Over 200 people gather in Halifax to support Ukraine
On Saturday, a large crowd gathered at Grand Parade to show support to Ukraine after the country’s sovereignty was attacked by Russian military forces last week. People carried umbrellas in the blue and yellow colours of the Ukrainian flag, with messages for NATO to act now or to shut the sky. Others had banners calling…
The triumphant return of the Saint Mary’s University Art Gallery
Halifax needs its university galleries. Without them, there’d be roughly 100 fewer art exhibitions per year in the city (by our calculations); space for emerging talent would be even more competitive; and the stepping stones to larger venues would essentially wash downstream. With all this in mind, it’s no wonder the visual art community in…
Halifax Pride wants to help you get the party started with $2,500 event-planning grants
Halifax Pride is returning to a fully in-person fest this year, happening July 14-24. It’ll be the first summer since COVID’s arrival to feature the parade—held July 16 at noon, for those asking—too. But the good times don’t stop there. Aside from a complete, to-be-announced slate of official programming, Pride will also be chock-full of…
Police and city staff tear down pantry at People’s Park
Update (March 2): Halifax Regional Police public information officer John McLeod tells The Coast “we made the decision based on the totality of the circumstances and concern for the safety of the public, neighborhood and the residents. Information we received related to the nature of the structure and the potential fire hazard it presented were…
8 must-see movies at this weekend’s Halifax Black Film Festival
The Halifax Black Film Festival makes its triumphant return this weekend, closing out African Heritage Month with a slew of online screenings and panel discussions. We watched all the available trailers on the event’s site—36 of ‘em—to pick out some of the must-see shows in the festival’s whopping 63-title slate, a mix of feature-length flicks…
The Braiding Lounge aims to share the natural hair love on Gottingen Street
There’s a colossal beauty connected to natural hair that Tara Taylor wants people to rediscover. It’s not that she has a grievance for treatments that change hair chemically, but rather a penchant for helping others feel unique and special in their own beauty. “Our hair really is our crowning glory,” says the Halifax stylist. In…
Halifax shows support to the Ukrainian community
Wednesday evening’s news shifted the global focus to Ukraine. After months of threats, Putin triggered the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Explosions were reported in Kyiv and other cities, while HMCS Halifax is being deployed overseas to join other NATO forces in the Mediterranean region. Locally, the Nova Scotian chapter of the Ukrainian Canadian Congress has…
Your horoscope for the week February 24-March 2
HAPPY BIRTHDAY THIS WEEK TO Claire Petolas, Kate Spurr, Eric Gunnells, Rose Wilson, Waye Mason, Jennifer Davis and Scott Trivers. to add, update or stop a birthday shoutout, email names, birth dates and/or changes to bday@thecoast.ca then click your sign to go to your horoscope aquarius aries cancer capricorn gemini leo libra pisces sagittarius …
Sub optimal
QI’m a submissive gay man with a 15-year-old nephew. Through his actions and words, both his parents and I have gathered he might be gay, which is absolutely no issue. However, we’ve also recently discovered that he seems to be interested in D/s themes with him as the sub. Besides the occasional veiled comments and…
COVID cases, hospitalizations and news for Nova Scotia the week Feb 21-27
Like the province, The Coast is admitting to omicron overwhelm. We are switching to bare-bones daily reports, while aiming to maintain the vital infographics that give the best picture of the current situation: NS COVID deaths Omicron hospitalizations New and active cases Nova Scotia’s third and fourth waves Canada’s fourth wave…
No masks, no limits, no POV as Nova Scotia lifting all COVID restrictions March 21
Nova Scotia just put its three-phase reopening plan on a fast track. Instead of the previously planned phases that were “expected to last about a month” each—taking us from the February 14 start of phase one until phase three sometime in April—we’ll now hit phase three on March 21. “The restrictions put in place during…
Want to defund the Halifax police? Participate in this budget discussion tomorrow
Halifax Regional Council will soon vote on its municipal budget for the upcoming year, including what will be allocated to Halifax Regional Police—which at this rate will be $2.9 million more than originally projected for the 2022/23 fiscal year, bringing the total budget to over $90 million. The hike was recommended by the Board of…
What to expect when the Portapique Mass Casualty Commission public proceedings begin this week
The public part of the Mass Casualty Commission—the expensive, slow-moving inquiry into what happened when a gunman dressed as an RCMP officer shot and killed 22 Nova Scotians in April 2020—starts Tuesday, February 22. That’s four months later than first planned. The joint federal and provincial commission will open public proceedings tomorrow at 9:30am at…
COVID cases, hospitalizations and news for Nova Scotia the week Feb 14-20
Like the province, The Coast is admitting to omicron overwhelm. We are switching to bare-bones daily reports, while aiming to maintain the vital infographics that give the best picture of the current situation: NS COVID deaths Omicron hospitalizations New and active cases Nova Scotia’s third and fourth waves Canada’s fourth wave…
Shakeup at Art Gallery of Nova Scotia as CEO Nancy Noble’s contract not renewed
Today, at 4:18pm on the Friday before a long weekend, the Art Gallery of Nova Scotia released a statement that it is looking for a new CEO. The position was held by Nancy Noble, who previously served as the CEO of the Museum of Vancouver for over a decade before taking the AGNS job in…
Sting is coming to Halifax May 2, 2022
Famed rock musician Sting announced a string of tour dates today linked to his career-spanning new tour, “My Songs.” Among the stops? A Halifax show, happening May 2 at the Scotiabank Centre. The 17-time Grammy winner and former Police frontperson will deliver hits from across the decades, including timeless bops like “Roxanne” and “Message in…
Bright, fresh Latin flavours arrive in downtown Halifax at Bar Sofia
Chef Anthony Walsh married into an Argentine family about 25 years ago, but he still vividly remembers the first few times he tasted Latin American flavours. He recalls Argentine asado slow-roasted on a parrilla, and braised dishes that quickly warmed his heart. But there was one specific dish his mother-in-law, Elena Arevalo, made that profoundly…
Halifax platform Side Door brings indie artists to South By South West
It’s depressing but it’s a fact: Any night a band spends on the road *not* performing, it is hemorrhaging money. This is what makes touring complicated and difficult. How do you get from your town to the next without running into the red? Since 2017, Halifax-founded online platform/Airbnb of gigs Side Door has been solving…
Monday’s holiday is Nova Scotia Heritage Day, not Family Day
Nova Scotia Heritage Day became a thing in 2015 with the push for a February holiday. Across Canada, eight provinces now have a February holiday, all but Newfoundland and Quebec. Most of those provinces—Alberta, BC, NB, Ontario and Saskatchewan—call it Family Day, while PEI has Islander Day and Manitoba has Louis Riel Day. But in…
Attention Indigenous musicians: The OHSOTO’KINO Recording Bursary program wants to help you record an album
It isn’t easy to be a musician right now. Between the cents-per-stream earned through the likes of Spotify to the drying up of live shows, chances to make money have dwindled during the pandemic. But, if you’re a First Nations, Métis or Inuit artist looking to make an album, here’s an opportunity of note: The…
9 places to eat, shop and learn about Nova Scotia’s African heritage
Last summer, René Boudreau told The Coast why she started Elevate and Explore Black Nova Scotia, a business all about promoting experiences for Black Nova Scotians through travel. Since then, she tells us now, it’s only grown. “There’s gaps in terms of the representation and cultural awareness that yes—there are Black people in Nova Scotia…
Your horoscope for the week February 17-23
HAPPY BIRTHDAY THIS WEEK TO Danielle Comstock, Peter Orser, Sidney Norton, Gareth Roberts, Laura Walton, Kyle Shaw, Robert Maheux, Fran Elkington, Jeff Brown, Jonathan Andrews, Kate Proctor and Mike Conrad. share the love by emailing your friend’s name and birth date to bday@thecoast.ca then click your sign to go to your horoscope aquarius aries cancer capricorn gemini leo libra pisces …
Sex-advice quickies
QI’m a very sexual cis male in his 30s. Three years ago, I met this woman who just blew me away. She is eight years older, extremely beautiful, intelligent and funny. I came onto her early on and she told me straight up that she was asexual. She likes kissing, cuddling and solo masturbation, but that’s…
Black women entrepreneurs are sharing their stories through this 28-day series
It was the middle of the night around 1am when Tia Upshaw came up with a new idea to help showcase local Black women entrepreneurs. As the founder and president of the Blk Women in Excellence mentorship program, Upshaw has always valued educating, uplifting and creating platforms for Black women—and that’s exactly what she’s aiming…
Getting to the bottom of the competing Van Gogh exhibits in Halifax
There are three different art exhibits descending on Canada currently that celebrate Van Gogh, the post-impressionist prince who painted “Starry Night.” All lean on the word “immersive” to describe the experience of walking through projections of works by the Dutch painter. None feature physical paintings, but claim to take you “deeper” into the experience of…
“Ram Ranch” explained: the naked truth about the song trolling the convoysation
On a local Halifax level, it all started for me with the coverage of the protests here last Saturday, February 12. At a gathering of trucker convoy supporters, a counter-protester carried a small banner that simply said “Ram Ranch.” I’ve been a bit out-of-the-loop on the Canadian meme scene lately and did not know what…
$875 COVID cash coming to students with NS student loans
Students attending university or college in Nova Scotia may have an extra deposit hitting their bank accounts. On Wednesday morning, the province announced that it was dishing out a total of $9.8 million to help post-secondary students pay their bills. The grant of $875 per person will not have to be repaid and will be…
Can carbon capture help the climate crisis?
Global heating is accelerating. Yet we continue to pump out fossil fuel emissions and destroy forests, wetlands, bogs, grasslands and marine kelp forests that remove, convert and store atmospheric carbon. Human well-being and long-term survival depend on quickly shifting course, but our failure to act sooner means we must also remove greenhouse gasses already in…
What you need to know about the Emergencies Act in Canada
Only the lucky ones received delicious chocolates for Valentine’s Day, but all Canadians received the news of prime minister Justin Trudeau invoking the Emergencies Act for the first time in the country’s history. The emergency Trudeau is facing is the “Freedom Convoy,” a truck-forward protest/white supremacist movement that’s been particularly effective at blockading parts of…
Gaps in OBGYN care in Nova Scotia: “The medical system just isn’t structured to help”
It was midnight, about 12 hours into her visit to the emergency department at the QEII, and still 24-year-old Ariel McTavish hadn’t seen a doctor. She had contemplated leaving; the wait wasn’t just long, it was terribly uncomfortable. She was cold, wearing just a johnny shirt. She was vomiting into a bag. She was there…
3 event ideas to make Valentine’s Day 2022 special
As a meteorologist whose weather clip went viral this week puts it, February is “an honest month: a month that doesn’t hold up life as any better than it is…something great happened here but it’s over with, and that’s the way February is.” So, no, you’re not the only one in a rut. And while…
Phase one omicron reopening rules for restaurants, gyms, shops and socializing
Nova Scotia’s three-phase omicron reopening plan begins to ease some COVID-19 restrictions on February 14 with phase one. Phase two is supposed to start about a month later, and then phase three another month-ish after that, all depending on “ongoing epidemiology and hospitalizations” as the province puts it. But let’s not get ahead of things.…
COVID cases, hospitalizations and news for Nova Scotia the week Feb 7-13
Like the province, The Coast is admitting to omicron overwhelm. We are switching to bare-bones daily reports, while aiming to maintain the vital infographics that give the best picture of the current situation: NS COVID deaths Omicron hospitalizations New and active cases Nova Scotia’s third and fourth waves Canada’s fourth wave…
Protest blockades are illegal in Nova Scotia
Last Sunday, Nova Scotia saw its very own version of the Freedom Convoy to Ottawa, as those who are against continuing vaccine mandates, isolation requirements and gathering limits gathered to air their displeasure—loudly. According to Halifax Regional Police, over 1000 vehicles made their way through the downtown core (but there are no numbers on how…
Your horoscope for the week February 10-16
HAPPY BIRTHDAY THIS WEEK TO Kate Graves, Kevin Lewis, Sheldon MacLeod, Dafydd Davies, Shannon MacInnes, Claire Gallant, Lisa Kuhn, Adam Pye and Christine Oreskovich. share the love by emailing your friend’s name and birth date to bday@thecoast.ca then click your sign to go to your horoscope aquarius aries cancer capricorn gemini leo libra pisces sagittarius …
A Valentine for Nova Scotians as COVID restrictions will be eased February 14
Nova Scotia’s three-phase reopening plan begins Valentine’s Day, with expanded capacity at restaurants, bars, salons and stores. The gathering limit will be bumped from 10 people to 25, and festivals, performances, and arts and culture events can go ahead with 50 percent of a venue’s capacity. “It’s time to change our perspective and our approach.…
Council rejects staff advice in vote to give the new Art Gallery of Nova Scotia $7 million
Correction: An earlier version of this story stated construction on the Waterfront Arts Centre would begin in 2024, when it is actually slated to break ground this spring. The Coast regrets the error. Here’s the thing about dreams: They can be expensive. If you’re the Art Gallery of Nova Scotia, your new dream home—the Waterfront…
Ashley McKenzie’s Queens of the Qing Dynasty premieres at the Berlin Film Festival
When the Berlin International Film Festival opens tomorrow, Nova Scotia will be there. Cape Breton writer-director Ashley McKenzie’s new movie, Queens of the Qing Dynasty, is making its world premier at Berlinale 2022, screening several times over the course of the February 10-20 festival. Queens is in BIFF’s “encounters” section, which is “a platform aiming…
Is it safe to drink a litre of semen?
Q I’m a 40-year-old bi guy, and I’m really into drinking cum. I say “drinking” and not “swallowing” because I’m talking about glassfuls. I make and sell videos of me drinking large amounts of cum. Since I don’t have a stable of guys to supply me, I use frozen cum. It used to just be…
7 TV series and movies to stream this African Heritage Month
The winter doldrums are here and it’s peak stay-home-and-watch-TV season (especially thanks to omicron’s continued presence). It’s possible you feel as we do in that you’ve watched The Entire Internet and have moved on to weird, niche content. Consider this a rallying cry from the mainstream’s shores: A collection of seven new, buzzy series and…
How humanity can start restoring nature here in the Anthropocene
Geologists have classified most epochs in Earth’s history according to fossils, radiometric dating and composition of the strata. The widely endorsed label for our current era, the Anthropocene, describes the extent to which our collective human footprint is changing the planet. It’s a proposed “geological epoch dating from the commencement of significant human impact on…
8 local chocolatiers to find the perfect, heart-melting gift for Valentine’s Day
Everyone who loves sugar knows that chocolate on Valentine’s Day makes for a great gift. But if you’re really trying to impress your favourite chocolate-lover on February 14, you can’t just pick up the first bar or box of sweets (or any, to be quite honest) that you find on the grocery store shelf. Instead,…
What’s the best way to help the houseless—shelter now or housing later?
Friday is a storm day in Halifax. The buses have stopped running. Schools are shuttered. Coffee shops have locked their doors and even Halifax Central Library is closed. In an early morning press release, HRM directs unhoused people to the Hfx Warming Centre. The warming centre’s entrance to it isn’t particularly easy to find. The…
Your horoscope for the week February 3-9
HAPPY BIRTHDAY THIS WEEK TO Maya Williams, Melanie Chapman, Rachel Carter, Jill Barber, Ron Burns, Casey Spears, Chantelle Jessome, Mark Wheatley, Dylan Frevola, Fiona Diamond, Shandi Mitchell, Jason Meisner, Leslie Miller, Michael Tompkins, Moira MacDonald, Jane Wright and Matthew Cowan. share the love by emailing your friend’s name and birth date to bday@thecoast.ca then click your sign to go to your horoscope aquarius aries cancer capricorn gemini …
Moon Babes aims to create space for women to talk food and menstrual health
When Taq Kaur Bhandal moved back to Halifax near the beginning of the pandemic, she craved a space for women of colour that fostered community, nourishment and open conversation. After spending time with barely any human interaction during isolation, she was excited about finding a group open to the idea of creating solidarities and discussing…
Dine Around brings people out to local restaurants (and restaurants home to people)
Wednesday morning in Nova Scotia, Shubenacadie Sam saw her shadow, meaning another six weeks of winter. There are also another couple weeks of COVID restrictions, which will last until February 14 at the earliest. It’s not great news in an already-slow time for restaurateurs. “January, February and even March to some degree is a slow…
Soprano Measha Brueggergosman-Lee’s concerts will make you feel alive again
It feels like it’s Wednesday at 3pm all the time. We’re still draining ourselves on Zoom, or making do without the hero pay that topped us up early in the pandemic. The joke phrase “the before times” has stopped bringing laughs, and is now used as an earnest shorthand for the recent past. We’re in…
Three artists shortlisted for Viola Desmond monument that’s coming to Gottingen Street
Back in 2018, when Viola Desmond first graced the $10 bill, the North End Business Association was deep in revelry, with a host of events marking the occasion. However, one element missing from the celebration of the Nova Scotia civil rights icons was something, well, iconic. A permanent, public monument to Desmond. But it was…
Applications are now open for Lunenburg’s next artist-in-residence program
The Lunenburg School of the Arts is looking for emerging artists (including recent graduates) to apply to its four-month artist-in-residence program “to develop and enhance their practice in their chosen medium.” The four-month stint for the fall term runs September 12-December 16, 2022 and the application deadline is March 31. Alongside 24-hour independent studio access,…
African Heritage Month 2022 events in Halifax
Okay, okay, you know what I’m going to say: COVID has impacted how African Heritage Month is being celebrated, causing the programming to be slighter than it has been in pre-pandemic years. But that doesn’t mean the city isn’t celebrating Black culture and history in February. The Coast is actively compiling this full calendar of…
