Upgrades to Meat Cove Community Centre set to continue

April 21, 2026

If weather permits, work is expected to begin this month on the next phase of upgrades to the Meat Cove Community Centre.

First opened in 2000, the centre received new metal siding last year. Project Coordinator Derek MacLellan says this year they hope to replace the decking around the centre, as well as undertake interior renovations which would see the addition of a second washroom, a larger kitchen and office space.

Along with the siding, last year’s work also included the removal of a boardwalk that connected the centre to the local beach. Nearly a kilometre in length, the boardwalk had deteriorated to the point that it posed a hazard.

“We had used treated lumber to construct it, so we had to take that up and dispose of it properly,” MacLellan explains. “It had to be done manually because it wasn’t accessible by any type of machine. It was quite a task on its own.”

“There’s a possibility that it may be replaced in a number of years down the road.”

MacLellan says requests for quotes on materials have gone out.

“If the quotes are acceptable then a lead hand will coordinate the construction of the deck, and it will create a number of jobs for locals in the community,” he adds. “Last year I coordinated the installation of the exterior of the building, but I don’t have the skillset to put in the deck.”

He says the centre acts as a community hub, as it’s used for any number of events.

“Tourism is number one,” he says, noting that high school students are hired each summer to operate a visitor information centre in the building. “Other than that, we’ve used it for a funeral parlour, we’ve used it for church service, for mass. We belong to St. Margaret’s Village up the road in Bay St. Lawrence and our local parish priest is kind enough various times of the year to come in and have mass in our village here.”

The funding for the upgrades is coordinated by the Municipality of Inverness County, and MacLellan says the County has been key to helping the community maintain the facility.

“The Municipality has been a plus for all the years that I’ve been involved with this, because they really got behind us up here, trying to help us out the best they could, and that’s going right back to 1999,” he says. “I’ve worked with many of the councillors over the years, up to the present one we have now.”

MacLellan has lived virtually his entire life in Meat Cove, except for a brief period he spent in Ontario, and he has a one-word answer when asked what keeps him in the remote community nestled in the northern tip of Cape Breton.

“Home,” he says. “It’s my community and my people. I’m very proud of my community and I’m very proud of the younger generation that’s coming up.”

“It’s not the easiest place to live, but you adapt.”

MacLellan says the centre is vital to maintaining the community, which has a population of only 75 to 100 during summer months.

“If we didn’t do something to help sustain our community, it would eventually die,” he notes. “Now, we have some families that have built homes in the community and they’ve got young children. It’s not just Meat Cove. All small communities see their young people moving on.”

He says residents were worried they’d lose their community if they didn’t put some infrastructure in place, adding that although there’s no longer a port in Meat Cove, fishing remains the area’s number one industry.

“There are still a number of fishermen in here, but tourism is our biggest asset right now, especially moving into the future.”