NAFTA: Digby Neck residents fighting Whites Point Quarry...

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Digby Neck residents fighting Whites Point Quarry get some international support

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U.S. company Bilcon is seeking $101 million in damages against the Canadian government

By Natalie Dobbin, CBC News Posted: Aug 12, 2016 7:30 AM AT| Last Updated: Aug 12, 2016 7:30 AM AT

People fighting plans for Whites Point Quarry in Digby Neck, N.S., got some international support this week.

Author and journalist Noah Richler welcomed Anne-Marie Mineur, a Dutch Member of the European Parliament (MEP), along with a member of the Council of Canadians, into his part-time home in Digby Neck. Community members were also there for the information session.

"We're concerned about the effect this might have across the country on communities, as I say, wanting to seal their own fates," Richler told CBC's Information Morning.

Canadian sovereignty

He said the decade-long debate is bigger than environmental concerns, or whether the project would have created as many jobs as it promised.

It's about Canadian sovereignty, he said.

Richler is concerned government might give in to pressure from Bilcon.

"The legal chill that works at the level of the individual in courts — where basically lawsuits are slapped on to intimidate you or I from doing what we think is right — occurs also at the governmental level," Richler said.

"If mining companies are able to lean on Canada and know they can do so fairly freely, then we're in trouble."

Ten years ago, local residents came together to stop the American company.

Canada rejected the deal, but a NAFTA tribunal found it did so wrongly. Now, Bilcon is seeking $101 million in damages against the Canadian government. The federal government is appealing the NAFTA decision.

"Essentially a supranational body has decided against the decision that we've come up with in Canada, to protect our land and our values."

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