There’s a fascinating way in which movies shape our view of the world. And it’s not in the more common toxic ways most people are familiar with, like romantic comedies teaching generations of men that stalking is the most romantic thing they can do to woo a woman. Nor is it the subtle racism taught […]
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Posted inNews + Opinion
Rain brings wildfire relief in Halifax, but threat not fully over
On any other week, a seven-day downpour weather forecast in June might have prompted a spree of four-letter lamentations across Halifax. Not this time. Not for a while, either, one imagines. As firefighters surpassed a week of battling a 950-hectare wildfire that has prompted the evacuation of more than 16,400 Haligonians, every droplet on Saturday […]
Posted inArts + Music
Jane Kansas, travelling light
Editor’s Note: Jane Kansas, an artist, activist and queer elder, passed away in late 2022—a loss felt by many Haligonians. On her first birthday since we lost Kansas, a memorial will be held Monday, June 5 at the Bus Stop Theatre (2203 Gottingen Street), with the opportunity to remember her from 1pm until midnight. An art […]
Posted inNews + Opinion
“Far from out of the woods” with Tantallon fire threat, officials say
Provincial forestry technician David Steeves was asked a question about resources during his Thursday morning update from the Tantallon fire response control centre: How confident is Nova Scotia in the tools it has at hand to battle an out-of-control wildfire burning across Upper Tantallon for the fifth straight day? The answer “balances on a razor’s […]
Posted inNews + Opinion
Province bans all travel and activity within forests while wildfires continue
Nova Scotia premier Tim Houston did not mince words in his Tuesday afternoon update on the province’s efforts to quell a pair of wildfires in Upper Tantallon and Shelburne County. “Travel and activity in our woods is banned,” Houston said, speaking from Shelburne, where an out-of-control 11,510-hectare blaze has prompted the evacuation of more than […]
Posted inNews + Opinion
Tuesday winds in Tantallon bring “dangerous” fire risk, officials warn
Brad George was in the midst of his weekly Sunday clean-up when his Highland Park home began to fill with smoke. He could see it, smell it in the air. He looked out the front window. Ash fell on his lawn. Flames licked above the trees across the street. “I could just see this big […]
Posted inFood + Drink
The original Ray’s Lebanese restaurant is closing after 42 years
Beyond the glass door that leads into Ray’s Lebanese in Dartmouth’s Burnside neighbourhood, restaurant owner Raymond Khattar is bent into a plastic-backed chair and thinking about all the years that came before, along with what still lies ahead. After 42 years of serving Haligonians his signature falafel wraps—a run that cemented the 64-year-old Khattar as […]
Posted inNews + Opinion
The COVID emergency is officially over in Nova Scotia
In the early months of the COVID crisis, Dr. Robert Strang’s daily briefings were a popular and vital source of information for Nova Scotians. Today, Dr. Strang gave his final briefing of the epidemic, announcing the lifting of the province’s last lingering COVID restrictions and stating that COVID’s become an endemic disease akin to the […]
Posted inNews + Opinion
A dispatch from the front lines of the class war: The CUPE strike
On May 10, a beautiful Wednesday morning, members of the Canadian Union of Public Employees went on strike. The bulk of the striking workers are educational program assistants, but this strike includes all of the support staff for Halifax Regional Centre for Education schools. These EPAs are people—mostly women—who make sure children with disabilities, or […]
Posted inNews + Opinion
Province issues Liquor Control Act charges against Halifax Alehouse after December homicide outside pub
The Halifax Alehouse is facing two Liquor Control Act charges amid ongoing allegations of bouncer violence. The charges stem from an investigation launched in the days after 31-year-old Ryan Michael Sawyer was found “unresponsive” on the sidewalk outside the pub early on Dec. 24, 2022. Sawyer’s death was later ruled a homicide. Related A source […]
Posted inNews + Opinion
Halifax’s biggest cruise ship of the year (so far) arrives this week
If you’ve been anywhere near Halifax Harbour in the last two weeks, you’ve seen the Orion crane ship looming over Dartmouth’s skyline. One of the world’s largest offshore construction vessels, it can lift 5,000-tonne loads up to a height of 178 metres—more than twice the height of the Purdy’s Wharf towers. Since Saturday, it’s been […]
Posted inArts + Music
Art from the Amazon and the Arctic arrives at the Art Gallery of Nova Scotia
Even though the third floor of the Art Gallery of Nova Scotia’s north building is closed to the public, a cacophony of noise fills the space. Competing chanting from two nearby video installations cross over one another, while the adjoining hallway’s vermillion-red walls are loud enough to register over both. Around the corner, a dozen […]