Questions remain as Shelburne landfill decommissioning continues

New statement calls for additional groundwater testing, independent scientific review and continued public engagement

For many Nova Scotians, recent headlines about the former Morvan Road dump in Shelburne may have been the first time they heard about the site or the decades-long concerns surrounding it.

The latest development comes in the form of a statement released by the Centre for Environmental Justice Society (CEJ) following a June 24 public town hall on the ongoing decommissioning of the former landfill.

The Morvan Road site first opened as the town dump in the 1940s, when waste disposal sites generally had far fewer environmental protections than modern landfills. The site stopped accepting garbage in 2016, but that did not end the work. Even after a landfill closes, buried waste continues to break down for decades, requiring ongoing environmental monitoring to help ensure contaminants are not affecting nearby soil or groundwater.

Part of the current decommissioning process includes installing a new protective cap over the site and continuing groundwater monitoring.

One of the key issues is landfill leachate—the liquid that forms when rainwater or groundwater passes through buried waste. As that water moves through a landfill, it can carry metals, bacteria and other contaminants. Engineers monitor landfill leachate to determine whether it remains contained within the landfill or is moving into surrounding groundwater or waterways.

TIMELINE:

*1940s: Morvan Road dump begins operating.

*2016: Site closes and stops accepting waste.

*2022–25: Environmental racism panel and environmental studies continue.

*June 24, 2026: Public town hall on decommissioning.

*June 29, 2026: CBC reports on controversy surrounding the meeting.

*July 2026: CEJ releases its statement calling for additional monitoring and independent review.

What is CEJ calling for?

In its statement, CEJ says additional work is needed before residents can be confident they fully understand the landfill’s long-term environmental impacts.

The organization says testing conducted with Rural Water Watch detected substances including arsenic, manganese, iron, aluminum and total coliform bacteria in some residential wells. At the same time, CEJ also acknowledges that the available evidence does not conclusively show those findings were caused by landfill leachate.

Instead, the organization argues that more groundwater monitoring, additional testing, greater transparency and an independent scientific review are needed before firm conclusions can be reached.

Among CEJ’s recommendations are:

– installing additional groundwater monitoring wells;

– continuing quarterly groundwater testing;

– publicly identifying monitoring well locations;

– obtaining an independent review of the engineering findings; and

– holding another public meeting featuring independent scientific experts.

Why has this become a provincial conversation?

The environmental discussion received province-wide attention following the June 24 town hall after comments made by Shelburne Mayor Stan Jacklin, the town’s first elected Black mayor.

According to CBC News, Jacklin said the south end of Shelburne was not a Black community but rather a mixed community of Black, white and Indigenous residents. His comments prompted criticism from residents and community advocates, including his own sister, Darlene Cooper, who told CBC News she believed the remarks denied the history of the South End community. In a statement released after the meeting, Jacklin acknowledged that he had allowed his personal feelings to influence his comments and said he would be more mindful of the impact of his words.

The discussion has since prompted renewed interest in the history of Shelburne’s south end.

Writing for the Halifax Examiner, Tim Bousquet examined records from the 1931 Canadian census after questioning the mayor’s characterization of the neighbourhood. While he found that some white, Indigenous and mixed-race families also lived in the area, his review concluded that the south end was overwhelmingly home to African Nova Scotian families.

Bousquet also noted that many residents owned their homes and worked in skilled trades, on the railway and in local industries, challenging the idea that environmental racism is determined simply by whether a community is poor. Instead, the broader discussion centres on whether racialized communities have disproportionately borne the burden of environmental hazards and how those decisions were made.

Additional historical claims have also surfaced since the town hall. In a social media post, a Shelburne resident cited what they described as 1947 Town of Shelburne council minutes suggesting Douglas Jacklin was required to transfer the property for $1 or face tax proceedings, and that dumping on the site had already begun before the land transfer was completed in 1949. BlackNovaScotia.ca has not independently reviewed those council minutes or verified those claims.

Readers interested in the historical background may wish to read Bousquet’s full analysis alongside the recent reporting by CBC News.