'It looked like paradise': Mi'kmaw elders reflect on how paper mill pollution changed their community
The shutdown of the Northern Pulp paper mill in Pictou, N.S., on Friday could mean the painful end of an era for workers at the mill and in the province’s forestry industry. But for the Mi’kmaw community of Pictou Landing First Nation, the mill’s closure marks a new beginning.
Boat Harbour, the lagoon where the mill’s chemical-laced wastewater has been dumped for 53 years, is in the community’s backyard. It’s known as A’se’k to the Mi’kmaq.
This feature video from CBC Indigenous explores the impact the pollution has had on the community and its elders and how their advocacy for the land and water resulted in change.