Allow me to set the scene: I work on the industry side of music. While being introduced in a line with my male co-workers, hands are extended. Jovial “good to meet you” and other pleasantries are exchanged. And then it comes to me. My boss is great at introducing me, which I appreciate wholeheartedly, but […]
Voice of the City
Posted inNews + Opinion
Clinic’s move to Bayers Lake is poor planning, a waste of public funds
Last Thursday the provincial Liberal government announced the purchase of land in Bayers Lake, at the exorbitant price of $7.5 million, to accommodate clinics set to be displaced by the upcoming redevelopment of the QEII Heath Centre’s Victoria General (VG) site. The decision to move public services from a central location—highly accessible by public transit—to […]
Posted inNews + Opinion
“Destroy the Indians”
On October 1, 1749, governor Edward Cornwallis gathered his council in Halifax to discuss the growing French and Mi’kmaq threat. Cornwallis’ bright successes at the Battle of Culloden and in the Scottish Pacification may have been illuminating his mind when the councillors met in his Parade Square home. The Halifax settlement was small, isolated from […]
Posted inNews + Opinion
Macdonald Bridge closures have been havoc for cyclists
Since June 2015, cyclists have not been allowed to cross the Macdonald Bridge on their bikes. While drivers have only had to deal with bridge closures on evenings and weekends, the bridge has been closed to cyclists all of the time. As the bike lane re-opening keeps getting pushed further and further ahead, I continue […]
Posted inNews + Opinion
Sexual assault support services aren’t nearly enough for survivors
There has been much discussion in the news regarding sexual abuse and the way that lawyers (defence and the Crown), police and professionals-at-large treat victims. I have read and heard people wax poetic for better training, the end of victim blaming and the end of re-victimization by a system that is supposed to help survivors. […]
Posted inNews + Opinion
Snow dazed and confused
I start muttering and twitching even before I’m out of bed. The cell phone on the other side of the room has “dinged” and because it’s 6am on a winter weekday, I know that a text has just arrived, saying “All schools in HRSB will be closed today.” They’re words that strike fear and loathing […]
Posted inNews + Opinion
Call me Ms.
The last time I identified as a Mrs. it was for the sake of establishing some credibility for myself. I was opening a new bank account as an unemployed “homemaker” and this lack of professional identity left me feeling a bit insecure with Mr. Bankman. So I chose Mrs. as my prefix in an effort […]
Posted inNews + Opinion
Trans exclusionists target Halifax trans women
Over the past two weeks, Halifax transgender women have been experiencing intense and persistent harassment from local trans exclusionists. Readers should note that this piece will discuss acts of transphobia and transmisogyny (discrimination targeting trans feminine individuals) in detail. A trans exclusionist, otherwise known as a transgender exclusionary radical feminist (or “TERF”) excludes transgender people—particularly […]
Posted inNews + Opinion
The ruthless capitalism at work in cannabis dispensaries
At a show last summer, a musician friend said to me, “This is Pineapple Express—I bought it legally in Kensington Market.” Legal. Weed. Kensington. Toronto. That stuck in the memory banks, and I followed up next time I was in Toronto, visiting several locations of one well-reputed dispensary, sampling as many marijuana strains and concentrates […]
Posted inNews + Opinion
Years after my own assault, nothing has changed
I had just had a baby. I was still breastfeeding. I hadn’t been out in months. There was a DJ coming to town that I loved and my friends were all like, “Come out, come out.” I didn’t make plans with any particular people. I knew I would know tons of people there. Admittedly, I […]
Posted inNews + Opinion
Nothing is enough for Judge Gregory Lenehan
Bassam Aladin Al-Rawi has been found not guilty of sexual assault, and I feel sick. The case seemed open-and-shut to everyone except the Judge. The woman in this case was found, half-naked and unconscious, in the back of a taxi. The driver of the taxi, Bassam Aladin Al-Rawi, was found in close proximity to the […]
Posted inNews + Opinion
Music kept me alive
My first memories are a mix of Cystic Fibrosis and He-Man. Of hearing somewhere that the disease would kill me by 31 (the national average age), and having bullies use it against me. I lived my life with that. Music gave me great comfort when I was just six years old and onward. Jackson 5, […]
