A town hall meeting in Shelburne, N.S, about a decades-old garbage dump—which the former chair of a provincial panel has called “a stark example of environmental racism”—grew contentious after the mayor said no racism was involved.
At the meeting on Wednesday evening, Jessika Hepburn, a social justice activist, asked town officials whether there would be redress for the dump’s harm “as a result of environmental and systemic racism.”
Sarah Mattatall, the town’s CAO, said the public meeting was “part of our reparations” for racism that has and continues to exist in Shelburne.
“Do we acknowledge the dump was put in a predominantly Black community? Of course,” she said.
Stan Jacklin, who is the town’s first Black mayor, then rose to his feet “to make something more clear” to approximately 80 people gathered in the fire hall’s auditorium.
He said the south end of Shelburne, where the Morvan Road dump was located, is not a Black community but a community of mixed race people, Black people, Caucasian people and Indigenous people.
His comments were met with heckling from several people in the audience.
Moreover, he said the dump’s establishment in the 1940s was not environmental racism because his uncle, who was Black, sold the property to the town.
Jacklin said he grew up near the site and takes issue with characterizations that the south end of Shelburne was a marginalized community.
“I don’t remember anybody in my community being poor,” he said.
Shelburne is specifically listed as one of 52 historic African Nova Scotian communities in the province, according to organizations such as the Black Cultural Centre for Nova Scotia, and the Council on African Canadian Education which provides recommendations to the province’s education minister.
Jacklin’s mayoral biography on the town website states he is an active member of the Black Loyalist Heritage Society and is the current president of the South End Environmental Injustice Society.
The environmental racism panel appointed by the Nova Scotia government in 2022 says in its report the definition of environmental racism should include factors such as “the disproportionate location and greater exposure” in marginalized communities to pollution from industries.
It also notes the “lack of political power these communities have for resisting the placement of industrial polluters in their communities.”
In an interview with CBC News following the town hall, Jacklin said he had not heard of the environmental racism panel nor its report which was released last year and extensively quoted in news coverage.
The founder of the South End Environmental Injustice Society, Louise Delisle, spoke to the panel and is quoted in the report. She was appalled at Jacklin’s lack of awareness.
“That tells you who he is, not very concerned about his community,” she said. “How can he lead in any way?”
Delisle said Jacklin was a neighbourhood friend who hung out with her younger brother. She acknowledged that there were a couple of non-Black families in the neighbourhood back in the 1950s, though most in the community were African Nova Scotian, she said.
The mayor’s sister, Darlene Cooper, walked out of the town hall meeting and said she was “very hurt and tearful” over his comments.
She said it was very disturbing and puzzling to hear him say the area wasn’t a Black community. And while her family “did all right,” she said it was a poor, stigmatized community.
Cooper said her brother’s comments deny the history of the community which impacts future generations. Cooper said she’ll need some time before speaking to him. She said that having been “[racially] traumatized for the last 67 years, I don’t know how I’m going to get over this.”
Late Friday afternoon, the town of Shelburne provided a personal statement from Jacklin to CBC News.
In the statement, Jacklin said he acknowledges “that the African Nova Scotian identity, history and heritage of the South End is important and deserves to be recognized, honoured and celebrated.”
He also added “I allowed my personal feelings to get involved and I will be more mindful and understanding of the impact of my words.”
The debate over environmental racism overshadowed the scientific discussion which was the original purpose of the town hall.
Experts with Dillon Consulting told the town hall that groundwater testing at the dump site and in residential wells done during the fall of 2025 and the spring of 2026 showed metals such as iron, manganese, and arsenic, which are also naturally occurring, were not at significant levels.
They acknowledged leaching from the dump site had taken place but “there was no indication of landfill impacts in the off-site well water or adjacent watercourses,” engineers wrote in their study.
A key recommendation of the engineers is that the monitoring well program continue for 30 years, a standard industry practice, which Mattatall said the town is considering.
The next step in decommissioning the dump is installing a new cap that will cost approximately $1.3 million. Mattatall said the town will be applying to the federal Build Communities Strong fund to cover the town’s shortfall of $900,000 to $1 million.
She also said Nova Scotia Health has informed the town that cancer rates in Shelburne are similar to those across the province. The exception is bladder cancer which is higher across much of southwest Nova Scotia.
The town became aware the existing soil cap is too thin in areas and is water permeable because of a freedom-of-information application several years ago by Delisle and EcoJustice, a legal advocacy group.
“We’ll give a pat on the back to anybody who’s working towards making this a better environment overall, including Louise,” said Jacklin.
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