This is unacceptable. Nova Scotia is on the unceded territory of Mi'kma'ki. Under the Peace and Friendship Treaty settlers must recognise the rights of the Mikmaq People and our obligations to honour those rights. Destroying, poisoning, or damaging lands and waters the Mikmaq have relied upon for thousands of years goes directly against the Peace and Friendship Treaty. Every Nova Scotian should be supporting the Mikmaq action to halt logging on Hunter's Mountain.

We are All Treaty People. This effects All of us in Unamaki - Cape breton. No matter what color you are.

A Mi’kmaq-led protest is blocking access for forestry companies to Hunters Mountain. It is to force the provincial government to meet with the Mi’kmaq about joint management.

“This is not about wanting to hunt moose, we know they are in danger and we can’t do that, This is about them raping the land and destroying the habitat.” said bernard 

The Cape Breton Highlands, along with other Crown land throughout Cape Breton and in Antigonish and Guysborough counties, is managed by Port Hawkesbury Paper. The renewed agreement, which runs until 2043, allows Port Hawkesbury Paper to harvest 275,000 “green” tonnes annually off some 520,000 hectares.

" It'll be completely destroyed by then, and we cant have that on our lands of thousands of years, its destroying our way of life, its killing off our relative the moose, and other animals, not to mention our medicines and the whole eco system, how will our children know who they are, when it's all destroyed n who do you think they will blame” ?- Says a frontliner 

The Mi’kmaq assembled at the base of Hunters Mountain on Thursday were from communities around Cape Breton. 

Elder Albert Marshall said that harvesting softwood trees and replanting spruce and fir was limiting biodiversity and hurting species such as moose. "They’ve exhausted the carrying capacity of the land with their rate of extraction,” said Marshall, who is from Eskasoni. “Clearcutting is a dangerous process. They say they are doing reforestation when they replant but when they’re just planting conifers they are changing the genetics of the forest and ultimately that has an effect on the biodiversity of the area.”

According to data provided by the Assembly of Nova Scotia First Nations Chiefs, a helicopter survey conducted in February 2024 counted 835 moose in the Cape Breton Highlands ecosystem, which comprises Cape Breton Highlands National Park and moose management zones 1, 2 and 5. That was down from 1,552 counted in 2023 and 2,128 in 2022.

The document attributed the population decline to habitat changes, climate change, forestry, harvesting, brain worms and disease. “People are blaming the cull but they’re not blaming these forestry companies and Nova Scotia Power (which operates hydroelectric dams in the area),” said Bernard. Thursday’s blockade was “the first step in a lot more action coming,” Bernard said.

The Assembly of Nova Scotia Mi’kmaw Chiefs is supporting the protest. “We are supposed to be co-managers of these lands, waters and resources, yet decisions continue to be made that are impacting our position and our rights,” said Chief Tamara Young, co-lead of environment, energy and mines for the assembly, in a written statement.

“Our concerns are often overlooked and dismissed, and it is clear that community members are frustrated with the position that puts us in as a nation. 

Nova Scotia Power generates millions if not billions off of power n mills in the mountains and the mikmaq do not get any benefits from it and they over charge everyone in the province. This is why we ask you the ppl of Nova Scotia to support us in this cause. They are taking advantage of us all, no matter what color, no matter what age. It needs to stop.. and we need your help ! 

We ask you Cape Breton to stand with us since we can voice it.. to save our beloved Hunters Mountain and all the memories we all keep for many past generations, let's save it for the next 7 generations. ♥️