Workshop at Mt.A brings environmental rights debate to climate-sensitive Sackville

Speakers highlighted Bill 23 and advocacy in the face of community disapproval surrounding the Center Village gas plant. 

A Youth Environmental Law Workshop held at Mt.A on March 12 brought students, locals, advocates, and policymakers together to discuss environmental rights in New Brunswick amid local concern over climate risks and the proposed Centre Village natural gas plant.

The workshop, hosted by East Coast Environmental Law in partnership with the Youth Environmental Action Network, featured speakers from EOS Eco-Energy, Divest MTA, and Tantramar’s Member of the Legislative Assembly (MLA), Megan Mitton. The presentations focused on the basics of environmental law, tools for advocacy, and ongoing efforts to strengthen environmental rights in the province.

Mitton briefed attendees on Bill 23, a tabled Bill from the Green Party, of which Mitton serves as the deputy leader. Bill 23, An Act Respecting the Right to a Healthy Environment, seeks to cement procedural environmental rights in New Brunswick law. The Bill looks to enforce the government’s obligation to “protect the right to a healthy and ecologically balanced environment for every resident of New Brunswick, particularly children and other vulnerable populations,” as stated by the Green Party Bill.

In anticipation of the Bill’s debate and the vote on March 26, it is important to understand the current climate crisis in the context of New Brunswick. This crisis threatens Mt.A students’ right to a healthy environment, as well as our lives in general. Bill 23 would aid the advocacy and climate action facilitated by Sackville community members and non-profits, helping mitigate and adapt to climate change.

Sackville sits on the climate-sensitive Chignecto Isthmus, the narrow strip of land connecting New Brunswick to Nova Scotia. Professors from Mt.A’s Department of Geography and Environmental Science helped inform the environmental, social, and economic dimensions of this location and climate change impacts. When asked about climate change in the region, Associate Professor Corrine Cash said, “there will be an increase in climate impacts. Flooding, ice storms, uncertain weather patterns.” According to a Dalhousie University study on flood vulnerability in the Chignecto Isthmus, susceptibility to rising sea levels and extreme storm events is exacerbated by the low elevation of the region, its high tidal ranges, and the deteriorating seawall system. In short, flooding is a real problem. In 2015, 650 people were left stranded due to flooded roads in Sackville after post-tropical storm Bill brought heavy rainfall.

In contrast, this past summer brought some of the driest consecutive months the region has ever faced. In August 2025, the Municipality of Tantramar was categorized in ‘extreme drought’ status by the Government of Canada Drought Analysis. David Lieske, another Associate Professor in the Geography and Environmental Science department, commented on the change in precipitation patterns, saying, “if that continues, you worry about things like forest fires, biodiversity, insect communities. Impacts on the trophic level.” He also said of his own experience in the drought last summer, “our well never went dry, but we feared that.” This extreme environmental change threatens the residents of Sackville, especially due to the demographic of its population. A 2022 census shows that 25 per cent of the population is 65 or older and categorizes the average household income in 2020 as lower than the provincial average. Cash expanded on the imbalance of climate impacts, saying, “people most vulnerable feel the impacts the most,” specifically, “rural communities, without cell phone coverage, elderly people, [the] immunocompromised, children, [and] people of [a] lower economic bracket.” Regarding the financial impacts, Cash said, “compounding problems, another thing, leaves no chance to recover. There are capacity shortages in trades to fix any kind of damage to property.” 

Executive Director of EOS Eco-Energy, Brittany Cormier, expanded on the local context of these vulnerabilities and the ways the non-profit organization is looking to help the town adapt to and mitigate them. When asked about the risk climate change posed to the town, Cormier replied, “the infrastructure we have, whether it’s water or wastewater, wasn’t built for the effects of climate change,” and “human health impacts are insurmountably concerning.”

Cormier expanded on how EOS Eco-Energy’s 2026 Climate Change Adaptation Plan will work to help the community respond to these effects that it would not otherwise be prepared for, saying, “the plan is focused on mapping the risk of roads and buildings, water and wastewater, [and] where do we need to allocate time and finances?” Lieske is at times consulted by the non-profit organization, alongside many other regional professionals. When asked about planning and adaptation, Lieske said, “being informed, having data, [and] being proactive go a long way and make a difference.” Additionally, Cash and Cormier stressed the importance of the Indigenous and local knowledge in addressing future adaptation.

For students and residents in Sackville, the workshop underscored that environmental protection is not only a legal or political issue, but a local one. In the face of a climate crisis,  Cormier said it best, “it helps knowing the strength of your community you can rely on. It is crucial to know your community is invested in the process.” As the region faces rising climate risks and debates over projects, such as the Centre Village gas plant, the push for stronger environmental rights increasingly depends on the voices of those living on the frontlines of these changes. At the end of the workshop, students received postcards to write a short message to Premier Susan Holt in opposition to the gas plant.

There is power for change in the voices of many. If you want to take action, please visit  greenpartynb.ca/healthy/environment to learn more about how to support Bill 23.