Lincolnville is a small community in the Canadian province of Nova Scotia, located in the Municipality of the District of Guysborough in Guysborough County. Lincolnville is a predominantly African-Canadian community situated next to Upper Big Tracadie. The community is served by the Lincolnville Community Center and the Tracadie United Baptist Church. One of the last segregated schools in Nova Scotia, the Lincolnville School closed in 1983.
Since the 1970s, the African Nova Scotian community of Lincolnville has raised concerns about environmental racism related to the siting of landfills near the community. In 1974, a first-generation landfill was established approximately one kilometre from Lincolnville. Residents reported that the site lacked proper lining to prevent leachate and accepted hazardous materials, including dead animals, leaking transformers, and industrial waste from beach clean-up operations. Studies conducted by the ENRICH Project found that the proximity of this landfill to a historically Black community reflected broader patterns of racialized environmental decision-making in Nova Scotia.
The landfill was officially closed in 2006 and replaced by a second-generation facility built on the same site to serve 17 municipalities, including Cape Breton. Despite updated engineering standards, residents have continued to express concern over contamination from the original site, reporting that well water and nearby surface waters show elevated levels of cadmium, phenol, and toluene. The community has also criticized the lack of transparency and consultation in the planning and approval processes for both landfill sites, arguing that they were not adequately informed or included in municipal decision-making. [1]
Community organizations such as the Concerned Citizens of Lincolnville and Save Lincolnville have since advocated for stronger environmental monitoring, compensation, and meaningful participation in decision-making processes. Residents also cite declining property values, odours, and increased traffic from waste trucks as ongoing issues. Their activism has drawn provincial attention and contributed to wider discussions about environmental racism in Nova Scotia, later highlighted in Ingrid Waldron's research and the documentary There's Something in the Water . [2] [3]
 | This Guysborough County, Nova Scotia location article is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it. |
