Bells will be ringing again from City Hall this weekend, after roughly 100 years of silence. Two bronze bells are scheduled to be installed tomorrow (Saturday, October 30) in the bell tower on top of Halifax City Hall, and their chimes will be heard for the first time downtown at Grand Parade Square in the […]
City
Posted inNews + Opinion
A People’s Park success story
In late August, Malcolm Kay first experienced homelessness in Halifax. He spent nearly six weeks without a permanent address. First, he was sleeping in a tent at People’s Park, then was promised—and ousted from—a room at the Comfort Inn, spent a few nights at the Gray Arena and went back to the park. Finally, as […]
Posted inNews + Opinion
Police board seeks independent advice on independent review of shelter siege
Exactly two months after the shelter siege of August 18, Halifax’s Board of Police Commissioners met to discuss the possibility of an independent review of police actions that day. A petition calling for such a review was started by the East Coast Prison Justice Society and signed by nearly 5,000 people over the past eight […]
Posted inNews + Opinion
HRM says modular housing units will be here “before the snow flies”
For several months, unhoused people in HRM have been struggling to find a safe place to sleep. Residents “sleeping rough,” as the city has dubbed it, have had municipal workers threaten eviction, seen promises of shelter announced and then revoked and been the focal point of violent police action. Many houseless citizens eventually settled at […]
Posted inNews + Opinion
Journalist Robert Devet remembered as champion of the people
Simon de Vet remembers his dad considering retirement about a decade ago. “He was a little worried that he’d be sitting around the house all day,” says Simon, a first-year physics professor at Dalhousie University. “He was a little hesitant to retire early.” His father, Robert Devet—who styled their Dutch surname slightly differently—had been working […]
Posted inNews + Opinion
The top 5 “Halifax’s freshest memes” from the past 5 years
In the life of a university student in Halifax—or anyone in the city with a love for meme culture—there has been a reliable provider of LOLs for the past five years. @dal_memes made its first Instagram post on November 16, 2016. By the end of September 2021, the account—which is not affiliated with Dalhousie University—celebrated […]
Posted inNews + Opinion
24 protesters arrested at the shelter siege have their first day in court
“I’m not a hero,” says Kate MacDonald into a microphone, standing at the centre of a group gathered this morning outside the courthouse on Spring Garden Road. “Nobody here is.” But the crowd of about 50 may disagree. MacDonald and 23 others were arrested by Halifax Regional Police on August 18 for defending their unhoused […]
Posted inNews + Opinion
City council report: Housing is never far from council’s thoughts
Highlights from Tuesday’s regular meeting of Halifax Regional Council include a plan for 137 new affordable housing units in HRM, a doubled housing grant program and a mobile shower pilot that’s supposed to start this week. During the Sep 28 meeting, council doubled the amount it will spend on an affordable housing grant from $200,000 […]
Posted inArts + Music
What is Truth and Reconciliation Day and why is it important?
The National Day for Truth and Reconciliation became a federal holiday in the summer, when it was passed into law by parliament. Getting officially recognized a few months after the decision to mark Emancipation Day on August 1 of each year, Truth and Reconciliation Day is Canada’s newest holiday, and will be held annually on […]
Posted inNews + Opinion
1,000+ young protesters demand climate action marching in downtown Halifax
Groups of young protesters gathered at Victoria Park around noon today, September 24, for this year’s School Strike for Climate, a movement that started in 2019, with large protests around the world demanding action against climate change. Halifax had its own climate strike in 2019, and the COVID-19 pandemic didn’t stop protesters from a physically […]
Posted inNews + Opinion
ACORN rally calls on government to extend rent control
On Thursday morning, traffic on Hollis Street was moving even slower than normal. Cars and semi-trucks were honking, some repeatedly, as they approached the provincial legislature—but it wasn’t because of a mid-morning traffic jam. Beginning at 10am, dozens of people gathered outside the provincial legislature to call on the government to extend rent control, which […]