The sidewalk in front of the Mi'Kmaq Child Development Centre (2161 Gottingen St, Halifax). The centre is an extension program of the Mi’kmaw Native Friendship Society and is a non-profit Native Family Resource Centre. There is no need to go inside, you can watch the film on the sidewalk.

A'se'k

This film is a trailer for a longer film currently being produced.. The full length film will tell the story of the women of Pictou Landing who joined forces with Dal academics to do a five-year study on the question: Is Boat Harbour making us sick? This excerpt highlights the elders who remember A'se’k before it was polluted.

Catherine Martin ( BA; MEd.; CM) is a member of the Millbrook Mi’kmaw Community, Truro, NS.  She is an independent, international-award-winning film producer and director, a writer, facilitator, communications consultant, community activist, teacher, drummer, and the first Mi’kmaw woman filmmaker from the Atlantic region. She is a past Chair of Aboriginal People’s Television Network and served on the board for the first five years of its inception. She has contributed to policy and institutional change to make culture and arts more accessible to First Nations artists. Her contributions to film, television and digital media in Atlantic Canada were recognized with a WAVE Award from Women in Film and Television Atlantic. She was honoured with a National Peace Award from VOW (Voices of Women) in November 2016 for her years of work as a peace activist.

Catherine has contributed to the development of many programs to advance the education of Mi’kmaq and Aboriginal women and youth in the Atlantic Region and across the country, including the Certificate in Community Health at Dalhousie for women in Mi’kmaq, Maliseet, Innu, and Inuit communities, the Indigenous Black and Mi’kmaq Law Program also at Dalhousie, and the Indigenous Women in Community Leadership program at the Coady International Institute at St. Francis Xavier University, and Professor for CBU’s BA Community Program. From 2015 to 2019 Catherine was appointed as the 14th Nancy’s Chair in Women’s Studies at Mount Saint Vincent University. Catherine is a board of governor for the University of King’s College School of Journalism. She was awarded the Senate 150 medal and the Order of Canada in 2017. She is now the first Director of Indigenous Community Relations at Dalhousie University.

Information on Nancy’s Chair The Nancy Rowell Jackman Chair in Women's Studies (Nancy's Chair) was established at Mount Saint Vincent University in the mid-1980s. Endowed by well-known Toronto-based feminist and philanthropist Nancy Ruth, the Chair raises awareness of women's issues by bringing to campus distinguished scholars in women's studies and activists who have contributed to the advancement of women. The presence of the Chair adds substantially to the intellectual strength of women's studies at Mount Saint Vincent and in the Atlantic region. Duties associated with the Chair include teaching, research, and public presentations on campus and around the Atlantic provinces.

Mi’kmaq have been defending their sovereignty over Pictou and environs for centuries. The pulp mill built at Abercrombie Point in 1967 caused serious harm to the Pictou Landing First Nation community, poisoning air and water for over 50 years and turning the beloved estuary known as A’se’k into the toxic effluent waste pond known as Boat Harbour. EAC got involved as an ally at a couple different points, including helping to support Mi’kmaq, local fishermen and their families, residents and tourism operators to organize the historic "land and sea" rally in 2018 that drew over 10,000 people. This show of force from Indigenous and non-Indigenous people working together put significant pressure on the provincial government. In 2019, after generations of broken promises, a Nova Scotia premier finally stood up to the pulp mill and required them to stop pumping effluent into Boat Harbour.