Mi’kmaw protesters and their supporters gather on Hunters Mountain in defiance of the Nova Scotia government’s omnibus bill that includes a change to Crown Land Act that would make such demonstrations illegal.
October 1, 2025
-by Beverley Phillips
The Nova Scotia government is facing harsh criticism from Mi’kmaq and environmental groups for its omnibus bill, saying it infringes on Indigenous rights, threatens freedom of speech and expression, and is outright authoritarian.
The Protecting Nova Scotians Act is a wide-ranging bill that creates one new Act and amends seven others. It created the new Social Insurance Number (SIN) Act which will prohibit organizations from collecting SINs for reasons other than legitimate purposes, such as for payroll. Amendments to other acts includes such provisions as support for victims of domestic abuse, increased requirements on bouncers, and stronger laws to prevent wrongful cremations.
But, it’s the changes to the Crown Land Act that has angered the Mi’kmaq and environmental groups. The amendment will make it illegal for forest access roads to be impeded or blocked, and officials will be allowed to remove structures without notice if they are deemed a public health and safety threat or a threat to economic activities. Harsh punishments accompany the changes, including heavy fines and imprisonment.
The Mi’kmaq have been on Hunter’s Mountain since September 4th protesting the clearcutting activities by Port Hawkesbury Paper (PHP).
While Premier Tim Houston denies that this has anything to do with the encampment, the community there feels targeted by it, as do other groups who have protested forestry management practices in the past, such as the spraying of glyphosphate.
On September 17, six days before the Nova Scotia government tabled of the bill, the Mi’kmaq on Hunter’s Mountain released a statement on what they want. They want an immediate halt to all destructive practices on the land so it can heal. They insist their voice be present at the table when the use of their land and resources is at stake. They also invited the representatives of the Crown to meet them in peace and friendship to learn about their inherent rights and hear from the people. Discussions affecting the mountain, they said, needs to include all who are on it. “There is no single leader authorized to speak for our people. We are a collective voice.”
When asked what they thought of the new development of the ominous bill, a liaison on the mountain who wishes to be known as John Q. L’Nu responded. He wrote in an email that the previous statement from September 17th still represents their views.
He further added, “It is clear Tim Houston has heard that we have invited him to join us in peace and friendship and become educated on our inherent rights, and he is so fearful he seeks instead to criminalize us. Many Mi'kmaq people in the past have suffered for doing exactly what we are doing on this mountain: peacefully gathering.”
He didn’t mince words as he continued to criticize Premier Houston, Growth and Development Minister Colton LeBlanc, and Natural Resources Minister Tory Rushton, calling them “spineless worms” and that they “are the next cowards in a long line of colonizers who have sought to commit genocide upon our people and rob us of our rights and resources. They should familiarize themselves with UNDRIP and specifically Article 43 of UNDRIP.”
Article 43 states that the rights in the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples are, “the minimum standards for the survival, dignity and well-being of the Indigenous peoples of the world.”
He feels their rights are being denied, and that it was “tone deaf” of the government to bring such legislation that targets them the week before the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation and Treaty Day.
L’Nu also wondered why so much taxpayer money and resources, like the use of the RCMP, are going towards monitoring and intimidating them when the province faces serious issues, like having the highest rate of human trafficking in the country, sitting at 6.3 incidents per 100,000 when the national average is 1.4 incidents per 100,000.
And yet, morale on the mountain is high, he said, and they are enjoying feasting, gathering medicines for teas, and holding community events.
The Assembly of Nova Scotia Mi’kmaw Chiefs released a statement denouncing the bill. “Despite repeated assurance, the provincial government continues to make significant legislative and policy announcements on natural resource development, without advance notice to, or discussion with, the Mi’kmaq. Several of the recent legislative amendments seem to target protest activity on Crown Lands, at a time when there are active community concerns about what is happening on Hunter’s Mountain. This should be a time for greater trust-building with the Mi’kmaq, not escalating tensions and aggressive enforcement action.”
Those representing environmental organizations also weighed in on the situation on Hunter’s Mountain and the new legislation.
Prior to the tabling of the legislation, Bob Bancroft, retired wildlife biologist and President of Nature Nova Scotia, wrote in the Halifax Examiner about the clearcutting issue on Hunter’s Mountain. He said, “The 2018 William Lahey forestry report, accepted by the government, recommended that any Crown licence renewals be subject to an equivalent form of ‘environmental assessment.’ Yet in 2023, the provincial government signed another 20-year agreement with PHP, with no such assessment.”
He continued, “Taxpayers are paying $5 million a year to PHP for forestry operations that severely degrade the sites, creating wildlife wastelands instead of ecologically diverse, naturally fire-resistant habitats on public lands.”
When it came to the omnibus bill itself and the proposed changes to the Crown Lands Act, Bancroft said his thoughts were reflected by the words of Beverley Wigney, an Annapolis Royal resident. She said that including these amendments in the bill allows the government to push it through Legislature without proper public consultation. Furthermore, the amendments and the punishments are overreaching and “intended to threaten and suppress public speech and expression.”
Bancroft added that this is a “power grab to promote industrial interests by limiting public abilities to ascertain what's happening in nature. Mr. Houston seems to have a close ear for the industries and a deaf ear for legitimate environmental concerns.”
The Ecology Action Centre (EAC) in Halifax released comments on the bill on their social media accounts. They affirmed that the Mi’kmaq have the right to be on their own unceded land and that with this bill, the Houston government has made it almost impossible for it to be properly scrutinized and debated. “Good legislation should be able to stand on its own,” said the EAC, but “this giant bill is yet another example of the Houston government's disturbing pattern of undemocratic and authoritarian behaviour, and it's deeply concerning.”
John Q. L’Nu echoed that sentiment in his closing comments, “Trying to justify authoritarianism for the sake of some fat cats bottom line should be a huge wake up call to all people in "Nova Scotia.”
