As Canada grapples with questions of Indigenous sovereignty and the duty to consult from coast to coast, the Sipekne’katik First Nation—Indian Brook—took to Nova Scotia’s highest court this week for the latest step in an ongoing opposition to a natural gas storage facility proposed on their unceded land near the Shubenacadie river. This case is […]
Julia-Simone Rutgers
Posted inNews + Opinion
Nova Scotia’s minimum wage to rise to $12.55 in April
N ova Scotia’s minimum wage will make an historic $1 leap in April, but caveats in the province’s plan will still leave Nova Scotian workers stuck in the middle of the pack. Just last year Nova Scotia’s $11 minimum wage was the lowest in the country, but the provincial government’s plans hope to knock Nova […]
Posted inNews + Opinion
Halifax Regional Police review suggests reorganization, more civilian input
It’s time for a little re-organizing at Halifax Police Headquarters now that regional council has approved a slew of recommendations designed to amp up the “effectiveness and efficiencies” of policing in HRM, including new roles for civilians. In November 2019, Vancouver-based Perivale and Taylor Consulting prepared a $195,000 report on the internal workings of Halifax’s […]
Posted inNews + Opinion
Ridesharing companies are getting uber-close to their Halifax debut
Ridesharing services like Uber and Lyft are one step closer to hitting the streets of Halifax now that new regulations for vehicles-for-hire have passed through regional council, but concerns about safety are still on the table. Council passed a motion during Tuesday’s meeting to allow several new changes to HRM by-laws surrounding licensing for both […]
Posted inNews + Opinion
Moving beyond Nova Scotia’s street check ban
Just days after the Nova Scotia Human Rights Commission delivered its landmark report on street checks last March, DeRico Symonds took to the streets. Despite the report’s finding that Black people in Halifax were six times more likely to be stopped by police than their representation in the population would suggest, and the Black community’s […]
Posted inNews + Opinion
Pushing beyond the glass ceilings of BIPOC political representation
I was asked to reflect on the lack of people of colour running in the four federal ridings in Halifax Regional Municipality. This statistic is so unsurprising—I didn’t think it was worth writing about—but I do think it’s an important statistic to know, so here it is: There are no people of colour running for […]
Posted inNews + Opinion
Province’s feet-dragging on endangered species has landed it in court.
Against the backdrop of a week marked by international climate conversations and action, a group of Nova Scotians who care about the natural environment and keeping it protected took the province’s minister of lands and forestry to court over what the group says is a failure to uphold the Nova Scotia’s Endangered Species Act. Bob […]
Posted inNews + Opinion
Sexual exploitation conference calls for more attention to the “root” of the problem
A conference being held by Saint Mary’s University’s criminology department on September 14 promises to bring fresh perspectives to the topic of sexual exploitation in Nova Scotia and beyond. Organized by human trafficking abolitionist and survivor of sexual exploitation Cheyenne Jones, the Buyer Beware panel aims to bring awareness to what Jones considers the origin […]
Posted inNews + Opinion
Elle Noir AKA Chris Cochrane is unapologetically herself
Educator, drag queen, aesthetician, actor, consultant: Halifax’s 2019 Pride ambassador commands the spotlight everywhere she goes. Now in her 14th year as a performer, Chris Cochrane—Halifamous for her drag persona Elle Noir—is finding balance and breaking boundaries as a dazzling new era brings drag into vogue. Strangers linger in a bustling Hydrostone coffee shop, shooting […]
Posted inArts + Music
Here We Are Here and the complicated presence of Blackness in Canada
The history of Black lives in Nova Scotia is oft little recorded and little taught in the traditional channels of textbooks and classrooms, but a new exhibition at the Art Gallery of Nova Scotia is looking to give space to this illustrious history with Black voices front and centre. Here We Are Here: Black Canadian […]
Posted inNews + Opinion
Street check report confirms what Black Haligonians have known for years
Time and time again the stories are told, and time and time again no change has come. For years, Nova Scotia’s Black community has been recounting stories of pain, frustration and fear in its interactions with police. Now, with the release of the Nova Scotia Human Rights Commission’s report on street checks, African Nova Scotians […]
Posted inNews + Opinion
What’s behind the street check report delay?
The long-awaited Nova Scotia Human Rights Commission report on carding has been delayed until late March for “several reasons,” Scot Wortley, the project’s sole researcher, told The Coast in an email. The biggest holdups, writes Wortley, are “the vast amount of data that has been collected” and the amount of time it takes to analyze […]