Hundreds gather for First Nations-led protest in Nova Scotia over budget cuts

CITYnews halifax/ By Devin Stevens, The Canadian Press

HALIFAX — Hundreds of protesters banged drums, cheered, booed and waved signs critical of Nova Scotia Premier Tim Houston on Tuesday as they converged on the legislature to oppose the provincial government’s resource extraction policies and cuts to cultural programs.

The First Nations-led protest in Halifax brought together Mi’kmaq leaders, environmental activists and arts groups who are opposing, among other things, $130 million in government grant cuts in last week’s deficit budget. Speakers said Houston’s government is ignoring its treaty obligations and some called for his resignation.

“I want to thank Premier Houston for one thing: showing us who he is and exactly what his priorities are,” Melanie Peter-Paul, a Mi’kmaw land defender from the Sipekne’katik First Nation north of Halifax, told the crowd.

“When you cut education, tourism, sports, health, Gaelic programs, African Nova Scotian initiatives, Indigenous programming, all in one budget, that’s not accidental. That’s a choice.”

Facing a $1.2-billion deficit, the Houston government has chosen to reduce or cancel more than 280 grants across several departments, including for scholarship programs, arts funding, caregiver benefits and disability supports. Houston’s government is also pushing for increased resource extraction as a way to develop the economy. And the government has angered environmentalists and some First Nations leaders by lifting blanket bans on uranium exploration and hydraulic fracking of fossil fuels.

The Finance Department has said its plan to reduce the deficit includes pulling all grant funding for Mi’kmaq services in the Education Department and cutting the entire grant for Halifax’s Mi’kmaw Native Friendship Centre.

Peter-Paul told the crowd that reconciliation is not a Netflix subscription that can be cancelled or downgraded when money gets tight. “Apparently in this province reconciliation is like a New Year’s resolution,” she said.

“You can announce it proudly in January, you can talk about it, but come budget season, it’s forgotten. If reconciliation is real, it should survive a budget meeting.”

The crowd was played audio of a social media post from Sipekne’katik Chief Michelle Glasgow whose community banned the premier and several of his ministers from its lands late last year over a crackdown on what the government says are illegal cannabis operations, many of which are run by Indigenous owners.

Glasgow said checkpoints would be placed at the entrances and exits of Sipekne’katik to prevent police from entering. “For those who want to do us harm, by force, in our community, you’re not welcome here,” she said.

“And if you’re foolish enough to come up here, you better be smart enough to figure out how you’re getting out.”

Houston was not at the legislature Tuesday as he was attending a mining conference in Ontario. Leah Martin, the minister responsible for L’nu Affairs, said her government takes its duty to consult with Indigenous groups very seriously. She said it’s a legal process that the government will continue to pursue at the highest level.

“I think that governance requires difficult decisions,” Martin said inside the legislature, with sounds from the protest outside audible in the background.

“And I feel that as a government we’ve shown regularly, and time and time again, that through difficult decisions, and through good times, and through great investments, and through hundreds of millions of dollars here, there and everywhere, there’s a process that we go through … where we want to listen to the community, we want to listen to organizations that are impacted.”

Back outside, actor Sebastien Labelle, a member of the Nova Scotia Arts Coalition, said the province’s arts, culture and heritage sector provides more jobs than agriculture, fishing and forestry combined. “We know this is all connected. We know Houston is coming at the arts, and education and community services so that he can give subsidies to the extraction companies,” he said.

Around the same time as the protest, Rachel Reid, the Nova Scotia author of the “Game Changers” series of novels that are the basis of the hit television series Heated Rivalry, issued a social media statement on the government’s cuts to arts funding.

“Whether we are creating or consuming it, art is how we connect with others and find ourselves,” she wrote.

“It’s also how we represent Nova Scotia on the world stage. The proposed cuts would be devastating, and would drive even more talent out of the province. Please don’t do this.”

Among other sector cuts, the province has scrapped a $700,000 publishers assistance program. Culture Minister Dave Ritcey told reporters last week that publishers can still apply for funding under the Creative Industries Fund. His department has also cut that fund from $1.9 million to $1.1 million.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published March 3, 2026.

Devin Stevens, The Canadian Press