When Dal Tigers coach Cindy Tye started playing soccer in Nova Scotia in the ’70s and ’80s, she had to join a boys’ team. There was no league for girls. “It wasn’t until I was 14 or 15 that I played my first game with all girls,” says Tye. Born in Middleton, Nova Scotia, Tye […]
Lauren Phillips, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter
Lauren Phillips is The Coast’s Education Reporter, a position created in September 2023 with support from the Local Journalism Initiative. Lauren studied journalism at the University of King’s College, and has written on education and sports at Dal News and Saint Mary's Athletics for over two years. She won gold in the Canadian online publishing awards in the academic Best Multicultural Story category for her work on "Kwe’ Eskasoni," in May 2022, and assisted the journalism academic partners of Looking Out For Each Other (LOFEO), a project that started with the media guidelines on how to report responsibly on missing Indigenous people. Lauren assisted in researching recommendations for family and friends of missing Indigenous people to help them understand how media works and how to communicate effectively with reporters.
Posted inNews + Opinion
Old school seeking new cool, with a $10 million price tag
In 1920, the University of King’s College burnt to the ground. It was the middle of winter. A fire spread through the main building and into adjoining residences, destroying the Windsor, Nova Scotia campus founded in 1789—the oldest chartered university in Canada. In 1930, the university re-opened at the site it’s on today, adjacent to Dalhousie […]
Posted inNews + Opinion
USS ends with call for Canada to move towards reparatory justice
The four-day Universities Studying Slavery conference that took place in Halifax Oct. 18-21 produced a resolution calling on Canada to join the Caribbean Community and Common Market political and economic union—CARICOM—in fulfilling reparatory justice through creating a National Reparations Commission. The resolution was proposed by Dr. Sylvia D. Hamilton, filmmaker, writer and Inglis Professor Emeritus […]
Posted inNews + Opinion
USS day 3: Gospels of freedom, ecologies of resistance
It’s Friday, Oct. 20 in the ballroom at the Halifax Marriott Harbourfront Hotel. Dr. Afua Cooper speaks to the international crowd at the Universities Studying Slavery conference after coffee, tea and eggs, and presents a poem written for this moment. Cooper is a distinguished historian and poet, Killam Research Chair in Black and African Diaspora […]
Posted inNews + Opinion
USS day 2: Outside conference windows, the Atlantic Ocean is a symbol of loss
Day two of the Universities Studying Slavery conference in Halifax began with breakfast in view of the harbour at the Halifax Marriott Hotel. This Thursday Oct. 19 morning, the former president of Ghana, His Excellency John D. Mahama, spoke to a full ballroom about emotionally connecting Ghana to Nova Scotia through the waters of the […]
Posted inNews + Opinion
USS day 1: King’s partners with Black Cultural Centre and former president of Ghana visits Africville
Day one of an international conference studying reparations, slavery and education began Wednesday, Oct. 18 in Cherry Brook—an historic African Nova Scotian community just outside of Halifax—at the Black Cultural Centre for Nova Scotia. The Universities Studying Slavery conference is Oct. 18-21 in Halifax Get the full weekend program here Keynote speeches Thursday, Oct. 19 […]
Posted inNews + Opinion
Dal and King’s host first appearance of Universities Studying Slavery conference in Canada
The Universities Studying Slavery—USS—conference is happening outside of the United States for the first time, and it’s happening in Halifax. From Wednesday Oct. 18 to Saturday Oct. 21, keynote speakers and panel sessions will take place at the Black Cultural Centre—BCC in Cherry Brook and the Halifax Marriott Harbourfront Hotel to consider the theme: “Slavery, […]
Posted inNews + Opinion
A conversation on treaty education with the MK, Nova Scotia’s Mi’kmaw school board
October is Mi’kmaw History Month in Nova Scotia. It began with the 37th annual Treaty Day on Oct.1, but treaty education in Nova Scotia continues long after the last Halloween pumpkins are smashed thanks to Mi’kmaw educators across the province, in tandem with the provincial government. Nova Scotia is a part of Mi’kma’ki, but the […]
Posted inNews + Opinion
Did Dal just make HoCo uncool?
“There’s people! It’s working!” An organizer of Dal’s officially sanctioned 2023 homecoming party—HoCo—celebrated students and guests who showed up to the university’s free festivities on campus Saturday, Oct. 7. A Dalhousie spokesperson says as many as 1,500 students, alumni, faculty and staff came to the school-sponsored event, which included a Dal Tigers football game, party-music […]
Posted inNews + Opinion
Home ice at what price?
In November 2022, The Coast broke the story of the ballooning price tag on Dalhousie University’s new home ice rink. When the school’s Board of Governors approved the rink in 2021, the budget was $21.6 million; by 2022, the cost was up to $36.5 million. The additional $14.9 million was approved by the board in […]
Posted inNews + Opinion
Truth and Reconciliation Day in Halifax prioritizes learning and listening
Inside the Mi’kmaw Native Friendship Centre on Saturday, Sept. 30, a crowd of all ages wore orange and listened to stories from residential school survivors and their families. Saturday marked the third National Day for Truth and Reconciliation in Halifax and across Canada. The day’s event focused on healing through storytelling alongside cultural activities geared […]
Posted inNews + Opinion
Two years later, what are your thoughts on $10-a-day child care?
Since 2021, families in Nova Scotia have been promised $10-a-day child care, on average, by March 2026. This promise, made through the Canada-Nova Scotia Canada-Wide Early Learning and Child Care Agreement, pledges $605 million from Ottawa plus $40 million from Nova Scotia over five years to make sure all families find “high-quality, affordable, flexible and […]