been really spoken about.

997
00:55:48,307 --> 00:55:51,101
The real criminals are the company
that's trying to come in here

998
00:55:51,185 --> 00:55:53,353
and dump salt in this river.

999
00:55:53,437 --> 00:55:56,481
They're the real criminals,
but yet they're being protected

1000
00:55:56,565 --> 00:55:58,942
by, uh, the police services. It's...

1001
00:56:00,068 --> 00:56:02,821
it's incredibly, uh, disturbing.

1002
00:56:03,906 --> 00:56:05,282
Look, another one.

1003
00:56:08,702 --> 00:56:11,288
[Ellen]<i> Dorene is taking us to meet</i>
<i>the other grandmothers</i>

1004
00:56:11,371 --> 00:56:13,123
<i>at their second site of resistance,</i>

1005
00:56:13,207 --> 00:56:14,708
<i>the treaty truck house,</i>

1006
00:56:14,791 --> 00:56:19,004
<i>where she accidentally stumbled upon</i>
<i>the start of the Alton Gas construction</i>

1007
00:56:19,087 --> 00:56:20,464
<i>three years ago.</i>

1008
00:56:21,840 --> 00:56:23,383
<i>By building the truck house,</i>

1009
00:56:23,467 --> 00:56:27,888
<i>the Water Protectors actively asserted</i>
<i>their treaty rights and occupied the area,</i>

1010
00:56:28,514 --> 00:56:30,974
<i>effectively delaying the company</i>
<i>from moving forward</i>

1011
00:56:31,058 --> 00:56:34,603
<i>and impeding on unceded Mi'kmaq territory.</i>

1012
00:56:37,356 --> 00:56:39,066
[Dorene] This is a public access road.

1013
00:56:40,275 --> 00:56:43,570
And there was a backhoe up here,

1014
00:56:43,654 --> 00:56:44,738
uh...

1015
00:56:46,198 --> 00:56:47,533
filling in this dike.

1016
00:56:47,616 --> 00:56:50,911
And I ran up, I ran up
and asked them what they were doing,

1017
00:56:50,994 --> 00:56:53,747
and they said,
"Oh, you're not supposed to be here.

1018
00:56:53,830 --> 00:56:56,416
This is for a construction site.

1019
00:56:56,500 --> 00:56:59,586
And, uh, we had to build up the dike

1020
00:56:59,670 --> 00:57:02,256
on orders
of the Minister of the Environment."

1021
00:57:02,339 --> 00:57:05,759
And I said, "What?
She ordered you to do that?"

1022
00:57:05,843 --> 00:57:09,346
I said, "When is she gonna order you
to go the hell home, get out of here?"

1023
00:57:10,430 --> 00:57:11,682
And I went down to the river

1024
00:57:11,765 --> 00:57:14,142
and I was offering my tobacco
and praying,

1025
00:57:14,226 --> 00:57:18,063
and, uh, two security guards
came up behind me

1026
00:57:18,146 --> 00:57:21,942
and they stood there
while I was singing to the water.

1027
00:57:22,693 --> 00:57:26,154
And then they escorted me
back to my car.

1028
00:57:27,072 --> 00:57:30,576
And that's when I put that video out,

1029
00:57:30,659 --> 00:57:34,413
showing that there's backhoes up here
and they were building.

1030
00:57:34,955 --> 00:57:38,500
And, uh, told people,
"This is what they're doing to the river.

1031
00:57:38,584 --> 00:57:39,877
You better come."

1032
00:57:39,960 --> 00:57:42,462
And that weekend we came and built...

1033
00:57:42,546 --> 00:57:46,216
I'll take you over
to the treaty truck house.

1034
00:57:46,300 --> 00:57:47,801
All right.

1035
00:57:48,635 --> 00:57:50,888
-All right.
-[Ellen] You want me to grab this?

1036
00:57:51,763 --> 00:57:56,059
This is where it all began,
as far as the occupation of this site.

1037
00:57:56,143 --> 00:57:58,812
It was women who were here that day.

1038
00:57:58,896 --> 00:58:04,234
And we also had a copy of our treaty
that was rolled up like a scroll,

1039
00:58:04,318 --> 00:58:06,778
and we unrolled it and we
put it up to them

1040
00:58:06,862 --> 00:58:09,156
and we said, we recited the clause,

1041
00:58:09,239 --> 00:58:12,201
number four on our 1752 treaty,
that states,

1042
00:58:12,284 --> 00:58:13,785
"If the Indians shall decide,

1043
00:58:13,869 --> 00:58:16,455
a truck house will be built
on the river Shubenacadie."

1044
00:58:16,538 --> 00:58:20,584
And we all looked at each other
and we said, "We decide."

1045
00:58:24,463 --> 00:58:28,383
As soon as you get to the top
of this step, one view...

1046
00:58:28,884 --> 00:58:34,640
In one view, in one instant,
you'll realize why we are here.

1047
00:58:36,642 --> 00:58:38,685
This river is sacred to us.

1048
00:58:38,769 --> 00:58:43,315
This river is the superhighway
of our nation.

1049
00:58:43,398 --> 00:58:45,400
It connected our whole territory.

1050
00:58:45,484 --> 00:58:46,693
From time immemorial.

1051
00:58:47,528 --> 00:58:49,363
And we continue to do that.

1052
00:58:49,446 --> 00:58:52,407
And we won't let this company destroy it.

1053
00:58:52,491 --> 00:58:54,493
[drums beating, protestors chanting]

1054
00:59:26,608 --> 00:59:29,152
One of the things I think
is really important

1055
00:59:29,236 --> 00:59:33,782
is, uh, to know that
women are carriers for the water.

1056
00:59:35,117 --> 00:59:39,538
And the reason why women
are given this responsibility

1057
00:59:40,163 --> 00:59:44,042
is because women are the life givers.

1058
00:59:45,043 --> 00:59:50,632
It's passed down to the women,
the females in our families,

1059
00:59:51,425 --> 00:59:54,428
that the water is sacred
and it's our responsibility.

1060
00:59:55,470 --> 00:59:56,847
We are given a gift,

1061
00:59:56,930 --> 00:59:59,850
but we also have been given
a responsibility.

1062
01:00:01,768 --> 01:00:05,022
[Ellen] <i>With their water endangered,</i>
<i>their treaty rights violated,</i>

1063
01:00:05,105 --> 01:00:07,649
<i>and the country's</i>
<i>environmental laws ignored,</i>

1064
01:00:07,733 --> 01:00:11,195
<i>these grandmothers have begun</i>
<i>confronting the very politicians</i>

1065
01:00:11,278 --> 01:00:12,696
<i>sworn in to protect them.</i>

1066
01:00:13,780 --> 01:00:16,575
Honor our treaties, Mr. McNeil!

1067
01:00:16,658 --> 01:00:18,118
[Michelle P.] Talk to us, talk to us!

1068
01:00:18,202 --> 01:00:21,371
-[woman] Why won't you speak to us?
-Roll your window down. [tapping glass]

1069
01:00:21,455 --> 01:00:24,541
Roll your window down. Come on.
Roll your window down.

1070
01:00:24,625 --> 01:00:25,876
-Don't block that car.
-I'm not blocking it.

1071
01:00:25,959 --> 01:00:27,628
Step back or you're gonna get arrested.

1072
01:00:27,711 --> 01:00:29,338
Do not block the car.
You can protest all you want...

1073
01:00:29,421 --> 01:00:31,173
[woman 1] You need to learn to honor
the treaty!

1074
01:00:31,256 --> 01:00:32,090
[woman 2] Respect...

1075
01:00:32,174 --> 01:00:34,885
-[Michelle P.] Speak to the people.
-[woman 1] Honor the treaty!

1076
01:00:34,968 --> 01:00:36,428
[Michelle P.] Stop Alton Gas!

1077
01:00:40,182 --> 01:00:41,725
No, you are federal government,

1078
01:00:41,808 --> 01:00:44,394
you are the one that puts this
through our laws.

1079
01:00:44,478 --> 01:00:46,063
You are poisoning our waters.

1080
01:00:46,146 --> 01:00:49,024
You're allowing other companies
to come into our wa...

1081
01:00:49,107 --> 01:00:50,400
No, no, no "thank you" yet.

1082
01:00:50,484 --> 01:00:53,362
I'm thanking you for being direct with me.

1083
01:00:53,445 --> 01:00:54,780
-I'm a very straight-up grandmother.
-I really appreciate that.

1084
01:00:55,364 --> 01:00:57,324
While you're [indistinct] forward,
the regulations...

1085
01:00:57,407 --> 01:01:00,494
No regulations, we don't want
gas under our ass!

1086
01:01:00,577 --> 01:01:04,331
We're gonna be working with the indigenous
leadership, working with the province...

1087
01:01:04,414 --> 01:01:06,250
Why don't you work
with the grandmothers?

1088
01:01:06,333 --> 01:01:09,795
Take Alton Gas out of our province now.

1089
01:01:11,547 --> 01:01:14,800
[protestor] And the legislation
that Trudeau is trying to pass

1090
01:01:14,883 --> 01:01:15,968
needs to be stopped.

1091
01:01:16,051 --> 01:01:18,554
Because he's changing the legislation

1092
01:01:18,637 --> 01:01:21,890
so that Alton Gas can dump brine
in the river.

1093
01:01:21,974 --> 01:01:24,852
They're not in compliance
with the regulations as it is right now,

1094
01:01:24,935 --> 01:01:29,523
and the federal government proposes
to create and design new regulations

1095
01:01:29,606 --> 01:01:33,694
to make them... be in compliance,
I guess, which has just...

1096
01:01:33,777 --> 01:01:34,820
[protestor] Moved them up.

1097
01:01:34,903 --> 01:01:36,280
Yeah, it's just--

1098
01:01:36,363 --> 01:01:39,283
It's just another example
of their contempt

1099
01:01:39,366 --> 01:01:41,994
and their disregard for our rights.

1100
01:01:42,077 --> 01:01:44,329
They're doing it,
and they're not even tricking us.

1101
01:01:44,413 --> 01:01:47,249
They're just doing it now,
you know, blatantly.

1102
01:01:47,332 --> 01:01:50,961
And here we have
the Department of Fisheries, for one,

1103
01:01:51,044 --> 01:01:54,131
of the opinion, I guess,
that they're not able to step in

1104
01:01:54,214 --> 01:01:57,551
unless and until something
actually goes into the water.

1105
01:01:57,634 --> 01:01:58,677
You know?

1106
01:01:58,760 --> 01:02:00,596
And we're saying,
we're not gonna let that happen

1107
01:02:00,679 --> 01:02:02,973
because that risk is too great.

1108
01:02:03,056 --> 01:02:05,517
You can't unring the bell
once it's been rung.

1109
01:02:06,268 --> 01:02:09,563
Right? Like once that brine
goes in that river,

1110
01:02:09,646 --> 01:02:11,648
it will upset the salinity levels.

1111
01:02:11,732 --> 01:02:13,358
It will kill the fish.

1112
01:02:13,442 --> 01:02:16,486
You know, and then... and then what?

1113
01:02:17,571 --> 01:02:20,490
They're opening up
our territory for business.

1114
01:02:20,574 --> 01:02:23,243
Whether it be Alton Gas
or fracking companies

1115
01:02:23,327 --> 01:02:25,746
or rare-earth minerals

1116
01:02:25,829 --> 01:02:27,497
or gold mines,

1117
01:02:27,581 --> 01:02:31,084
those are all projects
that affect our treaty rights.

1118
01:02:31,168 --> 01:02:33,462
So they're blatantly
disrespecting our rights,

1119
01:02:33,545 --> 01:02:38,550
but they're granting Alton Gas
the exemptions to these regulations.

1120
01:02:38,634 --> 01:02:41,386
Canada, Canada is not a nation.

1121
01:02:42,179 --> 01:02:43,764
Canada is not a nation,

1122
01:02:43,847 --> 01:02:45,682
let's get that straight,
it's a corporation.

1123
01:02:46,350 --> 01:02:48,185
You know, doctrine of discovery.

1124
01:02:48,268 --> 01:02:50,687
They didn't discover nothing.

1125
01:02:50,771 --> 01:02:54,191
And each and every time we asked them,
"Well, give us the proof,"

1126
01:02:54,274 --> 01:02:55,567
they can't show us no proof.

1127
01:02:55,651 --> 01:02:59,196
This is why we never get justice
in this system,

1128
01:02:59,279 --> 01:03:01,698
because we're native,
because we're indigenous.

1129
01:03:01,782 --> 01:03:03,659
And it's time for it to stop.

1130
01:03:03,742 --> 01:03:07,996
It's time for us as women
to embrace who we are

1131
01:03:08,080 --> 01:03:09,456
as Mi'kmaqis,

1132
01:03:09,540 --> 01:03:12,751
remember our ancestors
fought for this land,

1133
01:03:12,835 --> 01:03:15,045
and that we need to wake up.

1134
01:03:15,128 --> 01:03:17,339
We need to rise our spirits again.

1135
01:03:17,422 --> 01:03:21,218
We need to go and tell them to leave.
They're not wanted here.

1136
01:03:22,553 --> 01:03:25,097
Right? And that's just basically
what we've been doing,

1137
01:03:25,180 --> 01:03:28,141
is telling them to leave.
They're not wanted here.

1138
01:03:28,225 --> 01:03:29,434
We don't want them here.

1139
01:03:30,269 --> 01:03:33,146
Now, you see that this
not only happens here,

1140
01:03:33,230 --> 01:03:35,983
it happens in every part of the world.

1141
01:03:36,900 --> 01:03:37,943
Every part of the world.

1142
01:03:38,026 --> 01:03:41,655
When you look at where industry

1143
01:03:41,738 --> 01:03:46,118
is affecting the lives of people,
those are indigenous people,

1144
01:03:46,201 --> 01:03:47,870
from those lands.

1145
01:03:47,953 --> 01:03:50,706
And those corporations,
the majority of them,

1146
01:03:50,789 --> 01:03:52,207
are Canadian companies.

1147
01:03:53,000 --> 01:03:55,836
And they have the power

1148
01:03:55,919 --> 01:03:58,255
to have people killed.

1149
01:03:58,338 --> 01:04:02,593
They have had the power
to assassinate grandmothers

1150
01:04:02,676 --> 01:04:06,471
and kill the people that are
standing in front of their gates.

1151
01:04:06,555 --> 01:04:10,392
I said, "We're doing the same thing
as what they did in Guatemala.

1152
01:04:10,475 --> 01:04:12,895
Standing in front of a corporation."

1153
01:04:12,978 --> 01:04:14,813
And people have been killed there.

1154
01:04:14,897 --> 01:04:17,858
If we were less visible,
they would knock us off, too.

1155
01:04:17,941 --> 01:04:19,401
[woman] They <i>are </i>knocking us off.

1156
01:04:19,484 --> 01:04:22,946
Look at the numbers on the missing
and murdered indigenous women.

1157
01:04:23,030 --> 01:04:25,532
They have been killing our women.

1158
01:04:25,616 --> 01:04:29,536
Our truth is that we don't have a choice.

1159
01:04:29,620 --> 01:04:30,996
This is who we are,

1160
01:04:31,079 --> 01:04:34,124
and this is who we are
always meant to be.

1161
01:04:34,208 --> 01:04:35,250
It's in our DNA.

1162
01:04:35,334 --> 01:04:36,668
It's in our blood.

1163
01:04:37,336 --> 01:04:38,504
They cannot stop us

1164
01:04:39,296 --> 01:04:41,215
from being indigenous anymore.

1165
01:04:41,298 --> 01:04:42,633
[woman] It's our identities.

1166
01:04:42,716 --> 01:04:46,887
They cannot stop us from learning
how to take care of the Earth,

1167
01:04:46,970 --> 01:04:48,847
what our relationship is.

1168
01:04:48,931 --> 01:04:51,016
And they cannot stop us from teaching,

1169
01:04:51,099 --> 01:04:54,269
not only our children,
but everybody's children.

1170
01:04:55,395 --> 01:04:57,648
The prophecy that we're taught

1171
01:04:57,731 --> 01:05:04,196
was that, if we didn't start taking care
of our Mother Earth,

1172
01:05:04,279 --> 01:05:06,448
our lands and our waters,

1173
01:05:06,532 --> 01:05:08,200
our food and our medicines,

1174
01:05:08,951 --> 01:05:12,746
and the animals and the flowers
and everything that sustains us,

1175
01:05:12,829 --> 01:05:19,002
one day an ounce of water
is gonna cost more than an ounce of gold.

1176
01:05:19,586 --> 01:05:22,714
It says that no matter
how much money you have,

1177
01:05:22,798 --> 01:05:24,925
you're not gonna be able to buy that...

1178
01:05:25,008 --> 01:05:26,677
ounce of water

1179
01:05:26,760 --> 01:05:28,720
because of how precious it is.

1180
01:05:29,721 --> 01:05:32,266
It wouldn't matter if you had gold.

1181
01:05:33,100 --> 01:05:35,853
You can't drink gold.
You can't drink money.

1182
01:05:37,729 --> 01:05:41,108
So it was a teaching for,
not only indigenous people.

1183
01:05:41,191 --> 01:05:43,026
We carry the message.

1184
01:05:43,110 --> 01:05:46,613
It's for all human beings, all mankind.

1185
01:05:48,532 --> 01:05:50,993
Everybody who's living now,
we have to be able

1186
01:05:51,076 --> 01:05:53,871
to tell our grandchildren
and those that are unborn

1187
01:05:53,954 --> 01:05:57,416
that we did everything in our power
to make a change

1188
01:05:57,499 --> 01:05:58,584
and to make a difference

1189
01:05:58,667 --> 01:06:01,795
and to stop the destruction,
to stop the pollution,

1190
01:06:01,879 --> 01:06:04,756
and to stop it from persisting.

1191
01:06:05,340 --> 01:06:07,509
We're just regular people.

1192
01:06:07,593 --> 01:06:10,554
We're all rights holders here,
sitting in front of you here.

1193
01:06:10,637 --> 01:06:15,642
And how we are connected to you
is that you were born here.

1194
01:06:15,726 --> 01:06:17,394
You're from here, too.

1195
01:06:17,477 --> 01:06:20,314
You have that connection to the land.

1196
01:06:20,397 --> 01:06:23,859
When your feet touch on other territory,
you're still from here.

1197
01:06:23,942 --> 01:06:26,361
Your spirit is from Mi'kma'ki.

1198
01:06:26,445 --> 01:06:30,282
And I hope what happened here today
you'll carry with you

1199
01:06:30,365 --> 01:06:33,410
in your spirit, and that's powerful.

1200
01:06:33,493 --> 01:06:37,539
[no audible dialogue]

1201
01:07:08,570 --> 01:07:11,782
[Ellen] <i>The picture-perfect image I had</i>
<i>of my home growing up</i>

1202
01:07:11,865 --> 01:07:13,700
<i>was broken some time ago.</i>

1203
01:07:14,201 --> 01:07:18,497
<i>But I've come to realize</i>
<i>I just wasn't seeing all of the pieces.</i>

1204
01:07:19,623 --> 01:07:21,834
<i>And that, behind the shadow</i>
<i>of corporations,</i>

1205
01:07:21,917 --> 01:07:24,336
<i>beyond governments turning a blind eye</i>

1206
01:07:24,419 --> 01:07:27,089
<i>on the citizens</i>
<i>it has made most vulnerable,</i>

1207
01:07:27,172 --> 01:07:30,592
<i>a love for nature and one another</i>
<i>can prevail.</i>

1208
01:07:35,722 --> 01:07:38,767
<i>I was instilled with a sense of power</i>
<i>and purpose</i>

1209
01:07:38,851 --> 01:07:40,811
<i>by the Grassroots Grandmothers,</i>

1210
01:07:40,894 --> 01:07:43,188
<i>and all the women I've met</i>
<i>along this journey.</i>

1211
01:07:44,565 --> 01:07:48,193
<i>The truth is, even with their sacrifice,</i>

1212
01:07:48,277 --> 01:07:50,696
<i>there's no way we can know</i>
<i>what the future holds,</i>

1213
01:07:50,779 --> 01:07:53,699
<i>for them or for our planet,</i>

1214
01:07:53,782 --> 01:07:57,077
<i>unless we look to each other</i>
<i>and those in power</i>

1215
01:07:57,160 --> 01:07:58,620
<i>to be held accountable,</i>

1216
01:07:58,704 --> 01:08:02,165
<i>unless we start to shift our view</i>
<i>to see beyond ourselves...</i>

1217
01:08:03,542 --> 01:08:05,085
<i>to see that what affects one of us</i>

1218
01:08:05,169 --> 01:08:07,004
<i>affects us all.</i>

1219
01:08:09,464 --> 01:08:11,842
<i>You share DNA with a fruit fly.</i>

1220
01:08:12,926 --> 01:08:16,388
<i>You are connected</i>
<i>to every living thing on Earth.</i>

1221
01:08:17,139 --> 01:08:18,932
<i>You have the power of life.</i>

1222
01:08:20,100 --> 01:08:21,185
<i>Use it.</i>

1223
01:08:30,777 --> 01:08:32,613
[water rushing]

1224
01:09:35,634 --> 01:09:39,346
And this is one of the hardest decisions
that we as a government

1225
01:09:39,429 --> 01:09:40,472
have had to make.

1226
01:09:41,348 --> 01:09:43,475
The commitment I made
to clean up Boat Harbour

1227
01:09:43,559 --> 01:09:44,852
was a serious one

1228
01:09:44,935 --> 01:09:48,105
and not something
our government did lightly.

1229
01:09:48,897 --> 01:09:52,359
Many governments before us
said they would clean it up,

1230
01:09:52,442 --> 01:09:53,735
but did not.

1231
01:09:55,195 --> 01:09:57,990
We will not repeat that pattern.

1232
01:09:58,657 --> 01:10:00,868
The Boat Harbour Act will be enforced

1233
01:10:00,951 --> 01:10:04,079
as of January 31st, 2020.

1234
01:10:04,872 --> 01:10:08,750
Northern Pulp will be ordered to stop
pumping effluent into Boat Harbour.

1235
01:10:10,210 --> 01:10:11,628
And let me be clear.

1236
01:10:11,712 --> 01:10:14,673
There will be no extension.

1237
01:10:17,301 --> 01:10:19,052
[water rushing]