The electoral district of Inverness now and since 2021.
September 3, 2025
-by Rankin MacDonald
On August 29th, the independent Electoral Boundaries Commission released its interim report on the creation of a new riding to provide effective representation for the Acadian region of Chéticamp and area.
The last review of the province’s electoral boundaries took place in 2018-19. Reviews normally take place at least every ten years. This review, however, is taking place as a result of an order by the Supreme Court of Nova Scotia which ruled that the previous commission’s decision not to create an exceptional electoral district for Chéticamp violated Section 3 of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms.
Commission Chair Kenneth Deveau thanks everyone who attended its public consultation meetings in Chéticamp, Port Hawkesbury, and the town of Inverness on July 23rd and 24th.
“We take this work very seriously,” Mr. Deveau said. “We received a rich body of commentary during our first round of public consultation in the summer, and I encourage everyone to come to our fall meetings, or send us written submissions, and make their opinions heard.”
A second round of meetings is planned for October 4th to 6th in Mabou, Chéticamp, Margaree Forks, and Whycocomagh for further public consultation before the commission submits its final report to the Premier of Nova Scotia in early 2026.
Martin Chiasson of Cheticamp is a member of the nine-person commission.
Factors that justify deviating from voter parity include:
Geography
Citizens have a right to be able to access their MLA to share concerns and grievances. MLAs need to be able to effectively service their district. For that reason, the commission wanted to make certain any new district would not cover such a large area that it would create geographical barriers and limit access. This rationale is consistent with Justice McLachlin’s written insights in the Carter Decision and the 2018 commission’s decision to create an exceptional electoral district for Guysborough–Tracadie, as highlighted by Justice Muise in the 2024 Nova Scotia Supreme Court ruling.
As mentioned above, the commission did consider a non-contiguous district that would combine all or portions of the current Richmond riding with boundaries encompassing Chéticamp and area, and that could stretch as far north as Pleasant Bay or Meat Cove, for instance. However, this was rejected as it would create a barrier to access. The distances from the farthest points in the non-contiguous district would be comparable with those of the former Guysborough–Eastern Shore–Tracadie riding, from which the 2018 commission carved out an exceptional district for Guysborough–Tracadie.
Historical, cultural, or linguistic settlement patterns
The commission sought to understand Chéticamp and area’s long-standing historical, cultural, and linguistic settlement patterns and how that context influences citizens’ lives, identities, and social connections today. In particular – and in keeping with its mandate – the commission paid close attention to the need to protect minority voices. In this case, the focus was on the Acadian community. While Nova Scotia has and continues to recognize minorities such as the Acadians through a number of institutional means, the province’s electoral system structure pre-Carter put minority groups at a disadvantage in regard to their ability to attain effective representation by having an MLA who spoke their mother language and who had a shared cultural and socio-economic background.
Political boundaries
The commission considered the history of the area’s provincial political boundaries and how those have changed through time. For example, in 1981, Inverness County was split into two districts: Inverness North and Inverness South. In 1993 the districts of Inverness North and South were once again merged into one district, encompassing most of the county. Further changes included Inverness gaining the northern area of Inverness County from Victoria and Port Hawkesbury from Guysborough–Port Hawkesbury in 2003, losing the town of Port Hawkesbury to Cape Breton–Richmond in 2013, then regaining Port Hawkesbury in 2021.
The commission also considered that previous commissions recognized how traditional political boundaries (e.g., county and municipal) often reflect identities and communities of interest. For instance, after public consultations surrounding the previously configured electoral district of Queens–Shelburne, the 2018 commission drew boundaries to re-establish a riding encompassing Queens County in almost all of its entirety.
The commission came up with five possible boundary scenarios.
The first is to keep the Inverness Riding as it is today, but all other scenarios propose new ridings that would be carried out of Inverness, leaving the remainder of the original riding of Inverness and a new riding yet to be named.
There are currently 55 seats in the Nova Scotia Legislature. This would make 56.
Inverness has approximately 15,000 electors.
Proposed Scenario One would have a new district that would include the area to Doyle’s Bridge from the northern tip of Inverness County. Inverness would have 14,047 and the new district 2,805.
Proposed Scenario Two includes Cheticamp and the Margarees. Inverness would have 10,574 and the new District 3,924, to the tip of Inverness County.
Proposed Scenario Three would have an Inverness North and South. Inverness would have 8,590 electors and the new district 5,908. This scenario would divide a cultural community of interest (the Gaelic). Socioeconomically and culturally, the communities of Inverness, Mabou, Port Hood, and Judique are highly interconnected.
Proposed Scenario Four would result in Inverness and surrounding small communities being divided by moving the community of Inverness into the new district. Inverness (remainder) would have 10,070 electors and the new district 4,428.
Meat Cove would not be included in the new riding.
The majority of the presentation and the petition (426 signatures) favoured the Doyle’s Bridge option.
