Shunpiking Online Vo.4 No.4 Guysborough Co.: Lincolnville demands removal of landfills Will the Municipal Council walk out on Lincolnville's Concerned Citizens again?

Shunpiking Online has received the following information from Concerned Citizens of Lincolnville, one of Nova Scotia's oldest communities, which we are printing for the information of our readers.

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May 8, 2007

(8 May 2007) - WILL the Guysborough Municipal Council Walk Out on Lincolnville's Concerned Citizens Again?

The Concerned Citizens of Lincolnville and their supporters will be attending the Guysborough Municipal Council Meeting again tonight, to ensure the demands that were made at the previous meeting are met.

Landfill dumped in back yard of Lincolnville. photo: Save Lincolnville Coalition

All but two of the Municipal Councillors walked out of the Council Meeting on April 11 when the Concerned Citizens of Lincolnville attempted to express their distress over lack of political representation.

Tonight, Lincolnville residents will learn if the demands presented at the last meeting will be met or if they'll have to use new tactics to be heard by their 'political representatives.' The demands include:

- An alternative to Municipal Councillor Sheila Pelly, in order to have the community concerns voiced and heard at the municipal level.

- The appointment of a new community liaison representative for Lincolnville on the Guysborough Liaison Landfill Site Committee.

- The striking of an ad hoc committee that will include residents of Lincolnville and their appointed officials to negotiate future development.

In the fight to have their dissent heard over the decision to place a second landfill near their community, Lincolnville residents have faced grossly negligent and reprehensible conduct from their 'political representatives.' Residents cite racism as one of the central reasons behind both the landfill and the behaviour of the Municipal Council.

The Council Meeting will be held tonight (Tuesday May 8) at the Municipal Court House in Guysborough at 7pm.

Please contact: Wendy Campbell 902 232 2223 or 902 440 8878

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For your information

Landfills in Lincolnville and Guysborough County

THERE IS a long history of placing dumps in the backyards of Black communities within the Municipality of Guysborough, these include Sunnyville, Mulgrave, and Lincolnville. For over 30 years, Lincolnville has been struggling with the environmental and health effects of a first generation landfill and in 2006 the community became host to a second landfill.

* In January of 2006, the Municipality of Guysborough opened a second-generation landfill at the site of the old dump near Lincolnville. This facility is equipped to handle waste from 17 different municipalities in Nova Scotia.

* As of 2006, all municipalities in the province are required to dispose of waste in second-generation landfills. These dumps have special liners that are designed to prevent runoff, allegedly protecting the surrounding environment.

* Since 1974, however, the community was home to a first generation landfill, which lacked any liner and was little more than a hole in the ground where all waste - including hazardous waste - was dumped.

Environmental racism

Over 30 per cent of African Nova Scotians live within a 5km radius of a waste dump

Environmental Racism can be defined as the intentional situating of hazardous waste sites, landfills, incinerators, and polluting industries in and around communities inhabited mainly by people of Black descent and First Nation people, as well as the working poor.

* Black and First Nation communities are often considered 'convenient' locations to locate polluting industries because they are seen to have limited resources and are therefore not expected to fight back against the poisoning of their neighborhoods.

* Despite a 1992 Human Rights Commission recommendation clause which stated that "No more landfill sites within certain radius of African and Native Community," a Dalhousie study conducted in 1996 found that over 30 per cent of African Nova Scotians live within a 5km radius of a waste dump.

* Provincially, environmental racism is a standardized process that has become systematically reinforced throughout the history of Nova Scotia including: Africville (1960s), Lincolnville landfill (1974), East Lake Landfill (1992), Halifax wastewater treatment plant in (2002), and again in Guysborough (2006).

History of Lincolnville

Lincolnville has been struggling against racism, in various forms, since Black Loyalists founded the community in 1784.

The Brownspriggs land grant Detail, c. 1787 Nova Scotia Archives and Records Management

* Lincolnville was settled on a rocky piece of land after the 3000 acre "Thomas Brownspriggs" land grant promised to Black Loyalists by Queen Victoria was never honoured.

* In 1965, a consolidated school was constructed in Lincolnville, which was meant to educate children from Lincolnville as well as white children from a neighbouring community. The Municipalities of Guysborough and Antigonish changed county boundaries, however, to insure that white children would not attend, thus making the school segregated. Lincolnville school, although not recorded, was the last school in Canada to "officially" close its doors to segregation, in 1983.

* Since 1974, the Black community of Lincolnville has been fighting against the situating of landfills next to their community - placing their health and the health of the community in jeopardy.

Lack of political representation<br>
Guysborough Municipality

Lincolnville school, although not recorded, was the last school in Canada to "officially" close its doors to segregation, in 1983

Lincolnville residents have been struggling to be heard by political 'representatives' that are refusing to listen to them, let alone represent them.

- On March 15, 2007, Concerned Citizens of Lincolnville requested to make a presentation at the municipal council meeting on April 11th, 2007.

- On April 9th the group received a response, dated March 27th, that denied the Concerned Citizens of Lincolnville the opportunity to present, a decision that goes against the municipality's own bylaws.

- On April 11, 2007, over 30 people (the vast majority Lincolnville residents) attended the Council Meeting. At the point in the agenda that would normally be allotted to outside presentations, community members interrupted and began making a presentation; halfway though the presentation, all but two of the council members walked out.

Municipal Councillor

Sheila Pelly is Lincolnville's representative on the Guysborough Municipal Council. There have been several indications, however, that Pelly does not adequately represent the concerns of Lincolnville residents, specifically regarding the landfill.

- Pelly's failed to attend Concerned Citizens community meetings regarding the second-generation landfill on August 19th, 2006; October 21st, 2006; November 18th, 2006; and March 10th, 2007.

- On March 24, 2007, residents of Lincolnville were denied the use of their community centre for a meeting regarding the landfill by the executive body of the Lincolnville Community Development Association, which Pelly is a part of. The meeting was to begin at 1pm and Pelly did not respond to her invitation to the meting until 7:30 pm of the evening of March the 24th.

- On November 11, 2006, Pelly interfered in a community health survey being conducted by a professor at NSCAD and a member of the Save Lincolnville Campaign. Pelly contacted various households in the community and instructed people not to participate into the health survey. Despite numerous calls for research into health problems in the community and the impacts of the landfill, no official investigation has been done.

- Pelly has repeatedly insisted to the media that only a few members of Lincolnville are against the new landfill, despite petitions and community meeting attendance that showed that is not the case. For example, almost half of Lincolnville residents attended the Council meeting on April 11.

Community Liaison

Alonzo Reddick is supposed to act as a liaison between Lincolnville and the Guysborough Liaison Landfill Site Committee. However, Reddick has failed to adequately represent the community.

- Reddick failed to attend Concerned Citizens community meetings regarding the second-generation landfill on August 19th, 2006; October 21st, 2006; November 18th, 2006; March 10th, 2007; March 24th, 2007

- During the second-generation landfill site process, Reddick would have had first hand information regarding the direction taken by the municipality of Guysborough. This information should have been shared with the community as a whole. The controversy surrounding the 2nd generation landfill site could have been avoided by dealing with the project in an open and transparent manner.