Amnesty International joins fight for Nova Scotia dump site cleanup and safe water

An international organization that often finds itself at the centre of human rights conflicts in developing countries has turned its attention to a small town in southwest Nova Scotia.

Amnesty International has joined a long-standing community fight to bring clean water to a settlement of African Nova Scotians whose properties have wells and are next to an old garbage dump that operated for 70 years in Shelburne.

There are concerns the dump has contaminated well water and caused high rates of cancer among the approximately 50 Black residents who live close by. 

Members of Amnesty’s Canadian office toured the area in late October to hear first-hand stories of historical and ongoing concerns.

“It was eye-opening to see what’s happening, it was also a shock,” David Matsinhe, the group’s director of research, policy and advocacy, said in an interview from Ottawa.

The dump is now a fenced-off scrubby bank that conceals decades of buried and burned waste from sources such as residences, the local hospital and a military base. Before it closed in 2016, stoves, fridges and oil tanks were heaped onto the pile.

“It’s very difficult to believe that we are in a First World country because those conditions don’t represent a First World country,” Matsinhe said.

Matsinhe said this is a matter of fundamental human rights — the rights to clean drinking water and to land tenure.

“They’ve told us that people had to abandon their house because of health issues that began after, you know, the dump had been there for a long time,” he said.

After the visit, Amnesty drafted a letter to Shelburne town council and the mayor in support of the residents “as they work to address long-standing environmental and racial injustices.”

Amnesty urged officials to provide safe drinking water, a cleanup of the dump site and accountability for what's “widely recognized as a case of environmental racism.”

Shelburne Mayor Stan Jacklin declined an interview request, telling CBC News in a statement "the Town is going to reserve public comment until we have completed further review and have more comprehensive historical information available."

Jacklin's mayoral biography says he is the president of SEED, the South End Environmental Injustice Society, "a volunteer organization focused on delivering clean drinking water to the residents of Shelburne and beyond."

Louise Delisle, who founded SEED in 2016, has been outspoken about the issue over the years and her advocacy has led to conflict with town officials.