This weekend, we made a pre-Christmas run to New Glasgow.
While there, I took the opportunity to read Janet Wallace’s book ‘It is Time‘. She had given Sandy (Heather’s sister) a signed copy.
It is the story of the Scott Paper Mill in Pictou. In many ways, it is a continuation of Joan Baxter’s book ‘The Mill – fifty years of Pulp and Protest’ (see post From Pugwash and Pictou to Paradise)
Janet Wallace was at New Glasgow High School around the same time, as Heather and Sandy. The book is a beautiful combination of art and the science behind the eventual closure of the mill. In Wallace’s language it represents ‘a chance to change’.
The story behind Scott Paper and the relationship to the government of Nova Scotia continues to apply today. We see various schemes related to the mining of our landscape, and the removal of the forests. From my perspective, ‘will we ever learn’.
We need to invest in the people of Nova Scotia: the artists, writers, scientists, educators, and the appropriate technology, ie. the ‘creative rural economy’.
Acknowledgements.
Sandy for sharing the book. Edward for his contribution. The voices of Janet and Joan for recognizing ‘the chance to change’. Long overdue.
References.
Janet Wallace, 2023, It is Time: A Chance to Change, Stones’Throw Publications.
Joan Baxter, 2017, The Mill: Fifty years of Pulp and Protest, Pottersfield Press.
Ernest Blair Experiment 