Acadian groups have proposed a new national park on the Chignecto Isthmus, partially in hopes of securing federal support to protect the dykeland system from increasing risk of flooding due to extreme storms and sea level rise.
“It would be a really nice way to recognize our history and heritage,” says director of the Société de l’Acadie du Nouveau-Brunswick (SANB), Nicole Arseneau-Sluyter. “And for economic purposes, being the connection between Nova Scotia and New Brunswick, for the rest of Canada.”
But there are some concerns the idea could complicate the protection of the Isthmus. Leon Landry, president of the Cumberland Acadian Society, likes the idea of a Chignecto Isthmus National Park, but is worried that attaching a new national park to the protection of the isthmus could “create more red tape.”
The SANB and their counterparts from Nova Scotia and Atlantic Canada submitted a brief pitching the Chignecto Isthmus National Park to a Senate committee on Transportation and Community last month.
The groups say a national park on the Isthmus would have three benefits. First, it would involve multiple federal departments in the protection of the Isthmus against risks brought on by climate change. Secondly, it could allow two heritage institutions, Fort Beauséjour in New Brunwwick and Fort Lawrence in Nova Scotia, to be combined into one site. And lastly, it could preserve and promote the history and culture of the Mi’kmaq and Acadians of Beaubassin.
The SANB proposal is short on detail, with no indication of what land would be involved, outside the current federal sites on the Isthmus. But Aresenau-Sluyter says that can be figured out later.
“There’s many ways to have a national park,” says Arseneau-Sluyter. “We just thought this would be the perfect area to be recognized.”
The news of the proposal came as a surprise to Leon Landry, who says the relatively new Cumberland Acadian Soceity has been working towards increased profile and recognition for Beaubassin, the former Acadian village located near the site of Fort Lawrence
“There was a little bit of wonderment about what was actually being proposed,” says Landry. “And I think the first reaction was a little bit, you know, why weren’t we included?”
Landry says that despite his surprise at the proposal, he thinks a Chignecto Isthmus National Park is a good idea, and fits in with discussions already being had within the Cumberland Acadian Society to connect the Beauséjour and Fort Lawrence sites, possibly with a boardwalk. “I think it makes sense,” says Landry. “The area known as Beaubassin actually spans the provincial border.”
The Cumberland Acadian Soceity has long term plans for the revitalization of Beaubassin including interpretation on the site, marking the buried foundations of several dozen former buildings. Landry says the group is also hoping to see a replica church built, to house the actual bell of the original Notre Dame de L’Assomption church which is now stored at Fort Beauséjour.
“It would be a wonderful tribute to bring it back to a replica church, and have the original bell in the village itself,” says Landry.
But Landry is also wary of tying the national park pitch to the request for federal responsibility in the fortification of the dykes. “I think it’s better, even jurisdictionally, to separate the issues,” says Landry. “The more layers you add on to it, the more difficult it becomes to decide who’s going to fund it. And I don’t think we need any more reason to have difficulty there.”
The two provinces and the federal government have disagreed on who should fund the project to fortify the dyke system, expected to cost $600-650 million dollars. New Brunswick and Nova Scotia premiers have been adamant that the federal government should pay the full cost, while the federal government has committed 50%.
Nova Scotia has asked its court of appeal to rule on the question and the Senate recently passed a bill that would see the dykeland system claimed as a project of national concern.
“From our perspective,” says Landry, “we feel that the historic significance of Beaubassin stands on its own two legs, and it warrants an elevated awareness. If that materializes in an expansion of federally governed or owned historic property in the Beaubassin region that spans across the provincial border, then that would be great. But I don’t know how beneficial it is to include that in the discussion of the preservation of the dike systems that are keeping the Province of Nova Scotia connected to the rest of the country.”
