Mi’kmaq-led study to test moose for DDT and glyphosate contamination

Posted on July 11, 2026 by brucewark

By: John Chilibeck, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter
Source: The Daily Gleaner
July 9, 2026

Bald eagle about to fly in Alaska. Photo: Andy Morffew, Wikipedia

The soaring comeback of the bald eagle uplifts Ethan Augustine.

The senior biologist with the North Shore Mi’kmaq Tribal Council says the banning of the pesticide DDT in New Brunswick in 1968 allowed the large bird of prey to thrive once again.

“I remember being a kid and you’d be, like, ‘Oh, there’s an eagle. That’s so cool,’ because it was so rare,” says Augustine who is from the Mi’kmaq community of Metepenagiag, on the Miramichi, river.

“But now you’ll see six in one tree, and then you’ll go 15 minutes down the road, and there are four more in another tree. You’re seeing all kinds of them.”

Massive amounts of aerial spraying of the chemical in the 1950s and 1960s killed spruce budworm – an enemy of the lumber and paper industry – but also made its way into fish that the eagles would eat. The contaminants in their bodies made their eggshells thinner and weaker, causing them to break before chicks could hatch.

Over time, the bald eagle population plunged, until DDT was banned.

“It is good that they made a comeback because the eagle is such a culturally important species for the Mi’kmaq and Wolastoqey,” Augustine says, referring to his people in eastern New Brunswick and the other major Indigenous group on the western side of the province.

“We never got so much as an apology for almost wiping out one of our most culturally important species, right?”

Augustine also wonders how the old use of DDT and the chemical glyphosate, still sprayed by the pulp and paper industry to kill young broadleaf trees to promote the growth of evergreens, has affected another culturally significant species: moose.

Bull moose browses beaver pond. Photo: Walter Ezell, Wikipedia

This week, his tribal council announced it had secured $150,000 in federal funding to study whether those chemicals are affecting moose, or tia’m, the traditional food for Mi’kmaq. The project will test moose liver tissue for DDT, glyphosate and their metabolites in the Miramichi area and the Acadian peninsula.

It will combine lab testing with community knowledge to help understand whether contaminants are entering the food source and what further action could help prevent contamination.

Moose hunting was completely banned in New Brunswick between 1937 and 1960 because of overhunting, but since then, the animals have had a successful resurgence.

Last year, more than 58,000 New Brunswickers – or 7% of the entire population – applied for just under 4,800 available moose hunting licences, one of the most popular lotteries around.

Indigenous communities hold their own fall moose hunts, typically in the weeks after New Brunswick’s strictly regulated five-day hunt that takes place in late September.

Augustine said the regular and Indigenous hunts are separated to ensure less pressure is put on the animals and the environment.

Each First Nation, he says, will typically bag between two and 10 moose for communal purposes, dividing them up for elders and families. Individuals who want to exercise their Aboriginal treaty rights can also go hunt in the fall when they want.

Augustine, who has successfully hunted four moose himself over the years, says his people want to ensure the animals remain healthy.

The study hopes to combine traditional Indigenous knowledge and western academic research using what the Mi’kmaq call Etuaptmumk, or Two-Eyed Seeing.

The liver tissue of 40 moose will be tested for DDT, glyphosate, and their metabolites through accredited analytical laboratories based at Canadian universities, with support from academic researchers. The project will begin with community talks ahead of sample collection during this year’s and next year’s fall hunts.

Community feedback will help guide how information is gathered, understood, and shared, the organizers say, with the results “brought back to communities and leadership to support future conversations about moose, traditional food, and pesticide concerns in New Brunswick forests,” according to a news release.

Josh Kurek, professor in the Mt. A. geography & environment dept. Photo: Mount Allison University

Josh Kurek, a professor at Mount Allison University who’s studied the persistent effect of DDT on lake trout in New Brunswick, and Katherine Chong, a PhD student at McGill University in Montreal who studies Indigenous health, are also participating in the research.

“This project is about making sure concerns from our communities are taken seriously, especially when they involve traditional food and what is happening in our forests,” said Jim Ward, the general manager of the tribal council, which represents seven of nine Mi’kmaq communities in New Brunswick.

“We are going to look at this through Indigenous Knowledge and lab testing, and make sure what we learn is brought back to our community members.”

Augustine says that the banning of DDT spraying likely improved moose health over time. However, Kurek’s research showed that the chemical is still in the environment of north-central New Brunswick, 58 years after it was last sprayed.

“Where we’re finding it in the bottom of lakes and in lake sediments, that’s where moose often forage,” Augustine said.

“Moose are known to go underwater up to 20 feet to eat the aquatic plants they love. So, DDT could be in their system too, not just trout. It could be that it affects their liver, but not their muscle tissue. It could be found in both. We just don’t know.”

The scientist said once the findings are ready, they’ll be made public.

“If for some reason DDT is adversely affecting our traditional food sources, we want someone to be held accountable for it, right?”

This story was written by Local Journalism Initiative Reporter John Chilibeck of Brunswick News.

Posted in Environment, Interesting people, LJI stories, Mount Allison University | 1 Comment

120 demonstrators line Sackville bridge saying fight isn’t over against NB Power gas plant

Posted on July 9, 2026 by brucewark

Demonstrators wave to honking cars & trucks passing under the Main St. bridge at TransCanada Exit 504

About 120 demonstrators waved to passing traffic on the TransCanada highway and on Sackville’s Main Street Thursday in the latest protest against NB Power’s plans for a 500 MW gas peaker plant near Centre Village.

“The turnout today is amazing,” said Tantramar MLA Megan Mitton. “We’re getting a lot of honks and a lot of support as folks drive by and I think it really shows that there’s no social licence for this project in our community.”

Truckers and motorists honked their horns before whizzing under the bridge on the busy highway

Mitton said the demonstration as well as the Protect the Chignecto Isthmus Coalition’s application for a judicial review of the Energy & Utility Board’s decision to approve the gas plant shows that the community hasn’t given up the fight against the gas plant.

MLA Megan Mitton at today’s demonstration

“I think it’s important that we show that we haven’t given up, that we show that this is still really important to us, and that even though it’s summertime, people are taking this beautiful sunny day to stand up and get the message out, and the Holt government needs to be listening,” Mitton said.

She added that NB Power should be listening too.

“New Brunswickers want to move away from burning fossil fuels and towards renewable energy. And it won’t happen overnight, but it needs to happen. And we need to be strategic about it. Unfortunately, NB Power seems to be allergic to renewables, to solar. And it’s hard to even understand their logic, but they are definitely stuck in a different century,” Mitton said.

Hudson Rogers and Fern Losier said a gas peaker plant would threaten wildlife on the ecologically sensitive Chignecto Isthmus

“I’m here because I’m a student in chemistry and I’ve heard about all the contaminants and all the pollution that gas plants do,” said Université de Moncton student Hudson Rogers.

“I think it’s a very bad idea, plain and simple. I care a lot about the birds and I’ve heard about how gas plants and processing gas can harm them,” he added, referring to the deaths in 2013 of 7,500 songbirds that flew into a burning gas flare at the Canaport LNG facility in Saint John.

“I’ve been going to anti-fracking protests since I was a very young child in Moncton and my parents very much raised me to care a lot about the environment,” said Fern Loiselle who is a recent graduate of U de M.

“I consider myself a naturalist where I very much believe that nature has their own rights. Rivers have river rights, trees have tree rights, humans have human rights,” she said, adding that there are endangered bats on the Isthmus as well as golden and bald eagles and plants that need protection in that space.

“And because humans are the ones destroying it, humans need to be the ones defending it as well and that’s why I’m here today.”

Ward 4 Councillor Kristen LeBlanc

“I think this demonstration is spectacular,” said Tantramar councillor Kristen LeBlanc whose ward includes Centre Village where NB Power wants to put the gas plant.

“As I rolled up and parked my vehicle, I kind of started to get a little bit teary-eyed to see how much compassion there is towards this municipality. And it’s not just people from the municipality that showed up, it’s people from the surrounding areas, Memramcook and Moncton, and it’s just a spectacular turnout,” she said.

LeBlanc added that she plans to introduce a motion at next week’s council meeting reaffirming Tantramar’s official opposition to the gas plant.

The meeting will be held on Tuesday, July 14th exactly one year after NB Power issued its news release announcing its plan for a Centre Village gas plant.

LeBlanc pointed to the meeting agenda showing that NB Power VP Brad Coady is scheduled to make a presentation to council.

“Yes, it will be a year to the day,” she said. “Yes, happy anniversary,” she added with an ironic smile.

Posted in NB Power, New Brunswick politics, Town of Tantramar | Tagged | 2 Comments

As N.B. pledges stronger right to info law, expert questions secrecy over Tantramar fire reports

Posted on July 6, 2026 by brucewark

Toby Mendel, executive director, Centre for Law and Democracy. Photo: CLD

An international expert on right to information (RTI) is welcoming New Brunswick’s  goal of making its Right to Information and Protection of Privacy Act (RTIPPA) one of the strongest laws of its kind in Canada.

“We almost never see government officials making that kind of commitment,” Toby Mendel said last week during a telephone interview with Warktimes.

Mendel, who is executive director of the Centre for Law and Democracy (CLD) in Halifax, was referring to last month’s news release saying the Holt government would like to strengthen RTIPPA next year so that it reaches 100 points on the CLD rating scale.

“To me, that was a really exceptional statement,” Mendel said. “I don’t know whether they will live up to that, but they said it, so they should live up to it.”

At the moment, RTIPPA ranks last among Canadian provinces, territories and the federal government with only 75 points out of a possible 150 partly because the government doesn’t publicize it enough and partly because the law has too many vague exceptions allowing officials to withhold broad classes of information without having to show that releasing the information would cause significant harm.

Canadian RTI Ratings
Province / Territory Rating Province / Territory Rating
Newfoundland and Labrador 112 Quebec 84
Manitoba 96 Nova Scotia 83
British Columbia 95 Northwest Territories 83
Canada (national law) 95 Nunavut 82
Prince Edward Island 94 Saskatchewan 82
Yukon 93 Alberta 78
Ontario 90 New Brunswick 75
Source: Centre for Law and Democracy

Provincial review

The Centre for Law and Democracy and 44 other professionals and groups, including Warktimes, made oral or written submissions to provincial officials who conducted a review of RTIPPA last year.

Their report with 48 recommendations to strengthen the law by next spring was released on June 18.

Although the report does mention narrowing certain exceptions that allow officials to withhold information, it does not specifically refer to one that prohibits the release of records from a harassment or personnel investigation.

In 2021, former Sackville CAO Jamie Burke classified the Montana Consulting Group’s workplace assessment of the Sackville fire department as a personnel investigation.

His refusal to release its recommendations under that RTIPPA exception was upheld first by the New Brunswick Ombud and then by the Court of King’s Bench.

Now, the town of Tantramar is citing the same RTIPPA exception to justify its refusal to release any information from the latest investigation into Sackville Fire & Rescue conducted by the Saint John firm VanBuskirk Law.

Public interest override

“I don’t support those kinds of exceptions,” says Toby Mendel.

“It’s not clear to me what this exception is trying to protect. Every exception should identify an interest and protect that interest against harm.”

He adds that RTIPPA already has provisions to protect privacy and any identifying information could be redacted or blacked out to protect privacy.

“The whole idea here is to get as much information out as possible,” he says, adding that CLD advocates overriding exceptions when an important public interest is at stake.

“Access to information is a human right, even in Canada, and certainly under international law, it’s been recognized as a human right,” he says.

Town’s legal & HR costs re Sackville Fire & Rescue

Year Cost item Amount
2021 Montana Consulting Group workplace assessment $27,548.90
2024 Town’s legal costs in fighting Coun. Bruce Phinney’s court case seeking release of Montana recommendations $13,572.30
2026 VanBuskirk Law workplace investigation $23,053.85
Total $64,175.05

Note: In March, Court of King’s Bench Justice Kathryn Gregory ruled that Saint John police officers’ complaints against Chief Robert Bruce should be made public under the open court principle. “Police complaints, even if in the context of employment related issues, are of concern and interest to the public,” she ruled.

To read a CBC report on her ruling, click here. For the full text, click here.

To read the report on the provincial review of RTIPPA, click here.

To read the CLD submission to the RTIPPA review committee, click here.

To read  the town’s denial of my access to information request for the VanBuskirk report, click here.

For previous Warktimes coverage on the dismal state of New Brunswick’s right to info law, click here.

Posted in Sackville Fire & Rescue, Town of Sackville, Town of Tantramar | Tagged , , | 3 Comments

Mt. A. prof says secrecy prevents public from judging Tantramar’s handling of fire dept. crisis

Posted on July 4, 2026 by brucewark

Mount Allison Politics Professor Geoff Martin. Photo contributed

A Mt. A. professor who studies municipal politics is questioning the town’s continuing refusal to release information that could help residents understand what went wrong inside Sackville Fire & Rescue and why former Chief Craig Bowser is no longer with the department.

Geoff Martin says, for example, residents should know the terms of any possible financial settlement with Bowser so they could judge to what extent he was or was not to blame for the continuing turmoil that brought the number of volunteer firefighters this year to only 18 out of a full departmental complement of 43.

“I think the reason any settlement needs to become public is that it would allow people to gauge if the town had cause to dismiss him as chief,” Martin said during a telephone interview.

He added that if Bowser received only a small financial settlement, it could indicate he was largely to blame for the ongoing fire department crisis, while a bigger settlement would suggest the town could not win a lawsuit for wrongful dismissal.

“Was this individual supervised properly and assuming he was evaluated every two years, did he ever get an unsatisfactory performance rating?” Martin asked.

“Was a case ever built, so that legally speaking, he could be fired for minimal cost in terms of legal fees?”

Martin said that without knowing the terms of any settlement, the public will never know.

Public’s right to know

Martin referred to a previous case that occurred after he was elected to Sackville town council in 1998.

“There is that past precedent in the Dennis Egyedy case where Sackville council provided an incentive for him to resign as CAO,” he said.

“I was chair of the finance committee and may also have been chair of the personnel committee and a majority of council agreed, this is the people’s money and so we told the public the financial settlement was $47,500,” he said.

“And if the council has to take lumps for having done this, then so be it, right? The people need to know how their money is being spent.”

Martin says these days there’s a tendency to treat a municipality not as a democracy where citizens have a right to know, but more as a pseudo-corporation where the shareholders are seen as a nuisance.

Blanket secrecy

He also questions the secrecy around the findings of the VanBuskirk law firm’s investigation into workplace turmoil within Sackville Fire & Rescue.

“I think some kind of summary of the VanBuskirk report would help the whole community move on,” he says, adding that the recruitment of more volunteer firefighters has obviously been a problem.

“When you just get bland assurances from management telling you, ‘Oh, you know we’ve got a plan,’ well, tell us what the plan is and how it relates to what the investigators found,” he says.

“Tantramar is a very diverse town, and one thing you could ask yourself is, ‘Well, are we trying to recruit non-traditional people to the department and making sure that they feel welcome,’ i.e., like how many women in the department? That’s more than half the population,” he says.

“We’re increasingly, especially among young people, this is an increasingly racialized community. So what about racialized people in the department?

“So I think, you know, those are questions too and it’s harder to ask those questions when you really don’t know what the investigation found.”

This is the first of a two-part series. Next, the flaws in the town’s case for keeping HR matters secret.

Posted in Mount Allison University, Sackville Fire & Rescue, Town of Sackville, Town of Tantramar | Tagged , | 4 Comments

Paddlers try to put a damper on ‘nation-building’ mine project

Posted on July 3, 2026 by brucewark

By: John Chilibeck, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter
Source: The Daily Gleaner
July 2, 2026

More than 100 paddlers glide down the Nashwaak River on Saturday June 27, in opposition to the proposed Sisson tungsten and molybdenum mine near Fredericton. Photo: Valerya Edelman, NB Media Co-op

More than 100 people canoed and kayaked together on the Nashwaak and St. John rivers last weekend, as a protest paddle against a mining project that has the enthusiastic support of New Brunswick’s premier and the prime minister.

One of the leaders of the flotilla was Ron Tremblay, who for the last 10 years has served as the traditional Wolastoqey grand chief.

He told Brunswick News the people who paddled leisurely for more than two hours from the Marysville Heritage Centre on the Nashwaak to the St. John River near the Princess Margaret Bridge in Fredericton were deeply concerned about the proposed Sisson mine.

The mine’s location near the headwaters of the Nashwaak about 113 kilometres north of the provincial capital has raised fears that a large berm and tailings pond planned for the site could pollute the wider watershed if it breaches.

Saturday’s fine weather event, dubbed the Great Paddle, was organized by Stop Sisson Mine Coalition, the Nashwaak Watershed Association and Wolastoq Grand Council.

“We wanted to educate more people who aren’t aware of the proposed mine,” the chief said on Monday.

“As well, we wanted to bring people together, just to show how important and sacred our river systems are, and that we need to protect them from any further pollution.”

Carney, Holt support mine

Sisson Mine in last year of operation with approximately 145-hectare open pit, 370 metres deep and tailings pond of over 350 million cubic metres. Figures from Conservation Council of New Brunswick. Photo: Northcliffe Resources Ltd.

Northcliff Resources, based out Vancouver, wants to develop the open-pit tungsten and molybdenum mine near the headwaters and the old village of Stanley. The two heavy metals are used by manufacturers for a wide variety of products.

After being stalled for decades, the project received a huge boost last year from the U.S. Department of War and the government of Canada when they announced $29 million in funding to accelerate its pre-construction and feasibility phases.

Prime Minister Carney later endorsed Sisson as a nation-building project. Premier Susan Holt says the mine promises to create hundreds of jobs over a lifetime and fill government coffers with tens of millions of royalties that could be used to help pay for hospitals and schools.

The CEO of the company, Andrew Ing, told Brunswick News last year his company was working on an updated feasibility study for the project that he hoped to have completed by the second quarter of this year, which ends June 30. He anticipated the project would begin digging the valuable metals out of the ground by 2030.

Over the last couple of weeks, repeated calls and emails to the company by Brunswick News have gone unanswered.

Minister of Natural Resources John Herron declined an interview request.

However, in a prepared statement on Tuesday, he told Brunswick News that his Liberal government’s new critical minerals strategy recognized the growing global demand for precious commodities while placing strong emphasis on environmental stewardship, Indigenous and community engagement, scientific oversight, and transparent regulatory processes.

“We believe New Brunswick has an opportunity to play a significant role in supplying the world with minerals needed for clean energy technologies and economic growth,” the provincial minister said.

“However, any project moving forward in this province must meet rigorous environmental standards and demonstrate that it can operate safely and responsibly,” he added.

No meetings with local council

Mayor David Sweeney. Photo: Nashwaak Rural Community

David Sweeney, the mayor of Nashwaak Rural Community, isn’t convinced. He took part in the paddle protest.

“I participated because I felt it was important to show support for the community members who have been raising concerns,” he told Brunswick News in an email Monday.

“My role requires me to stay connected to the people I serve, and being present there was part of that responsibility.”

Last February, his council raised similar concerns with Sisson.

“Council supports development that is done responsibly and with full transparency,” Sweeney said at the time in a prepared statement.

“However, the protection of the Nashwaak and Tay watersheds is not negotiable. These waters are fundamental not only to our community, but to the downstream communities and ecosystems that rely on them.”

The statement warned that his community would suffer disproportionally if there were a tailings breach. It also said the council remained concerned that the company hadn’t met key environmental requirements yet, nor meaningfully engaged with the local politicians up to that point.

Sweeney said that nothing has changed since then.

“There has not been any meaningful interaction with council,” he wrote Monday.

“We have not received commitments for a meeting, nor has there been substantive follow-up from them.”

Poisoned waters

The elected chiefs and councils of the six Wolastoqey communities in the St. John River valley, whose traditional territory includes the Nashwaak watershed, have already given tacit approval to the mine by accepting a multimillion-dollar accommodation agreement with the provincial government in 2017 that will give them a share of future royalties from the project.

Ron Tremblay does not feel bound by that agreement. He became leader of the Wolastoqey Grand Council after being selected by several elders from the Indigenous communities.

He said from an economic standpoint, he didn’t think locals would benefit from the hundreds of construction and mining jobs that would be created, pointing out that much of the work would be carried about by unionized crews from other places.

Ron Tremblay, traditiional Wolastoqey grand chief. Photo: St. Thomas University

But he is chiefly against the mine for environmental reasons. Last November and early December, he travelled half way around the world to New Zealand, where he said he met two representatives of the Todd Group, major investors in Northcliff. The Grand Council also participated in an online meeting with Northcliff executives earlier this year. He described both meetings as polite and cordial.

“They reassured us that the mine was years away from being developed,” he said. “I told them to look at the footage of what happened with fracking near Rexton. I said, ‘we are not a violent people, we are very peaceful,’ but that we wanted to make sure that, you know, our people were safe, and I said the majority of our people who have spoken do not want that mine here.”

In October 2013, RCMP tried to remove a blockade near Rexton in eastern New Brunswick led by people from the Mi’kmaq community of Elsipogtog and their supporters, who had been trying to stop the company Southwestern Energy Resources (SWN) from doing exploratory testing for shale gas.

A massive fight ensued, with dozens arrested and several RCMP vehicles burned. SWN workers eventually left the province and never returned.

Asked if he’d be willing to compromise if Northcliff put in stronger environmental safeguards for the mine, Tremblay said no.

The chief referred to the 2014 catastrophe at Mount Polley, B.C., when the unexpected collapse of a tailings pond dam released about 24 billion litres of toxic mining wastewater and sediment into Polley Lake, Hazeltine Creek, and pristine Quesnel Lake.

The contamination is still being felt today, both in studies done on fish and plant life and for Indigenous communities who draw their drinking water from those water bodies.

“For the Indigenous people, the First Nations people, who relied on that area for water, drinking water, recreation, and fishing and food, it was all poisoned, and even still today, they haven’t recovered from that,” the chief said.

Tremblay is not persuaded by arguments that hundreds of other Canadian mines have been running since then without major incidents.

“The animals, birds and insects will be poisoned when they drink the water in the toxic tailings pond. We can’t allow that to happen.”

This story was written by Local Journalism Initiative Reporter John Chilibeck of Brunswick News.

To read an NB Media Co-op report on the paddle protest by Chris Thompson, click here.

Posted in Environment, LJI stories | Tagged | Leave a comment

First Nations Chiefs & Holt gov’t mum on fracking

Posted on June 28, 2026 by brucewark

By: John Chilibeck, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter
Source: The Daily Gleaner
June 27, 2026

Allan Polchies, chief of Sitansisk or St. Mary’s First Nation. Photo: Wolastoqey Nation

More than a week after Premier Susan Holt held a closed-door meeting with New Brunswick’s First Nations chiefs, her Liberal government is still not saying anything about one of the main topics of discussion – the explosive issue of drilling for natural gas.

Brunswick News has talked to several chiefs who confirmed that the idea of exploiting the resource was part of the talks, a sensitive issue in a province where pushback from opponents, including Indigenous demonstrators, led to a moratorium on fracking that has been in place for a dozen years.

Allan Polchies, the chief of Sitansisk or St. Mary’s First Nation in Fredericton, said in an interview at a community event this week that natural gas was just one of several discussion points in the June 17 meeting with the premier.

“Well, of course, everyone’s going to have opinions on it. You know, definitely, we will have engagements with our citizens of our nation and have strong conversations about it. But, you know, that’s way, way down the road at this point.”

Polchies said his First Nation council would hold wider discussions with the community on the issue in the future. Asked for his personal opinion on whether gas should be drilled, Polchies smiled.

“I don’t decide for the people, the people decide for me,” he said. Then he made a joke. “You know I’m up for re-election in October, right?”

Sensitive issue

The idea of drilling for gas comes at a volatile time. The Liberal government is under pressure to fix its budget deficit, which at $1.4 billion is a record in the province, about one-tenth of its overall budget.

Natural gas exploitation could potentially win the province tens of millions of dollars in royalties. Geologists think New Brunswick has an estimated 70 trillion cubic feet of the resource underground, mostly in the Frederick Brook shale between Sussex and Elgin, although there are other pockets north of Fredericton and Moncton.

Prime Minister Carney has tried to position Canada as an energy superpower and talked about natural gas as a transition fuel that emits fewer greenhouse gases than oil or coal would when burned. One of his key cabinet ministers, Dominic LeBlanc, recently suggested the Government of Canada would enthusiastically support the New Brunswick government if it chose to lift the province’s shale gas moratorium.

At the same time, Holt has tried hard to improve relations between the provincial government and First Nations, building a lot of goodwill that former Progressive Conservative Premier Blaine Higgs, an ardent gas industry supporter, didn’t have.

But there are still huge environmental concerns. Opponents say shale gas drilling would still contribute to dangerous greenhouse gases that warm the planet at an alarming rate, pollute the air and deplete fresh water in vast amounts. They also warn of the chemical cocktail in the wastewater left behind.

More than a decade ago, hundreds of members from the province’s biggest First Nation, Elsipogtog, helped stop the American firm SWN Resources from doing exploratory work within what they consider their traditional territory near Rexton, not far from the eastern coast.

On Oct. 17, 2013, ongoing protests over the work led to an RCMP raid on blockades and an encampment that quickly turned ugly. Several police cruisers were torched. Dozens of people, many of them Indigenous, were arrested. When the Liberal government of Brian Gallant took over in 2014, it quickly imposed a moratorium on new exploration and drilling, stating it couldn’t be lifted until five conditions were met.

They include getting social licence through community consultations, First Nations buy-in, clear and credible scientific information on the impacts of fracking on water, air, and public health, proper wastewater management, and proof of the economic benefit.

‘Fighting over nothing’?

Brunswick News asked spokespeople from the Department of Indigenous Affairs and the premier’s office about the meeting with the chiefs, and for the provincial government’s perspective on the talks about the possibility of developing natural gas.

They acknowledged the request and then did not reply to several follow up messages. Holt is on vacation this week, but a request to interview Indigenous Affairs Minister Keith Chiasson was ignored.

Frank McKenna in 2023 during an interview with Warktimes

Former Liberal premier Frank McKenna, a huge supporter of natural gas development, told Brunswick News at a recent community event in Fredericton he could understand the Holt government’s delicate situation.

Asked if he had discussed the issue with Holt, he laughed and said he’d talked to every premier since he left office in 1997 about the need to develop natural gas.

McKenna said the world had changed since the moratorium was introduced in 2014.

“At a time when we’re running budget deficits of over a billion dollars a year, at a time when the entire country is trying to deal with this existential threat from south of the border, at a time where Europe desperately needs access to gas from sources other than Russia, I think it’s only natural that New Brunswick look at this issue and try to determine exactly how large your resource is. Because we may be fighting over nothing, or we may be fighting over something very substantial.”

McKenna, who sits on the board of Canadian Natural Resources Limited, one of the country’s largest independent crude oil and natural gas producers, said the Holt government would have to move step by step to try to lift the moratorium.

“First of all, we need to create the social license to move, and the premier seems to be systematically working at that. I think we need to gather intelligence. By that, I mean, we need to assess the nature of the resource, and at some point, we would need to have geothermal work done, and seismic work could determine what the resource looks like,” he said.

“Until we know that, we’re fighting over nothing.”

This story was written by Local Journalism Initiative Reporter John Chilibeck of Brunswick News.

Posted in Environment, Indigenous affairs, LJI stories | Tagged , | 1 Comment

Costly choices ahead for Wheaton Covered Bridge as town weighs its future

Posted on June 23, 2026 by brucewark

Interior shot of the Wheaton Covered Bridge showing holes in the roof and the closure sign installed in July 2024

Tantramar Town Engineer Jon Eppell painted a grim picture Monday as he outlined various options for the future of the 110-year-old Wheaton Covered Bridge on the High Marsh Road.

“There is a very significant cost to doing anything with this bridge and it is not a one-time cost,” Eppell told town council.

“These types of bridges require frequent maintenance, something significant every five years and something quite significant, much more costly to do, every 15 to 20 years,” he said, as he outlined four options if the town chooses to take ownership of the bridge from the province.

But he also warned that an engineering study that would cost about $75,000 would be needed before any options could be considered.

Eppell said restoring the Wheaton Covered Bridge as a recreational crossing for pedestrians and cyclists would probably cost more than a million dollars while repairing and moving it to a new location would likely cost significantly more.

He said the bridge could be dismantled with the wood reused as a gazebo or benches that would maintain some elements of its history.

He said the town could build a much smaller ‘replica’ covered bridge at another site, an option that could cost several million dollars or it could simply let the province retain ownership, remove the bridge and dispose of it.

Parallel bridge

Town Engineer Jon Eppell

Eppell noted that the Department of Transportation and Infrastructure (DTI) is planning to install a two-lane parallel bridge nearby that could accommodate road traffic and heavy farm vehicles.

DTI is close to purchasing the land that would be needed, Eppell said, and might build the parallel bridge next year.

“The reason that they have chosen to go on a parallel alignment is to allow Tantramar some time to sort out what we want to do as a community,” he said.

Deputy Mayor Josh Goguen suggested that moving the bridge onto the TransCanada trail might be a good idea.

“But I would like to see what the community wants to do with it before we come to some type of conclusion,” he said.

Councillor Alyssa Greene wondered what the people who built the bridge would want the town to do with it now.

“Would they say, ‘throw good money after something that’s broken’ or ‘construct something that’s serviceable to the community now?'” she asked, adding that she felt her forebears would say to build something useful, but preserve what they did in spirit and knowledge.

“I suspect the people that built that bridge would be amazed that it’s still around and that we haven’t replaced it with something more modern,” Eppell replied.

“It was fairly easy for them to build, but it was untreated timber out on the marsh very close to salt water and everything else and quite damp in those areas, so I think that this bridge has lasted 110 years is rather remarkable,” he said.

“We’ve gotten the money out of this one,” he added.

Mayor Wiggins-Colwell noted that it would cost DTI a million dollars to dismantle and dispose of the bridge and suggested that perhaps the town could use that money to restore it as a recreational bridge for pedestrians and cyclists.

“I think we need a lot more discussion on the Wheaton Covered Bridge,” she said.

Later, during the public question period, CAO Jennifer Borne acknowledged that the previous council had authorized the formation of a citizen’s committee to identify funding sources to restore the bridge and to integrate it into the town’s trail systems.

“Given the conversation this afternoon,” Borne said, “I hear from council that they’re still looking to form a committee.”

Symbol of old marsh

Logan Atkinson, past president Tantramar Heritage Trust

Logan Atkinson, past president of Tantramar Heritage Trust, says he’s glad to hear the town is still planning to form an ad hoc citizens committee.

“I would have liked to have seen the committee established in January or February, shortly after the resolution was passed by council,” he says.

“We do now have some time to get ourselves organized,” he adds, “but every month that goes by means the bridge is getting less and less secure and that’s a worry. So, let’s go, we’re ready to go.”

Atkinson says he would like to see the bridge restored for recreational use and as a tourist attraction along with the nearby TransCanada trail, the Campbell Carriage Factory Museum and one of the last hay barns on the High Marsh Road that is owned by Tantramar Heritage Trust.

“Package that together? Oh my gosh. You know, that’s a tourist mecca. Like, people on bikes and hiking and look, everybody would love that.”

Atkinson says that dismantling the bridge and using the wood to build something else would be like saying the old bridge itself has no value.

“Let’s not give up. This is one of the last remaining real symbols of the old marsh that we all inherited. And let’s really see what we can do with it.”

To read Jon Eppell’s written report on the Wheaton Covered Bridge, click here.

Posted in Town of Tantramar | Tagged , , | 9 Comments

Shakeup at Sackville Fire & Rescue may clear path for return of 12 volunteer firefighters

Posted on June 20, 2026 by brucewark

Dan Dupuis, Tantramar’s new director of protective services at the Sackville Farmer’s Market

Tantramar’s new director of protective services says changes are coming to Sackville Fire & Rescue.

“We’re moving in a good direction,” Dan Dupuis told Warktimes today at the Sackville Farmers’ Market where the fire service had set up a display to promote fire safety.

“The future looks bright,” he says.

Although Dupuis could not comment on any specific changes in the department, Warktimes has learned from several other sources that Craig Bowser, his son Justin and firefighter Walter Allen are no longer on the Sackville fire department roster.

Acting Deputy Chief Wade Palmeter is now the department’s highest-ranking officer.

Those moves clear the way for the possible return of the 12 volunteer firefighters who turned in their pagers on January 5th.

After a meeting last night, the firefighters issued a statement expressing hope that the workplace turmoil is about to end.

“It shouldn’t have taken this long and it shouldn’t have come to this,” their statement said, “but the town has taken steps and things are finally moving in the right direction.”

The firefighters say they plan to meet with Dupuis on Tuesday to discuss returning to active duty, although they emphasize each will make his or her own decision based on their individual circumstances.

“We would like to thank Warktimes and the public for their continued support,” they said.

Dupuis, who oversees all three Tantramar fire departments as well as emergency management operations, bylaw enforcement and animal control, also says he’s hoping Sackville’s fire service is on the road to recovery.

“We’re in a good position right now for a positive outcome,” he says.

To read the town’s announcement about Dan Dupuis’ appointment and background, click here.

Posted in Sackville Fire & Rescue, Town of Tantramar | 3 Comments

Town won’t disclose actions taken after fire department investigation

Posted on June 19, 2026 by brucewark

Tantramar Mayor Debbie Wiggins-Colwell in her new office at town hall

Tantramar Mayor Debbie Wiggins-Colwell says she can’t say who is chief of the Sackville Fire Department.

“I’m not able to answer that at the time,” she said during a brief interview in her office at town hall.

She was commenting on a news release suggesting Sackville Fire & Rescue is finally on the road to recovery after the town administration, acting at the direction of council, took unspecified actions to resolve issues within the department.

The release says they were acting on the findings of a report from the Saint John law firm that investigated allegations dating back more than five years that included harassment, bullying, favouritism, failures of leadership and a poisoned work environment.

After 12 more volunteers turned in their pagers on January 5th, fire department membership fell to only 18 out of a full complement of 43.

Today’s release says the town administration will work with those 12 volunteers “to develop a return-to-work plan for members interested in returning to duty.”

But Wiggins-Colwell would not comment today on that plan or any other issues relating to personnel including whether Craig Bowser is still the fire chief.

The town’s release says that while the municipality recognizes “this situation is of significant public interest,” no further details will be released, “to respect privacy obligations and maintain the integrity of the personnel process.”

The town of Sackville took the same position five years ago when it received a report from the Montana Consulting Group in Moncton. Its 20 recommendations, which were never released to the public, did not resolve the workplace problems that continued to fester within the department.

Mayor Wiggins-Colwell says in today’s release that it’s been a difficult time for both the fire department and for the community.

“Now we can focus on recovery for Sackville Fire & Rescue, and on maintaining a safe, respectful workplace while providing exceptional fire service to Tantramar residents,” she adds.

‘Frustrated public’

Terry Jones addressing town council in March about the proposed Centre Village gas plant

Meantime, Terry Jones, who ran unsuccessfully for the Tantramar mayoralty, has written an open letter to members of town council, the CAO, and the new communications officer calling for the release of more information on the administrative actions that the town has taken.

“I, as a resident of Tantramar, feel that we the people deserve to be informed as to what these actions are,” she writes in a Facebook post.

“I completely understand that the specifics are confidential, however, we need to know if there has been restructuring, resignations or terminations. These allegations, if they have been proven, are serious and the public has a right to know just what steps are being taken to ensure that those at fault and those that were aware of the toxicity in the Department are no longer a part of the system,” Jones adds.

“As it sits right now the press release has created more gossip, upset and concern. Every member of Council, including the Mayor, campaigned on transparency and accountability. This press release did not inform the public as to what the appropriate administrative actions were, so once again, it is left to the imaginations of a very frustrated public,” she concludes.

To read the town news release, click here.

To read what Debbie Wiggins-Colwell and the other Tantramar mayoralty candidates had to say about the fire dept. crisis during the recent municipal election campaign, click here.

Posted in Sackville Fire & Rescue, Town of Tantramar | Tagged | 4 Comments

Mitton calls for data centre moratorium, but Holt Liberals say no

Posted on June 17, 2026 by brucewark

Anti-data centre protesters march at NB legislature. Photo: Facebook

About 150 protesters gathered at the New Brunswick legislature last week to protest against a proposed 390-megawatt AI data centre in an expanded industrial park near Lorneville outside Saint John.

They were also supporting Tantramar MLA Megan Mitton’s resolution that was being debated in the legislature calling for an immediate moratorium on the development of big data centres with warehouses full of computer servers designed to handle requests from millions of users at once.

“This plant, the plant for Lorneville, would emit 750,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide every year, making it the third largest emitter of carbon dioxide in the province after the Irving refinery and the Belledune coal power plant,” Mitton told the legislature after introducing her resolution.

It called on the Holt government to stop the development of big data centres until it passes legislation to ensure they don’t increase the price of electricity, hurt communities or harm the environment.

Megan Mitton calling for a moratorium on data centres in the legislature last week

“We have to stop and pause and ask, ‘should we even build hyperscale data centres? Should we build those in New Brunswick? If so, how big and where?'” Mitton asked in her 20-minute speech.

“We should definitely not be building a 190 megawatt gas-powered plant that is going to harm the people who live near there, is going to cause air pollution and will negatively impact all New Brunswickers because it continues to contribute to the climate crisis,” she said.

The proposed Lorneville data centre is currently undergoing a provincial environmental impact assessment.

The project would be a joint venture between the U.S. firm VoltaGrid, which burns natural gas to generate electricity and its partner Beacon Data Centers of Calgary.

The VoltaGrid gas plant would generate 190 MW of electricity, but the data centre would also need an additional 200 MW from the NB Power grid.

“The environmental impact assessment for the project shows that 3.5 hectares of old-growth forest would be permanently lost during construction. On top of this, roughly 27 hectares of wetlands would be cleared and infilled to create space for the data centre,” Mitton said, adding the project would also affect a peat bog and salt marsh that are important for wildlife habitat.

“There’s also the concern of the noise for the people who live near these data centers. There’s a loud hum that comes from them. And the people who live near them have trouble living there,” she told the legislature, adding that the facility would increase the demand for power on a grid that is already under strain.

No moratorium

“This motion calls for a moratorium on the current and future development of AI data centres in New Brunswick. Mr. Speaker, this government’s approach is different. We believe in thoughtful, deliberate progress,” Liberal cabinet minister Luke Randall told the legislature after Mitton had finished speaking.

Among other things, Randall is the minister responsible for Opportunities New Brunswick, the province’s business development agency.

Luke Randall, the minister responsible for Opportunities New Brunswick

“We recognize the importance of carefully assessing every investment to ensure it delivers real economic value, respects our environmental commitments, and builds a stronger future for New Brunswick. That’s exactly how we’re approaching the issue of data centres,” Randall said, adding that it is both a necessary step and a strategic move to store Canadian data within the country’s borders.

He went on to say that Opportunities New Brunswick has been discussing the Lorneville project with Beacon Data Centres and although he acknowledged that questions have been raised about its use of water, he said he wanted to put the issue in perspective.

“The Beacon Data Centre would initially require the equivalent of the amount of water that would fill the Saint John Aquatic Centre pool one and a half times, and that’s the opening amount. After that, demand would drop to just 6,500 gallons of water per day, which would be roughly the equivalent of what a 100-seat local restaurant would use, or the amount of water needed to maintain a two-acre field,” Randall said.

He added that hyperscale data centres present economic opportunities in a new global industry as the demand for artificial intelligence, cloud-based technology and digital services continues to gather speed.

“Digital transformation is critical for businesses of all sizes and across all sectors,” Randall said.

“Embracing technology is no longer optional. It is foundational to whether businesses can compete, whether workers can become more productive, whether our economy can keep pace with the changes happening all around us.,” he added, while stressing, however, that any project would have to undergo rigorous environmental, energy and financial reviews.

‘Province should not rush’

Ian Lee, the Progressive Conservative MLA whose riding includes Lorneville, said he supported Mitton’s motion on behalf of his constituents who would be directly affected if the Beacon/VoltaGrid project gets built.

PC MLA Ian Lee

“New Brunswick has an opportunity to learn from the experience of other jurisdictions rather than repeating their mistakes,” he said, referring to Maine where lawmakers passed a bill in April halting the development of data centres over 20 MW for 18 months. Maine’s governor later vetoed the bill, the first of its kind in the U.S.

“While there is a continual promotion of AI as the future of innovation and economic growth, citizens are increasingly skeptical,” Lee said citing polls that he said showed a majority of Canadians and Americans do not view artificial intelligence as a force for good in society.

“The province should not rush into approving energy-intensive developments without fully understanding the long-term consequences for citizens, infrastructure and sustainability,” he said, adding that governments must listen to what people are saying.

“instead of just dismissing people, they need to listen to the communities. People want a voice in shaping the future of their regions,” he said.

Mitton asks for vote

When the time for the debate ran out at 6 p.m., Mitton asked for unanimous consent to extend the sitting so that the House could vote on her motion for a moratorium on new data centres.

When the Speaker asked, “Do we have unanimous consent?” several Liberal members shouted “no” and the house adjourned without voting. The next day the legislature began its summer recess.

To read an in-depth report from The Narwhal on the proposed Lorneville data centre, click here.

For a CBC report headlined “What’s behind the growing backlash toward AI data centres?”, click here.

To read a letter to Premier Holt opposing the Tantramar gas plant from doctors at the Sackville Memorial Hospital, click here.

Posted in NB Power, New Brunswick politics, Town of Sackville | Tagged , | 8 Comments

Festival organizer questions Tantramar tourism strategy; town confirms no tourism plan yet

Posted on June 14, 2026 by brucewark

Levee on the Lake artistic director Shelley Chase

A prominent Tantramar music festival organizer challenged the municipality’s approach to tourism promotion last week, arguing the town lacks a formal tourism strategy, has left advertising dollars unspent and has failed to pursue federal tourism financial support.

Shelley Chase, artistic director of Levee on the Lake, raised the concerns during a presentation to Tantramar Town Council last Tuesday.

She said she began examining the town’s tourism efforts after seeking information about external marketing that could help promote this year’s festival which is being held at the Sackville Music Barn from September 10-13.

“I reviewed the 2025 tourism project budget,” she told council based on figures she received from Treasurer Michael Beal.

“Of approximately $52,000 in spending, nearly $14,000 went to the highway tag signs,” she said referring to promotional signs placed along provincial highways to direct travellers to local events and attractions.

“The total advertising that reached beyond Amherst was only $7,000,” Chase said, adding that 22% of Tantramar’s tourism advertising budget went unspent.

She also questioned why Tantramar did not apply for an Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency tourism grant similar to one received by Salisbury and argued the municipality still lacks a formal tourism strategy three years after amalgamation.

“I would ask the department to explain why there is no tourism plan and how they measure their goals, expenditures and growth without one,” she said.

Town’s response

Jeff Taylor, Tantramar’s director of community and corporate services said he is responsible for coming up with a formal tourism plan.

“The tourism plan is set to be dealt with as part of the economic development plan,” he told council, adding that the Southeast Regional Service Commission has hired “a very expensive firm” to produce their economic development plan.

“So we’re waiting to get the results of theirs so we don’t have to spend a bunch of municipal taxpayer money on information that is in there,” he said.

Tantramar manager of tourism and business development Ron Kelly Spurles

Tantramar’s manager of tourism and business development Ron Kelly Spurles also responded by reading a long list of tourism-related activities carried out by his department including operation of the Visitor Information Centre, production of the annual visitor guide, tourism advertising, highway event signs, social media initiatives, tourism videos and participation in regional tourism organizations.

Kelly Spurles said tourism is only one part of his responsibilities and that he spends roughly half of his time on tourism and business development activities, with the remainder devoted to climate change initiatives, local food projects, grant applications and other municipal responsibilities.

Follow-up on Chase’s questions

Tantramar’s communications officer Sara Ericsson responded in an e-mail to questions from Warktimes.

She wrote that the 22% of the tourism advertising budget that went unspent refers to $3,847.50 that was allocated for a Tantramar tourism video project.

“The producing company hired for this project did not complete the video in time for these ad dollars to be spent before end of year. Rather than spend taxpayer dollars on a rushed project, Tantramar ended the year with that surplus,” she wrote.

“As the new communications officer, I am now collaborating with the team on a thorough review of advertising opportunities.”

Ericsson also confirmed that the town did not apply for an ACOA tourism grant.

Screen capture from Hub City Foodies video promoting Song’s restaurant in Sackville

“Tantramar is part of the Destination Southeast destination marketing organization, which uses significant funding from the Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency (ACOA) to run advertising programs for our region,” she wrote.

Ericcson said that Tantramar measures the effectiveness of its tourism promotion by gathering figures on how many people arrive at the Visitor Information Centre and where they are from; from the numbers of Visitor & Events Guides taken from the VIC; how many guides are distributed across New Brunswick and how many staff hand out at events.

“For the tourism-related social media content we create, we measure post engagement,” she writes. “This has been high on tourism videos, including on the 10-video series partnership with Hub City Foodies, which continues to generate reach for Tantramar.”

Chase responds

While town officials defended the municipality’s tourism efforts, Chase maintains that the central issue is the lack of a coordinated strategy aimed at promoting the new Town of Tantramar after amalgamation in 2023.

Jeff Taylor has been in his role for eight months and Sara Ericsson for a matter of weeks. This issue predates both of them,” Chase writes in an e-mail to Warktimes.

“A new tourism plan would be wonderful, no one is negating that, but it won’t be in effect until 2027,” she adds.

“Counting VIC visitors is foot traffic, not a measure of advertising effectiveness. Advertising is measured on reach and frequency, using cost-per-point and gross-rating- point analysis. It is because of my background, and working with other tourism departments and municipalities, that I started looking at our own,” she writes.

“I was disappointed to find no media mix. Highway signs on our own doorstep, memberships, a VIC and social media are not fulsome enough to achieve a measured return.

“Tantramar speaks about tourism as a strategic priority, but it is resourced apparently as a half-time responsibility. I would respectfully ask council to reconcile this and determine what level of commitment Tantramar’s tourism function requires, but more so deserves,” she concludes.

Town of Tantramar

Posted in Town of Sackville, Town of Tantramar | Tagged , , , | 6 Comments