{"id":664334,"date":"2026-05-12T11:34:12","date_gmt":"2026-05-12T11:34:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/664334\/"},"modified":"2026-05-12T11:34:12","modified_gmt":"2026-05-12T11:34:12","slug":"elliot-page-gave-25k-for-a-community-well-in-n-s-its-still-not-running-and-hes-not-happy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/664334\/","title":{"rendered":"Elliot Page gave $25K for a community well in N.S. It’s still not running and he’s not happy"},"content":{"rendered":"

It sounds like a sure-fire win: a Hollywood star makes a generous donation to fix a problem in a cash-strapped small town.<\/p>\n

But for Elliot Page and his $25,000 donation made years ago to build a community well in Shelburne, N.S., it\u2019s\u00a0become the gift that keeps on giving \u2014 headaches and heartache, though still not a drop of water for a drought-prone region.<\/p>\n

\u201cContinued frustration and anger and sadness,\u201d Page said in an exclusive interview from New York City, summing up his feelings about the long-delayed project.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t quite understand that we\u2019re just talking about getting clean water into a community that has faced tremendous obstacles and barriers.\u201d<\/p>\n

For seven years, the well project has been fraught with disagreement, division and delays involving the province and two municipal governments, a community college and a community group known as the South End Environmental Injustice Society (SEED).\u00a0<\/p>\n

The matter has led to disputes over the location<\/a> and accusations of racism.<\/p>\n

None of the groups would do an interview with CBC. Instead, they provided statements.<\/p>\n

\u201cNo one\u2019s negating the complexity of an issue of, like, supplying water for a community, you know,\u201d Page said. But \u201cit has just been truly ongoing stalling, changes of plan.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"AfricanLouise Delisle is a member of Shelburne’s historic African Nova Scotian community. (Elizabeth Chiu\/CBC)<\/p>\n

Page\u2019s 2019 documentary There\u2019s Something in the Water shed light on the province\u2019s history of environmental racism<\/a> in Black and Indigenous communities, including the African Nova Scotian community near Shelburne\u2019s old garbage dump. Residents fear it\u2019s contaminated their drinking water and caused cancer rates to spike.<\/p>\n

On the heels of the documentary\u2019s release, Page pledged $25,000 to pay for a well and committed to provide $5,000 annually to help cover operating costs.<\/p>\n

The donation was intended to pay to have a well drilled at a recreation centre in the Black community, but the proposed location then shifted to an existing well on the province\u2019s NSCC campus<\/a> located outside town limits, in the Municipality of the District of Shelburne.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Two-thirds of Page\u2019s $25,000 gift was spent testing the well in 2023.<\/p>\n

\"GreenThe NSCC Shelburne drilled well has been discussed as a community well for the town. (Grey Butler\/CBC)<\/p>\n

A March 2025 email obtained by CBC News from an NSCC official to project applicants discusses moving the project \u201cacross the street to the Roseway site.\u201d By the fall, the focus was back on the NSCC campus, according to a recent email from the college.<\/p>\n

The province has approved $170,000 in funding for the project, but it comes with a catch. The project must be completed by November 2027, said activist Louise Delisle. <\/p>\n

She founded the community group SEED, but left it after disagreeing with how Page\u2019s donation was spent.\u00a0<\/p>\n

‘Cooperative operating model’ needed<\/p>\n

In a statement to CBC, Warren MacLeod, CAO of the Municipality of the District of Shelburne, said the municipality has offered to pay for building maintenance, heating, snow clearing and maintenance, but requires the town to provide a certified water operator to operate and maintain the system.<\/p>\n

\u201cAt present, the decision rests with the Town regarding whether they wish to participate in a cooperative operating model,\u201d said MacLeod.<\/p>\n

A December 2025 email obtained by CBC shows that Shelburne Mayor Stan Jacklin promised to present this plan to town council, with a motion to be passed in January to commit to the arrangement.<\/p>\n

The matter had not appeared on any council agenda this year. But days after CBC News started investigating the delayed project, councillors voted at a meeting on May 4 to be “supportive and continue to work with partners to explore the community well project.”<\/p>\n

Jacklin, who is also the president of SEED, was not present and Coun. Elizabeth Acker announced at the meeting that he had declared a conflict of interest.<\/p>\n

No decisions have been made regarding funding or operations, Acker said during the meeting. <\/p>\n

In a previous email, Jacklin told CBC News an update about the well project would be provided.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen we have the information that completes our next step, we will share,\u201d he wrote.<\/p>\n

\u2018The word racism gets people\u2019s backs up\u2019<\/p>\n

Ingrid Waldron, a social justice scholar whose book There\u2019s Something in the Water inspired Page\u2019s documentary of the same name, says the original intent behind the well project has hit a nerve.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cThe word racism gets people\u2019s backs up,\u201d she said. \u201cOne of the definitions of environmental racism is kind of delayed action.\u201d<\/p>\n

Page believes the conversation about industrial pollution and its proximity to racialized communities is more relevant than ever.<\/p>\n

“More and more industry seems to be coming to Nova Scotia, and we know the communities that can be disproportionately impacted by that,” he said.<\/p>\n

The need for a well is now amplified by climate change, and leveraging it to help address the community’s concerns stemming from environmental racism is helpful, said Waldron. The area has faced abnormally dry to extreme drought conditions in nine of the last 10 years and wells have run dry.<\/p>\n

\"IngridIngrid Waldron is the HOPE Chair in Peace and Health in Humanities at Hamilton’s McMaster University. Her research inspired the creation of Bill C-230, which calls for a national strategy to address the harm caused by environmental racism. (Steve Lawrence\/CBC)<\/p>\n

\u201cThese two [municipal] councils are now realizing that we have a problem and if we don\u2019t have water, we don\u2019t live,\u201d said Delisle.<\/p>\n

The warden of the municipality, Penny Smith, said the matter is complicated.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe province, the two municipalities and SEED are in the midst of working through a complex process,\u201d she wrote by email.<\/p>\n

For Page, he doesn\u2019t have any regrets about the money donated. He said his interview about the project delays allowed him to reconnect with Delisle and Waldron, who were featured in his documentary and “really inspire me endlessly.”<\/p>\n

Without a start date for the well, Page said a second documentary is a possibility.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve definitely discussed the potential for it,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

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