From 1967 until January 2020, the Government of Nova Scotia permitted a local pulp and paper mill located near the Mi’kmaw community of Pictou Landing First Nation (PLFN) to pump 85 million litres of effluent per day into a wastewater treatment lagoon called the Boat Harbour Effluent Treatment Facility. This location was once a culturally significant tidal estuary, known to the community as A’se’k which provided food, medicine, berries, and recreation to the Mi’kmaw. Like many Indigenous communities facing similar challenges, PLFN worried about losing its connection to A’se’k, especially in terms of implications this would have for their language, cultural practices, spirituality and traditions, which are important to their overall health and well-being. Drawing on the wisdom of the Knowledge Holders in the community and literature on land displacement and environmental dispossession from the perspective of Indigenous Peoples, Lewis et al. (2021) used concepts in the Mi’kmaw language, with English explanations, to guide thinking away from a western-centric analysis of how Indigenous Peoples are impacted. This method allowed for a more appropriate analysis, where Pictou Landing First Nation recognized the outcomes as relevant to their lived experiences. Studying interconnected phenomena like those at A’se’k in the context of land displacement and environmental dispossession enhances our understanding of how environmental change impacts the health of Indigenous Peoples.
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