EAST HANTS: Protecting our province’s natural beauty and history is strong on the mind of one MLA.
Liberal MLA for Dartmouth East Andrew Younger introduced legislation in the House of Assembly that will ensure the preservation of archeologically significant lands in and around the Shubenacadie Canal on April 30.
The bill will amend “The Special Places Act” to include the designation of the Lake Loon area as an important archaeological site.
“The Shubenacadie Canal is one of our province’s historic treasures, and a unique environmental asset,” says Younger, a staunch advocate for both the project and the Shubenacadie Canal Commission. “We must do all we can to protect the site and bring the waterway back to life.”
Bernie Hart, a volunteer and canal enthusiast with the Shubenacadie Canal Commission, says the added protection will give extra security to the entire canal, not just Lake Loon.
“Water flows in and out of the lake into two different streams, one of which feeds into the canal that winds its way through East Hants,” he says. “It’s all protected now, but this designation will help to strengthen the protection.”
Younger points out that the lands near Lake Loon are of note because of the work done there by the original canal builders.
“It was their way to ensure enough water flow for Lock 3, and for the Portobello Plane –a central element of the heritage waterway.”
The Lake Loon area is a vital part to the canal and Hart says this protection will help ensure the history remains intact.
“During the early Canal construction period, 1826-3,1 a stream flowing from Lake Loon to Lake Charles was dammed in order to control the flow and to hold back water to add to the waterway when needed,” he explained. “It is a fairly primitive dam but is still very easy to identify. In the same area there are the remains of what appears to be a small hut. There may actually me more than one.”
The canal was used by Mi’kmaq for centuries, before development of the canal started in 1826.
The project completed in 1861 and construction included nine locks, four of which are in East Hants, and two inclined planes that connected a chain of seven lakes and the Shubenacadie waterway. The canal made it possible to travel from Halifax to the Minas Basin, a voyage that could only be completed by sailing into the Bay of Fundy through Cape Sable before the canal.
Younger, who is also the Liberal environment critic, is hopeful that the NDP government will call his bill for debate in this legislative session.
“The NDP have spent more than $75 million dollars to protect land across our province—by moving my bill forward, we can preserve more land without a cost to the taxpayer.”
Preserving the Lake Loon area could also help protect other parts of the canal. Hart says it could lend a helping hand to future projects the commission has in mind.
“We are hoping to have parts functioning on the canal again,” he says.
acameron@enfieldweeklypress.com