A Pictou Landing Mi'kmaq leader urged residents of his community to move to a Halifax park to protest conditions on the Nova Scotia reserve during a march in Halifax on Monday.

Dozens of people, including children and grandmothers, marched in what was called the Water Walk at Point Pleasant Park to call for clean drinking water in Pictou Landing.

Some carried a bucket in the south-end Halifax park to symbolize clean water.

Residents said their health is suffering after 40 years of pollution being pumped from the pulp mill at Abercrombie Point into Boat Harbour, an estuary bordering the Pictou Landing reserve.

Band adviser Kevin Christmas urged Pictou Landing residents to move to Point Pleasant Park this summer.

"Take your own action. What we're talking about is a rescue mission. We are going to have to take the people out of their community if it's not cleaned up," he said.

Christmas added that July 1 marks the second anniversary since Northern Pulp Nova Scotia began discharging its waste into his community.

Northern Pulp acquired the mill from Neenah Paper in 2008.

Marchers said the owners of the pulp mill and the government have not drafted a cleanup plan, despite decades of promises to do so.

Residents leaving

Clean water is something the Mi'kmaq of Pictou Landing have lost, said long-time resident Brenda Francis.

"It's got to be cleaned up. We've been fighting with the government for so long and they aren't honouring our agreements," she said.

Some, like Cheryl Maloney, said they could not wait for a solution. She was upset when her infant son Chase developed asthma during his first year on the reserve.

"When we left the Pictou Landing community, he didn't need puffers. His breathing problems went away," she said. "We were left with two options: treat him or relocate."

Maloney and her son moved while the child's father stayed behind.

Others at the protest said they saw a link between the pollution and cancer deaths.