Supporters gather at Hunters Mountain protest in downtown Halifax

More than 100 people gathered last weekend at a Halifax Commons ball diamond to support a blockade of a logging site in Cape Breton.

The Shoulder to Shoulder: We Are All Treaty People rally was organized to support Mi’kmaq land defenders currently blocking a road at a Port Hawkesbury Paper logging site at Hunters Mountain, near Baddeck, about 90 kilometres west of Sydney. The rally took place on Nov. 15.

“When someone tries to bully you, what do you do? You team up and stand up, shoulder to shoulder,” Nina Newington, a founding member of the environmental advocacy group Save Our Old Forests, told the crowd.  

 “I was just thrilled by the turnout. And so much of it was improvised, working together between settlers and Mi’kmaq,” she said in an interview after the event. “Seeing so many different groups coming together was kind of amazing.”

One of the attendees was Vlad Penda, a high school student who came bearing a sign he made at his local eco-club.

“I came out to the rally today because I feel that protecting the environment is important and showing up to this opportunity is just one way of getting my voice out and telling other people that … every inch of the forest needs to be protected for future generations,” Penda said.

The rally crowd was dotted with signs, including some protesting the provincial government.

On Oct. 3, the province passed Bill 127, clearing the way for protesters to be arrested and removed from protest sites like Hunters Mountain (Tqamuoweye’katik).

Port Hawkesbury Paper has suspended operations in the area in response to the Mi’kmaw blockade. Land defenders say they have no plan to leave the mountain.

Elder Albert Marshall was the first to address the crowd, speaking out against environmental injustice.

“I’m sure the legacy and the energy that’s going to be generated here will motivate and empower others to speak up (against) injustices,” he said.

Seventeen-year-old Donald Marshall (the son of Donald Marshall Jr., noted Mi’kmaw rights leader and activist) also spoke at the rally. He shared a memory of Tim Houston, who stopped at the Marshall family home while campaigning in 2021. Marshall says his mother made the future premier promise that he would never infringe on her son’s treaty rights.

“Not only did Tim Houston lie to a little boy, he lied to his single mother and he lied to the Mi’kmaw nation,” Marshall said.

Other rally speakers spoke about uranium mining, fracking, environmental racism and protecting parks such as West Mabou Beach.

Earlier in the week, the province announced that a proposed golf course development would not proceed at West Mabou. The proposal was met with strong objection from local and environmental activists.

“If you need to know what to do,” said Michelle Paul of Acadia First Nation, one of the event’s organizers, “go ask somebody who’s from Mabou.”

Another was Maureen Woodlock, a local woman who says she’s “not too happy with the uranium, the fracking and all the clear cutting, the spraying, the golf course, the whole works.”