HALIFAX - Nova Scotia鈥檚 continued failure to consult with First Nations on uranium exploration is a mistake that will further erode the province鈥檚 relationship with Mi鈥檏maq communities, says the Assembly of Nova Scotia Mi鈥檏maw Chiefs and a lawyer from Sipekne鈥檏atik First Nation.
Pictou Landing First Nation Chief Tamara Young said the Mi鈥檏maq people were neither consulted nor notified when Nova Scotia 聽introduced then passed a bill that opens the province up to potential uranium mining and fracking.
鈥淭he lack of consultation is unacceptable and goes against the UNDRIP (United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples),鈥 Young said in a statement to 好色tvon Wednesday.
The assembly has said they will continue to oppose both uranium exploration and hydraulic fracturing until their environmental concerns have been addressed.
The provincial government added uranium to its list of priority critical minerals May 14 and issued a request for exploration proposals for three sites with known deposits of the heavy metal. Interested companies had until Wednesday to submit their proposals.
On Thursday, Premier Tim Houston confirmed that no companies had come forward with a bid. "I don't read a lot into it," Houston said after a cabinet meeting. "It was a quick, initial request for feedback."
The premier went on to suggest his government must do a better job explaining that uranium mining can be done safety 鈥 and generate money to help pay for public services.
"There will be voices that don't want facts; they prey on fear," he said. "We'll do things safely. We'll do them sustainably. We care about the health of people. We care about people's dogs 鈥 somebody said, 'Are you going to kill my dog?'"
In her statement, Young said the Mi'kmaq of Nova Scotia understand that Nova Scotia's economy is facing international pressures.
"But any resource development in Mi'kma'ki must include our consent and participation as we are the rightful owners of these lands, waters and resources,鈥 Young said, speaking as co-lead of the environment, energy and mines portfolio on behalf of the Assembly of Nova Scotia Mi鈥檏maw Chiefs.
Rosalie Francis, a Mi鈥檏maq lawyer whose firm is based out of Sipekne鈥檏atik First Nation, said the province risks further damaging its relationship with Mi鈥檏maq communities and sabotaging the potential uranium industry by failing to consult adequately and early.
鈥淏y choosing not to consult, it scares away investors, destroys the relationship and gets us back to starting at zero,鈥 Francis said in an interview Tuesday.
鈥淚t all comes down to trust, and this completely diminishes any kind of trust."
Meanwhile, four municipalities have recently called on the government to slow down its push for uranium exploration, CBC News reports.
Pictou County was the first to do so, followed by the West Hants Regional Municipality, the Municipality of the District of Lunenburg and the Municipality of the County of Annapolis. Each council is asking the province for an indefinite delay to allow for consultations and information sessions.
Nova Scotia opened up three plots of land for uranium project proposals: an 80-hectare site in Louisville in Pictou County; a 64-hectare site in East Dalhousie in Annapolis County; and a 2,300-hectare site in Millet Brook in Hants County. Much of this is on private land.
The government has previously said companies selected by the province would have to seek permission from landowners to explore. However, Section 26 of the province鈥檚 Mineral Resources Act allows the natural resources minister to intervene if there is a stalemate.
A spokesperson with the Department of Natural Resources said if a company decides it wants to develop a mine on one of these sites, then there is duty to consult with Mi'kmaq communities.
Francis said that position is backwards, and is not in line with case law on the matter.
鈥淚t鈥檚 been clear that duty to consult begins when, in the minds of government, they鈥檙e anticipating activity that will affect rights,鈥 Francis said, adding that should happen before a company has made a decision on the site.
The lawyer said it would appear the province has not learned from the fallout of the Alton Gas cavern project, which was officially scrapped in fall 2021. The Alberta energy company abandoned its plan to create huge salt caverns north of Halifax to store natural gas more than 13 years after starting construction.聽
The company said at the time the project experienced challenges and delays, referring to opposition the project faced from Indigenous protesters and allies who opposed the company鈥檚 plan to remove large, underground salt deposits by flushing them out with water from the nearby Shubenacadie River. The plan also called for dumping the leftover brine into the tidal river, where it would flow into the Bay of Fundy.
In March 2020, a decision by the Nova Scotia Supreme Court ordered the province to resume consultations with Sipekne'katik First Nation on the matter and determined the former environment minister was wrong when she concluded the province had adequately consulted with the First Nation about the project.聽
鈥淭he province should have walked away from that decision and said, 鈥極K, lesson learned.鈥 The project never went forward. All the gas investors looked at it and said, 'This is just a mess now. Let's just walk away,鈥欌 Francis said.
The lawyer said it will be telling in the coming weeks if the province chooses to engage with Mi'kmaq communities or "if the province will march along in the same way it did before."聽
"Either we'll have a success story or we'll have another Alton Gas play out," she said.聽
Shiri Pasternak, a criminology professor at Toronto Metropolitan University and co-investigator of a research project called Infrastructure Beyond Extractivism, said the situation in Nova Scotia mirrors the expedited extraction movement that's happening across the country.聽
"What's happening to the Mi'kmaq in Nova Scotia is really proliferating as an attack on Indigenous and environmental rights across the country right now," she said in an interview Tuesday.聽
Pasternak said Nova Scotia is one of several provinces working to speed up extraction and development projects 鈥 moves that are supported by the federal government.
"We have this sweep of fast-tracked legislation and policy changes to the Environment Assessment Act, both provincially in Nova Scotia and in other places, but also federally in terms of the Impact Assessment Act in order to expedite development and extraction 鈥 most of which will be against the desires and the consent of Indigenous people across the country."
This report by 好色tvwas first published June 12, 2025.聽
