Nova ScotiaPush for the Cure is a three-day event between Cape North and Port Hood that raises money for the Canadian Cancer Society.Push for the Cure has raised about $10,000 for the Canadian Cancer Society over the last 7 yearsErin Pottie · CBC News · Posted: Aug 29, 2025 5:00 AM EDT | Last Updated: 5 hours agoOrganizers were gearing up for the eighth annual Push for the Cure event in Cape Breton when they were told by Parks Canada that it would no longer be permitted within Cape Breton Highlands National Park due to safety concerns. (Facebook/The Cape Breton Push For The Cure)Organizers of an annual skateboarding fundraiser through the Cape Breton Highlands are disappointed the event has ground to a halt because of safety concerns raised by Parks Canada.For the past seven autumns, participants in the Push for the Cure have crossed a 165-kilometre stretch between Cape North, N.S., and Port Hood, N.S., along Cape Breton’s western shore on skateboards or longboards, raising roughly $10,000 for the Canadian Cancer Society.But Zacc Paul, one of the event’s organizers and participants, said he learned as he was gearing up for this year’s three-day fundraiser in late October that the Push for the Cure would no longer be permitted within Cape Breton Highlands National Park.”I don’t get it,” Paul said in an interview. “We’re staying to the side of the road. We’ve got a follow and a lead vehicle. We’ve got radio communication with the pushers and those vehicles. You know, if there’s a traffic situation behind us and things are getting backed up, we pull off the road, we let people by. We’re not there to be an obstruction or a hazard.”Zacc Paul is one of the organizers of Push for the Cure, which is no longer allowed inside the Cape Breton Highlands National Park. (Facebook/The Cape Breton Push For The Cure )According to a statement from Parks Canada, increased traffic along the Cabot Trail has created additional safety concerns. It also said longboarding is not permitted on roadways in Nova Scotia under the Motor Vehicle Act and is a prohibited activity within Cape Breton Highlands National Park under general national parks regulations.A longboard is a type of skateboard with a longer, wider deck and a longer wheelbase.The federal agency said people who continue to use longboards on its sections of the trail would be in contravention of the Canada National Parks Act, which could result in prosecution. “Visitor and the travelling public’s safety is of the utmost importance for Parks Canada,” agency spokesperson Adam Young said in the statement. “This is the main factor in this decision and is not one we made lightly.”Participants of the Push for the Cure event in Cape Breton are shown taking a break along the Cabot Trail in this file photo. As part of the annual fundraiser, skaters typically travel 165 kilometres along the roadway between Cape North and Port Hood. (Facebook/The Cape Breton Push For The Cure)Bricin Lyons, the owner of Highlands Hostel in Cape North, has travelled across Canada raising awareness about the impacts of cancer after losing both his mother and grandmother to the disease. Push for the Cure events also take place each year in Toronto and Vancouver.Lyons, who began the Cape Breton fundraiser in 2018, said Parks Canada had in recent years become involved in the event by making requests to organizers about how it should proceed. He said skaters at one point even agreed to walk their boards up and down hills and along sections of the Cabot Trail that were considered dangerous.”We’ve never had an incident,” said Lyons. “We’ve done nothing but co-operate with them. For them just to shut us down just like that, I mean, last year we spent thousands of dollars on insurance.”The Parks Canada statement said it remains open to working with Push for the Cure on other potential fundraising opportunities.Push for the Cure participants are shown making their way along the Margaree harbour bridge during one of their past events. (Facebook/The Cape Breton Push For The Cure )Paul and Lyons both said it’s not practical to change the fundraiser’s route. “What are we going to do, drive to Sydney to do this? This is where it started, this is the roots of it,” said Lyons. “Anywhere we go from here, we’ve got to go through the park … we’re stuck in the middle. So it’s frustrating for everybody and it’s emotional.”ABOUT THE AUTHORErin Pottie is a CBC reporter based in Sydney. She has been covering local news in Cape Breton for more than 20 years. Story ideas welcome at erin.pottie@cbc.ca.
Organizers dismayed cancer fundraiser no longer permitted in Cape Breton Highlands
