Federal-Provincial Assessment Review Panel for the
Halifax-Dartmouth Wastewater Management System
Volume 8, 27 March 1993 (Halifax: Halifax Harbour
Cleanup Inc. 1994)
[St. James United Church Hall, Dartmouth, NS, 27 March
1993, Afternoon Session]
Opening Remarks
HHCI
Jim Axell, Metro Engineering
…
Catherine McCarthy, Member, Friends of McNabs Island,
Resident, Dartmouth, NS: It is a beautiful spring day.
Everyone wishes they could be tromping in the slush but we
are in here. And I have lived in Nova Scotia for the past
eighteen (18) years and have been a resident and homeowner
in Dartmouth for the past twelve (12). I have had the
opportunity to live in Vancouver and in Ottawa. I have
travelled extensively through many parts of North America and
Europe. My professional training is in horticulture and my
interests are in gardening and the environment. During my
travels, I have visited many parklands and nowhere have I
seen an island park in the centre of a metropolitan area with as
much to offer as McNabs Island. […] As many cities are in
the process of reclaiming their island park from years of
industrial use, we are foolishly considering giving up our “green
jewel” to an industrial project such as a sewage treatment
plant and Oil From Sludge incinerator.
This is not the first time that this island park has been
threatened with industrial mega projects. The island was
proposed as a site for shipyards in the seventies and in the
eighties.
Now, in the nineties, we see the island again being
recommended for industrial projects.
McNabs Island is a park. It has been designated since the
early seventies but proper to that
the island has been a recreational haven for centuries. This
tradition continues to this day
despite the neglect on the part of the Canadian Parks Service
and the Nova Scotia
Department of Natural Resources to provide the basic of
services; people still come to
McNabs Island by the tens of thousands to escape the noise
and bustle of city life. […] My
family visits McNabs Island often during the year. My nine
year old son has developed a
keen interest in history mainly from his visits to the numerous
fortifications of the Halifax
Defence Complex and in particular Fort Ives. […] The Halifax
Citadel is reported to be the
most visited national historic site in all of Canada. [A
government sponsored study of
McNabs Island] describes Fort Ives as a unique and valuable
historical resource, highlighting
the Fort’s major role in the defence of Halifax from the 1860s
to the 1930s. The battery was
armed with the latest in coastal defence. Two of the three
open ten inch muzzle loading guns
equipped with iron shields are still mounted in their original
carriages and platforms.i
According to the British military historian, Ian Stevenson of the
Palmerston Forts Society of Great Britain, these RMLs [term]
represent a unique resource not found anywhere else in the
Halifax Defence Complex nor in the British Commonwealth.
Despite its neglect by Canadian Parks Service, Fort Ives has
stood up well to the elements of time. By CSP’s own
admission, the Fort including Ives Point should be protected as
part of the Fort McNabs National Historic Site or incorporated
into a regional provincial park. HHCI likes to refer to Ives
Point as a small gravel spit. In any event, HHCI plans to chop
off Ives Point as Royce [Walker, participant] demonstrated in
his overhead and use part of this point for – as well as fill for
their sewage island.
The Minister responsible for HHCI, Joel Matheson, has
been quoted as saying that this mega construction
project is an “environmentally friendly project.”
Nothing could be further from the truth. In this year of
“Back to Nature” tourism campaigns where the province is
heavily promoting ecotourism, how can the provincial,
municipal and federal governments support the destruction of
part of a pristine wilderness park such as McNabs Island for the
sake of a construction project that will not clean up the
Harbour. The sewage treatment plan[t] does not belong on
McNabs Island or in any other park. The plant or plants
should be built in an industrial zone. […] I am greatly
disappointed in the federal Minister’s of the Environment, Jean
Charest, decision not to allow Canadian Parks Service to take a
strong stand in protecting Fort Ives and McNabs Island from
any industrial intrusion. Mr. Charest’s Green Plan speaks of
the Federal government’s commitment to increase protected
parkland from six point none (6.9) per cent to twelve (12) per
cent by the year 2000. […]
Mr. Larry Friend who is Executive Secretary for the Historic
Sites and Monuments Board of Canada has stated that:
“… if the construction of the sewage plant moves
forward, the Minister – referring to Jean Charest –
should ensure that the negative impacts of that
development on Fort Ives are mitigated to the fullest
extent possible.”
The only way to “mitigate to the fullest extent possible” is for the
Minister of Environment to inform Halifax Harbour Cleanup Inc.
that a sewage plant on McNabs Island is incompatible with the
island’s park status and that this land is not available for
industrial use. As a tax payer, I am appalled at the blank check
that our governments have given to HHCI. The corporation has
spent tax payers’ dollars on no less than four (4) public opinion
surveys in attempt to prop up their construction project. Our
governments do not seem to have noticed. Yet this past week,
news reports of a squabble in Halifax City Council over a request
to spend a meagre $17,000 on a user public opinion survey of
Point Pleasant park met with cries of “we can’t afford it in these
tough fiscal times. HHCI has been unable to say where they plan
to get the rest of the $400 million.
John Crosby, the Federal Minister responsible for the Federal
portion of the project, is quoted as saying that the additional
monies for the project will have to come from existing ACOA
funds. It is unlikely that our penny-pinching premier, Mr.
Cameron, will come up with additional funds. So where is the
money supposed to come from? It should be obvious to every
tax payer who is contributing to this project that McNabs Island is
the most costly place to locate the sewage treatment plant. In
these tight fiscal times, there is no need to waste millions of tax
payers’ hard-earned dollars to build a sewage plant made from
existing parkland and barge in tonnes of fill. There are plenty of
industrial sites significantly more suitable that could
accommodate a sewage treatment plant at considerable tax
savings.
The site selection process should be reopened in light of the
significant design changes and reduced land requirement needed
to accommodate a sewage treatment plant. In closing, we still
have the opportunity the preserve [sic] this unique historical
wilderness island surrounded by a large urban centre. This rare
opportunity is not available to other Canadian cities and must not
be ignored. With a minimal amount of financial resources and
effort, McNabs Island could be developed into a world class
tourist attraction, outdoor education centre and recreational
haven for all Canadians to enjoy.ii
i Federal-Provincial Assessment Review Panel for the Halifax-Dartmouth Wastewater Management System Volume
8, 27 March 1993 (Halifax: Halifax Harbour Cleanup Inc. 1994): 122-124.
ii Ibid. 128-131.
