Pallet shelter protests in Whitney Pier, N.S., continue

Cape Breton residents protest Pallet shelters People in Whitney Pier, N.S., picketed Saturday after the municipal and provincial governments said planned Pallet shelters would go ahead.

People were out picketing again on Saturday along the main road in Whitney Pier, N.S., after being told that Pallet shelters for the homeless at this location in their community are still pretty much going ahead as planned.

"We feel very ignored and can't make it any more clear that we are for pallet homes but not in a residential area,” says resident Liv Howard. “So, they need to just listen."

On Friday, Nova Scotia's Community Services Minister Trevor Boudreau and Cape Breton Regional Municipality Mayor Amanda McDougall-Merrill met in Halifax about the issue.

The message afterward was that while residents' worries are being heard, they still feel the proposed location will work.

"I know there are concerns in the community," McDougall-Merrill told CTV Atlantic on Friday. “I do feel confident that their concerns are going to be answered at the (upcoming) public meeting."

The area's councilor says people opposed to the Whitney Pier location have started to identify what they feel could be other sites for consideration and that they are looking at places that wouldn't be far away from things like health care, public transit and other amenities.

"Well, I just think that's shallow-minded of the minister, on a go-forward plan, not to even look at alternate sites," says District 12 councilor Lorne Green. "(Residents) don't want to be seen as just simply not wanting it. They want to have a solution to it as well. They're working behind the scenes, and I will be advocating for them as well."

At today's protest on Victoria Road, the picket signs suggested it's an issue that's far from over.

"We've got the support, so hopefully they'll change their mind because it would be the right thing to do,” says resident Kathy Coombs. “They've changed their mind before, in different locations."

"Well, we won't stop until we are heard,” Howard says. “That's why we're here, and we will be here every day."

All eyes remain on the evening of Feb. 5, when Community Services and New Dawn Enterprises are set to meet with residents at the Ukrainian Hall in Whitney Pier.

The meeting is set for 7 p.m.

For more Nova Scotia news visit our dedicated provincial page.