Nova Scotia non-profit groups trying to save Acadian church now facing lawsuit

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The Roman Catholic Church in southwestern Nova Scotia has filed a lawsuit against two Acadian groups trying to save a huge, deconsecrated church.

The Roman Catholic Episcopal Corporation of Yarmouth says Heritage Saint Bernard and Nation Prospère Acadie Inc. have fallen behind in their mortgage payments and owe $200,000 for their purchase last year of the former Saint Bernard Church.

The massive building in St. Bernard, N.S., is a historic landmark along the province's Acadian shore.

"It's hard enough to try to save this building without the diocese putting sticks in our wheels," Jean LeBlanc, president of Heritage Saint Bernard, said in an interview Friday. "It's been an iconic structure on the shores of St. Marys Bay. We're trying to repurpose it for the community and the diocese is saying, 'No, we want it back.'"

LeBlanc said the two groups succeeded in making the first $50,000 mortgage payment in July 2023, but they failed to pay the next $50,000 instalment in August 2024. He said the groups had raised another $40,000, but much of that money was used to repair the building's doors and leaking roof.

"If we didn't spend that $40,000, we couldn't have gotten in the church," LeBlanc said, adding that local residents remain worried it will eventually be sold off and possibly demolished.