March 1, 2024

Introduction: Climate Change Is Endangering Our Coastal Communities

When Hurricane Fiona made landfall on September 24, 2022, it was one of the most intense tropical or post-tropical storms to ever hit Canada. The hurricane generated massive storm surge and waves, some of which were recorded as being 17 metres high.

Hurricane Fiona caused devasting destruction throughout Atlantic Canada, particularly along the coast. Severe erosion caused buildings and, tragically, their inhabitants to be swept into the sea, public roadways became untraversable and homes inaccessible, and communities and livelihoods vanished under floodwater.

The immense destruction caused by Hurricane Fiona is a symptom of the growing danger of climate change – which is causing the sea level to rise and warm temperatures to intensify storms. The destruction is also the result of decades of poor planning and a lack of effective rules governing coastal development to protect communities and coastal ecosystems.

Growing awareness of the relationship between coastal development, coastal activities, and the ocean emerged in Canada in the 1970s, with Nova Scotia becoming the first Canadian province to make plans to introduce a coastal zone management strategy in 1976. In the last half-century, successive governments in Nova Scotia pursued coastal plans, strategies, and policies, but each attempt – and there were many – eroded into the abyss like our coasts are eroding into the sea.

While Nova Scotia flirted with the idea that coastal communities were at risk, jurisdictions in Australia, New Zealand, the United Kingdom and the United States were implementing legislation that was supported by coastal management strategies and policies. These jurisdictions created best-practice rules: they delineated a coastal zone, prescribed which developments and activities can occur along the coast, and set conditions on coastal development using setbacks, buffers, and variances.

In essence, Nova Scotia continued to lag behind as it engaged in endless and fruitless planning exercises while coastal communities bore the cost of inaction.

The Promise of Better Rules to Protect the Coast

In 2018, when Nova Scotia began work on the Coastal Protection Act, which would set rules to safeguard future coastal development from the growing threat of the sea’s awesome and indiscriminate power, there was cause for optimism.

The Coastal Protection Act was passed with all-party support in April 2019, and Nova Scotia became the first province in Canada with legislation whose objective was coastal protection. But, with regulations still forthcoming, the Coastal Protection Act was not brought into force.

The primary objective of the Coastal Protection Act was to regulate developments and certain activities along the coast to protect infrastructure and ecosystems. It would do this by setting out a province-wide coastal protection zone where rules would prevent coastal development and certain activities from occurring in dangerous locations.

Regulations under the Coastal Protection Act would provide the detailed rules about how the coastal protection zone would work. 

The process of creating the Coastal Protection Act, and subsequent work on regulations, spanned a period of five years between 2018 and 2023. During that time, hundreds of individuals, experts, and other stakeholders engaged with the Nova Scotia Department of Environment and Climate Change during multiple engagement sessions and a public commentary period on proposed regulations. The Coastal Protection Act and its regulations had support and momentum.  

In the Aftermath of the Storm

In the wake of Hurricane Fiona, Tim Halman, Nova Scotia’s Minister of Environment and Climate Change, was reported as stating that the regulations under the Coastal Protection Act were almost complete and were planned for release in early 2023.

 Then, in March 2023, Minister Halman reneged on his commitment, instead delaying implementation in favour of “targeted” community consultation of coastal property owners.

The reason? That the department had heard that too many property owners “don’t even know the act exists”.

The result? The government recklessly abandoned the Coastal Protection Act and the years of time and money spent developing a comprehensive suite of legal rules, in favour of a website containing information resources and yet another “plan”.

What is the plan? The province released a document called The Future of Nova Scotia’s Coastline: A plan to protect people, homes and nature from climate change. It has 15 actions, which can be boiled down to providing guidance resources for coastal property owners, vague commitments to helping municipalities with coastal protection, and promises to educate the public and stakeholders about flood risks and coastal adaptation. There are no prescribed rules, no monitoring mechanisms, and no timelines.

In other words, the Nova Scotia government displayed a failure of leadership and abdicated its responsibility to protect coastal communities in favour of the status quo.

Further Resources

To learn more about the work that was done to create Nova Scotia’s Coastal Protection Act, see our resource Nova Scotia’s Coastal Protection Act: The Journey to Develop Canada’s First Dedicated Coastal Protection Law.

To learn more about what other jurisdictions have done to protect their coasts, see our resource Protecting the Coast: A Multi-Jurisdictional Legislative Review.

To read news coverage about Hurricane Fiona, see the following:

CTV News Atlantic, “Kalin’s Call: Storm summary for record-setting Fiona” (September 26, 2022).

The Guardian, “Post-Tropical cyclone Fiona hits eastern Canada with hurricane-force winds” (September 24, 2022).

Reuters, “Storm Fiona ravages Canada’s east coast causing ‘terrifying’ destruction” (September 24, 2022).

CTV News Atlantic, “Missing 81-year-old N.S. man believed swept out to sea during Fiona” (September 26, 2022).

Globe and Mail, “Atlantic Canada takes stock of devastation caused by Hurricane Fiona’s wrath” (September 24, 2022).

CTV News Atlantic, “One person dead after historic Fiona sweeps Prince Edward Island” (September 25, 2022).

Mike has been leading ECEL’s work on the Coastal Protection Act since 2018.