Clean-up to follow $35 million deal

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Members of Pictou Landing voted yes for a $35 million settlement compensating them for pollution of the band's environment.

But the issue of who is going to clean the once-pristine lagoon lapping band shores, and how the clean-up will proceed is still a contentious issue.

During the July 5 vote, members of the Micmac warrior's society blocked a road and lit ceremonial fires to protect the lack of commitment to a clean-up.

"There's nothing written stating that the Scott (Maritimes) people will stop pouring whatever it is they're pouring into the water," said a worried resident. "We're surrounded by pollution."

The province's largest industrial wastewater treatment plant stands on the shores of Boat Harbour, processing waste from the Scott Maritimes pulp mill. Approximately 87,000 litres of effluent are pumped into the tidal lagoon every day.

The warriors lifted the blockade several days later after Supply and Services Minister Wayne Adams confirmed the provincial government will participate in restoring Boat Harbour.

The federal government offered the compensation package in exchange for the band dropping a suit charging the Department of Indian Affairs with breach of trust for acting against the interests of Natives.

The deal was approved in a 141-25 vote. To the 418 Pictou Landing members, that signifies approximately $70 for each month lived on the reserve since the treatment plant opened in the mid - 1960's.

The settlement was an economic deal, said band development officer Dan MacDonald.

"This agreement was strictly for money, dollars and cents," he said. If the band had negotiated first for a clean-up, they may have been left without any financial compensation, MacDonald said. Now they have the funds in hand and can continue to stage two.

An engineering study suggests eight options to repair Boat Harbour. They range from opening the harbour's berm and piping the effluent into the Northumberland Straights, to building a new plant elsewhere and allowing the harbour to resume its original regime.

Local environmentalists argue that the environmental data collected for the study

is misleading, and downplays the level of toxicity in Boat Harbour's sediment.

"There were dioxins and furons in every part tested," said Ishbel Butler. "Lobsters and clams all had low levels. There is arsenic, lead, cadmium and PCB's throughout (the lagoon)," she said.

But MacDonald argues the study is sound.

"The problem here is that there is a skepticism of the establishment. And the matter of expediency - people expect things to happen immediately," he said.

The province, Scott Maritimes, and the federal govenrment will be involved in the project, which may cost from $30,000 to $80 million.