As a university student in Halifax, I walk into a classroom or research lab, looking around eagerly, hoping to see someone who looks like me. I gaze around anxiously, searching to find at least one person who can feel the weight that I’m carrying. I sigh in disappointment, realizing that yet again, I am alone. […]
Voice of the City
Posted inNews + Opinion
Six years of abortion advancements in Atlantic Canada
Access to Choice Celebration Monday, April 8, 5:30pm Halifax Distilling Company 1668 Lower Water Street More info at halifax@leaf.ca Six years ago, when Dr. Henry Morgentaler died, many Atlantic Canadian abortion advocates felt disarmed and afraid. Morgentaler’s private clinic in Fredericton had provided most of New Brunswick’s abortions for years, each patient paying $750. The province […]
Posted inNews + Opinion
How to fight Islamophobia in the wake of New Zealand terrorist attack
To my horror, I learned from social media that there has been another attack at a mosque that left 49 people dead and almost 50 injured in New Zealand. The sheer number of people dead is inconceivable to me. Sadly, the heinous act itself is not. I empathize with the victims in New Zealand, with […]
Posted inNews + Opinion
Cogswell plans leave room for more opportunity
I n Displacing Blackness: Planning, Power, and Race in Twentieth Century Halifax, author Ted Rutland says that in 1970, the city’s view was that construction of the “dystopian” Cogswell Interchange was slum clearance in the name of urban renewal. A similar official view prevailed about a decade earlier with the relocation of Africville residents. With […]
Posted inNews + Opinion
Celebrate Portia White’s legacy
Internationally recognized in her day, now revered as part of Canadian heritage, Portia White’s legacy is infused with many meanings. For the Nova Scotia Talent Trust, which is celebrating 75 years of supporting aspiring artists of all disciplines, Portia White represents its catalyst. In 1944, members of the Halifax Ladies Club, along with voice teacher Ernesto […]
Posted inNews + Opinion
Trayvone Clayton shares his voice, his opinion
My name is Travone Clayton, born and raised in Uniacke Square, Halifax. On Monday February 4, I was in Ottawa to attend the last day of the National Black Canadian Summit at the Parliament Building—the most powerful building in Canada. We were given the chance to go share our thoughts and ideas with ministers on […]
Posted inNews + Opinion
White supremacy in Halifax
To understand the growing right-wing movements in this province, I subjected myself to the convention for Maxime Bernier’s People’s Party of Canada at the Atlantica Hotel in Halifax on Friday, January 18. Fully aware of the United States’ MAGA movement and the disgusting politics of the alt-right, I was still not prepared for what I […]
Posted inNews + Opinion
The Wet’suwet’en struggle is far from over
Sixty-five kilometres up a logging road near Houston, British Columbia, just beyond a river from which you can drink directly, lies an unceded territory actively defended by its original people. To enter, you need to go through a free, prior, and informed consent protocol designed to keep people out who do not benefit the land […]
Posted inNews + Opinion
SCIENCE MATTERS: Pipeline blockade is a sign of deeper troubles
Recent controversy over a natural gas pipeline blockade and the differing priorities of hereditary chiefs and elected band councillors illustrates a fundamental problem with our systems of governance and economics. Elected councils for the Wet’suwet’en and other Indigenous bands have signed lucrative “impact benefit agreements” with TransCanada (now called TC Energy), builder of the Coastal […]
Posted inNews + Opinion
Halifax’s snow job on citizens
After listening to all of the conversations surrounding the poor snow clearing jobs after the recent snow/rain storms, I have come to the conclusion the public is getting a snow job from our elected representatives when trying to explain why we are getting such poor service. Every time, when asked about improved services, the first […]
Posted inNews + Opinion
My friend Willard
My friend Willard died on Friday. He was hit and killed by a truck, just around the corner from his home. His home. I loved to walk by his house, I did it on purpose. Would there be a ragtag band of old fellas cracking cold ones on the stoop? Would he be listening to […]
Posted inNews + Opinion
I am a small business owner and I support the postal workers
In following the progression of the Canada Post strike, I’ve seen nothing but headlines focused on the small business owners who are suffering, the freelancers who are not receiving their cheques, the families whose “Christmases are being held hostage.” I am an independent contractor, a freelancer and a small business owner, and I rely solely […]
