Prior to industrial development, A’se’k (Boat Harbour) existed as an estuary that was used for hunting, fishing, gathering of foods and medicines, anchoring boats, swimming, and practicing many other recreational and traditionally significant activities for this Mi’kmaq community (Hoover 2020). As that industrial activity subsided, there was an interest in returning to traditional activities around the estuary, one of which was a community deer hunt. With concerns about the safety of consuming deer meat from the industrialized area, the community wanted to develop a testing method to ensure the meat from this important community activity was safe to eat.

A project team from Cape Breton University, led by Dr. Ken Oakes and Dr. Andrew Carrier worked with PLFN staff Tiny Kelly and Trinity Nicholas to develop this method and to ultimately allow the community to conduct testing without support from university researchers.