Lessons from The Great Influenza Pandemic

I was up later than usual working on this Morning File. I always write portions of it the night before, but usually wrap it up by 9 p.m. But last night, I was still working on it until almost midnight. Meanwhile, Tim Bousquet was messaging me about what to expect for stories in the morning (Tim’s the hardest-working person I know and I don’t know when he sleeps). We knew we’d have a packed Morning File for you today.

There are five days left in our November subscription drive and with yesterday’s increased restrictions to prevent the spread of COVID-19, I was reminded of the early days of the pandemic when we were all locked down at home. Everyone at the Examiner was working on stories, covering all angles of the pandemic. All of those stories were provided for free. Our subscribers were generous and continued to support our work.

Now here we are in lockdown again, covering more restrictions, and wondering what stories will come from this second wave. Examiner reporters are digging deep into other stories, too. We have some of those today. And like the previous lockdown and any other time, we need your continued support.

Any new annual subscribers (over $100) will get a free Examiner t-shirt. You can wear it with your favourite pyjama bottoms while staying at home. Please subscribe!

News

1. COVID-19 update: New restrictions, closures, and fines

There are new restriction, closures, and fines across the province, including several specifically in the HRM where the numbers of COVID cases are much higher (37 new cases were announced on Tuesday; 35 of those are in the central zone). Zane Woodford brings us the latest on those restrictions after yesterday’s briefing with Dr. Robert Strang and Premier Stephen McNeil. As Woodford reports, the restrictions come into effect Thursday at 12:01 a.m. and will stay in place for two weeks. The new restrictions, closures, and fines in Halifax and Hants County include:

• All attendees of illegal gatherings will be fined $1,000 — not just the host
• Restaurants and bars are closed to in-person dining
• Retail stores must limit shoppers and staff to 25% of total capacity
• Wineries, distilleries and breweries are closed to tastings and dining, and must follow retail rules
• Sports, recreation, athletic, arts and cultural and faith-based activities are cancelled
• Fitness centres, libraries, museums and casinos are closed

Strang says he understands these restrictions and closures may be especially tough for many as we head into the holidays, but he shared a message to Nova Scotians.

This year, the way we care for each other, the way we show that we love each other, is by keeping each other COVID safe.

Everything else — gifts, faith celebrations, they are secondary to what we’re doing primarily, which is about showing that we care for each other.

You can read Woodford’s entire article here.

• The Pint Public House (1575 Argyle St, Halifax) on Nov. 14 between 10:00 p.m. and close. It is anticipated that anyone exposed to the virus at this location on the named date may develop symptoms up to, and including, Nov. 28.
• The BOARD ROOM GAME CAFÉ (1256 Barrington St, Halifax) on Nov. 14 between 9:30 p.m. and close. It is anticipated that anyone exposed to the virus at this location on the named date may develop symptoms up to, and including, Nov. 28.
• Bearly’s House of Blues & Ribs (1269 Barrington St, Halifax) on Nov. 14 between 10:30 p.m. and close. It is anticipated that anyone exposed to the virus at this location on the named date may develop symptoms up to, and including, Nov. 28.
• Durty Nellys (1645 Argyle St, Halifax) on Nov. 15 between 4:30 p.m. and close; Nov. 16 between 4:30 p.m. and close; Nov. 19 between 10:30 p.m. and close; and Nov. 20 between 10:00 a.m. and 2 p.m. It is anticipated that anyone exposed to the virus at this location on the named dates may develop symptoms up to, and including, Dec. 4.
• Nova Scotia Health – QEII Halifax Infirmary X-ray Department Waiting Area (1799 Robie St, Halifax) on Nov. 17 between 8:45 a.m. and 10:45 a.m. It is anticipated that anyone exposed to the virus at this location on the named date may develop symptoms up to, and including, Dec. 1.
• Darrell’s Halifax (5516 Fenwick St, Halifax) on Nov. 17 between 6:00 p.m. and 9:00 p.m. It is anticipated that anyone exposed to the virus at this location on the named date may develop symptoms up to, and including, Dec. 1.
• Kai Brady’s aka The Fickle Frog Pub (5679 Spring Garden Rd, Halifax) on Nov. 17 between 11:30 p.m. and close. It is anticipated that anyone exposed to the virus at this location on the named date may develop symptoms up to, and including, Dec. 1.
• Mary’s African Cuisine (1701 Barrington St, Halifax) on Nov. 19 between 7:00 p.m. and 9:00 p.m. It is anticipated that anyone exposed to the virus at this location on the named date may develop symptoms up to, and including, Dec. 3.
• Obladee Wine Bar (1600 Barrington St, Halifax) Nov. 19 between 9:30 p.m. and 11:00 p.m. It is anticipated that anyone exposed to the virus at this location on the named date may develop symptoms up to, and including, Dec. 3.
• Jack Astors (107 Shubie Dr, Dartmouth) on Nov. 19 between 11:30 a.m. and 1:30 p.m. It is anticipated that anyone exposed to the virus at this location on the named date may develop symptoms up to, and including, Dec. 3.
• Starbucks (5991 Spring Garden Rd, Halifax) on Nov. 19 between 2:30 p.m. and 4:30 p.m. It is anticipated that anyone exposed to the virus at this location on the named date may develop symptoms up to, and including, Dec. 3.
• Freeman’s Little New York (6092 Quinpool Rd, Halifax) on Nov. 19 between 2:30 p.m. and 4:40 p.m. It is anticipated that anyone exposed to the virus at this location on the named date may develop symptoms up to, and including, Dec. 3.
• Hermitage (1460 Lower Water St, Halifax) on Nov. 19 between 4:00 p.m. and close. It is anticipated that anyone exposed to the virus at this location on the named date may develop symptoms up to, and including, Dec. 3.
• Sea Smoke Restaurant and Bar (1477 Lower Water St, Halifax) on Nov. 19 between 3:30 p.m. and 8:30 p.m. It is anticipated that anyone exposed to the virus at this location on the named date may develop symptoms up to, and including, Dec. 3.
• Little Oak Bar (1475 Lower Water St, Halifax) on Nov. 19 between 5:00 p.m. and 10:30 p.m. It is anticipated that anyone exposed to the virus at this location on the named date may develop symptoms up to, and including, Dec. 3.
• Gahan House (5239 Sackville St, Halifax) on Nov. 20 between 8:30 p.m. and 11:30 p.m. It is anticipated that anyone exposed to the virus at this location on the named date may develop symptoms up to, and including, Dec. 4.
• Halifax Alehouse (1717 Brunswick St, Halifax) on Nov. 20 between 9:30 and close. It is anticipated that anyone exposed to the virus at this location on the named date may develop symptoms up to, and including, Dec. 4.
• Sourwood Cider (5576 Cornwallis St, Halifax) on Nov. 20 between 6:30 p.m. and 8:30 p.m. It is anticipated that anyone exposed to the virus at this location on the named date may develop symptoms up to, and including, Dec. 4.
• The Local Bar and Restaurant (2037 Gottingen St, Halifax) on Nov. 20 between 8:30 p.m. and 10:30 p.m. It is anticipated that anyone exposed to the virus at this location on the named date may develop symptoms up to, and including, Dec. 4.
• Orange Theory Fitness (6140 Young St, Halifax) on Nov. 17 between 6:30 a.m. and 8:30 a.m.; on Nov. 18 between 9:00 a.m. and 11:00 a.m.; on Nov. 20 between 8:45 a.m. and 11:15 a.m.; and Nov. 21 between 7:45 a.m. and 9:45 a.m. It is anticipated that anyone exposed to the virus at this location on the named dates may develop symptoms up to, and including, Dec. 5.
• Mercantile Social (1579 Hollis St, Halifax) on Nov. 21 between 8:30 p.m. and 11:00 p.m. It is anticipated that anyone exposed to the virus at this location on the named date may develop symptoms up to, and including, Dec. 5.

And here are the graphs for active cases and new daily cases.

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2. Blockade continues to stop Digby clearcuts

Joan Baxter interviews Eleanor Wynn, who is a member of Extinction Rebellion, the group that’s been camped out and blocking access to logging equipment on Crown land in Digby County slated for clearcutting. That area is also known habitat for the endangered mainland moose.

On Monday, Extinction Rebellion headed over to the office of Lands and Forestry to meet with that department’s minister Derek Mombouquette after not getting a reply to a letter the group’s spokesperson, Nina Newington, sent to the department earlier this month asking for a meeting about the clearcutting.

Baxter reports on what happened next:

Frustrated by the silence, Wynn and the other members of Extinction Rebellion decided to hand-deliver copies of Newington’s letter to the DLF office.

Wynn was seated on the floor, causing no disturbance, just hoping that their presence would inspire the minister — or someone from the department — to respond to their concerns about unsustainable forestry practices, clearcutting and failure to protect species at risk, and call Nina Newington to set up a meeting.

Instead of agreeing to meet or speak with the protestors, someone in the department called the police. Wynn was arrested, handcuffed, dragged from the building and taken to the police station, where she was charged with not leaving premises when she was told to.

Newington tells Baxter there’s a second blockade set up now that includes members of Extinction Rebellion and other groups.

Baxter’s not getting responses from the department either. Click here to read the entire article.

Subscribe here to support Baxter’s indomitable work.

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3. Non-profits to create “truly affordable” housing in HRM

The Mi’kmaw Native Friendship Centre, Adsum Women and Children and the North End Community Health Centre will share $8 million in funding to build 52 units of “truly affordable” housing in the HRM. Zane Woodford reports on Halifax Regional Council’s unanimous vote in favour of a motion to submit an investment plan to the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC) for the projects.

Here are the details on the three projects:

• The Mi’kmaw Native Friendship Centre’s proposal to spend $2,878,400 to redevelop its property at 5853 College St. to create a 30-bed shelter, 10-room shared housing and seven one- or two-bedroom units for urban Indigenous people.
• Adsum Women and Children’s proposal to spend $3,977,188 to add to its property at 158 Greenhead Road in Lakeside to create 25 units for women, families and trans persons at risk of homelessness.
• The North End Community Health Centre’s proposal to spend $1,227,625 to renovate a vacant four-unit building at 2218 Maitland Street to create a 10- or 11-unit shared housing building for African Nova Scotians experiencing chronic homelessness.

The funding for the projects comes from the federal government’s new Rapid Housing Initiative (RHI) of $1 billion announced in October to create 3,000 units of affordable housing across the country. Municipalities in Canada got half of that money, with the HRM getting $8.7 million.

The deadlines are tight and the projects need to be completed by December 2021. Sheri Lecker, executive director of Adsum House, says the work is “daunting” but they’re “thrilled” to have the opportunity.

But this is it, we have this window, and we just have to take advantage of it and we have to get this, we have to make this happen, not just our organization and the others but we have to see some of those other very good projects, move forward.

Click here to read Woodford’s complete article.

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4. More access to high-speed internet, but not just yet

There are new projects on the way to increase access to high-speed internet across the province, although they won’t be complete in time to help students this year or next.

Jennifer Henderson reports on Tuesday’s announcement from Develop Nova Scotia about “scope expansions” to existing contracts that will give access to high-speed internet to another 6,700 homes and businesses. Said Minister of Business Geofff MacLellan:

The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic has reinforced the critical importance of access to reliable, high-speed internet for business, education and leisure. Across the province, people are working from home, students are learning from home and our small businesses are moving to increase their online presence. These changes have fundamentally changed the way our society operates. Equitable access to Internet is more important than it’s ever been.

But the province says these communities won’t be connected via these new projects until 2023.

Click here to read Henderson’s complete article.

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5. Outhit new deputy mayor

District 16 councillor Tim Outhit is the municipality’s new deputy mayor. Zane Woodford reports on Outhit’s selection, which was made before Tuesday’s council meeting. Outhit says he’s “excited” about the new role.

When I look around this table and talk to you I am so intrigued and so excited about this council — your enthusiasm, your energy, your background, your priorities.

Click here to read Woodford’s complete article.

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Views

Learning from The Great Influenza Pandemic of 1918-1920

More than two years ago, the Nova Scotia Museum published a virtual exhibit on The Great Pandemic of 1918-1920. That pandemic, often known as the Spanish Flu, killed more than 35 million people around the world. Two thousand Nova Scotians were killed by the virus.

I found the exhibit over the weekend as I was searching Google for information on what Christmas was like in Nova Scotia during that pandemic. I didn’t find that particular information, but stumbled on the exhibit, which is a detailed and heartbreaking collection of stories of people who died from the disease, and those who helped others.

Earlier this week I connected with Ruth Whitehead, an esteemed historian and now retired assistant curator at the Nova Scotia Museum (she still works as a research associate), and Allan Marble, a retired professor, researcher, and former president of the Royal Nova Scotia Historical Society, who both lead the research on the project (There’s a long list of contributors to this project, including staff at the museum and those who work in historical societies across the province. Click here to find their names).

The project got its start when Whitehead’s nephews asked her about research on some older relatives, including her mother’s half-brother, who Whitehead discovered died from the influenza. That discovery piqued Whitehead’s curiosity, and she approached the Nova Scotia Museum and its curator of history Martin Hubley about plans for remembering the 100th anniversary of the Great Influenza Pandemic.

With help from Hubley, plans went forward for a website where all the research would live. A committee was created with Whitehead and Allan Marble, who started his own research in 2009 by searching death records and collecting data on those who died from the influenza between 1918 and 1920. Says Whitehead:

I thought I’d really like to tell the stories about all the people affected instead of the story in general, because everyone else is doing the story in general, and make it a local-to-Nova Scotia project.

The exhibit takes viewers through several aspects of the pandemic, including explaining how the virus arrived in the province, how it spread, and how healthcare workers heroically not only worked to save Nova Scotians, but travelled elsewhere, like Boston, to help patients there. These healthcare workers were struck with the virus, too. This whole page is dedicated to several nurses who treated the sick, and some who died themselves.

And the exhibit also chronicles the public health measures taken by the province, including by Halifax mayor Dr. Arthur C. Hawkins and public health officer Dr. William C. Hattie. Dr. Norman E. McKay, the chair of the Halifax Board of Health, recommended the closure of all public places, including schools, universities, churches, and theatres. His order was put in place the next day.

Marble says it’s because of their work and leadership that Nova Scotia had the lowest death rate from this influenza in the country. Click here to read those stories.

There’s also this video that maps out the deaths from the flu from the date of onset from August 1918 to December 1919. Each red dot represents a community struck by the virus. The varying colours represent the number of deaths.

The stories of Nova Scotians who died from this virus — especially some of its youngest — are incredibly difficult to read.

Some of the first deaths in Halifax County were in Beechville — a small village founded by Black refugees, some from the War of 1812. Whitehead had been doing a lot of work on Black history for the museum, so she went online looking at websites about Beechville and found their stories. The first confirmed influenza death there (the second recorded death in the province) was 13-month-old Murray Dorrington.

Thirteen people died in Beechville in the first few weeks of the pandemic. Says Whitehead:

Each individual death record, they were so moving and they told a story, like one family losing maybe three people. There were four funerals in one day. For a tiny little community, that must have been devastating. But what hurt me on their behalf was that there’s no mention of this at all in the newspapers.

Another page is dedicated to the maritime dimension of the influenza and how it spread from fishing schooners arriving in local ports. That happened in Petit de Grat when the schooner Athlete of Gloucester, Massachusetts arrived in that port, although the ship barely made it into the harbour because the crew was so ill. The residents unloaded the boat’s cargo, bringing to shore the virus that then spread around the community. Bodies were buried right away, denying families a chance to have the customary time to mourn. Petit de Grat lost 10% of its residents to the virus within four months.

Those stories from Beechville and Petit de Grat aren’t the only tragic tales from that time. Whitehead told me one story about a Kings County family who contracted the virus. The 84-year-old grandfather walked through the snow, fighting a raging fever, until he reached a neighbouring farm. Those neighbours went to town to get a doctor, while the grandfather walked back home in the snow again. When the neighbours returned hours later it was too late. The grandfather, his wife, daughter, and grandson all died of the virus. It wasn’t uncommon for this influenza to wipe out entire families. Says Whitehead:

The thought of that old man staggering through the snow while burning up with fever, in the hopes of saving his family, it’s really heartbreaking. And there are lots of stories like that. It’s the courage and sweetness of Nova Scotians that got us through then and will perhaps get us through this next one.

After the exhibit was published, Marble spent time hosting meetings about the research in communities across the province. He says one question was asked more often than any other: “Could this happen again?” Marble’s answer was always the same.

Of course, I simply said, I’m afraid to tell you it could happen tomorrow. There was dead silence in the room, and I’d say I’m not trying to scare you. I’m just trying to indicate to you that a virus can show up any time and it can get out of control and it can cause havoc. And it out turned, a year after I said that, it did happen. I had no idea we’d be faced with this so soon.

Marble says there was almost nothing known about the influenza in Nova Scotia prior to starting his research in 2009. He started his work because the Nova Scotia government transferred the death records from the Vital Statistics office to the Nova Scotia Archives. Marble then got permission to look at the records from 1918 to 1920.

He spent about six months going through all those records to put together a picture of what happened. He looked at age, gender, occupation, religion, location of everyone who died from the influenza. Like Whitehead, Marble says there are stories out there, but it was only recently they’ve been shared. He found them though newspapers — about 30 of them that existed in Nova Scotia’s towns and villages at the time. There was no television, radio, or internet so it was through these newspapers that stories were shared.

But Marble says today so many people he’s met with have never heard about The Great Pandemic.

People would say, ‘I never heard of this before.’ It wasn’t in school texts, no one ever told me about this. They used to ask me about this. My theory is it’s the same as the soldiers coming back from the First World War: they didn’t want to talk about it. I think the pandemic of 1918 was so severe and such a miserable experience that people who went through it didn’t tell their children or grandchildren anything about it at all. I think people just wanted to forget about it.

Marble has a message for all of us now, living through a pandemic 100 years after the one they researched. He says:

Start believing in science. Those people who devoted their lives to science and who developed the vaccines. Those people actually did something very important for society and what they have to say about diseases and, in this case, the coronavirus. They know about these things. They spent their whole lives studying it.

Not all of the stories could be included in the exhibit, so Whitehead wrote a book, Nova Scotia and the Great Influenza Pandemic, 1918-1920: A Remembrance of the Dead and an Archive for the Living, which was published by Nimbus. She has a message to share, too.

I learned that if something like this comes along the best thing I could do for myself and the best thing I’d encourage other people to do is stay locked up in the house because it can’t infect you if it can’t get to you. And the stupidity of people is boundless because people do things by habit. They don’t pay attention until they have the actual experience.

I also emerged from all this research with the deepest respect for the doctors and nurses back then, as well as now, who served until they died from it.

And the kindness and the helpfulness of most Nova Scotians toward each other. I see Facebook stories going on about it now.

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Noticed

Many of us who work from home have used Zoom so often now, you’d think we’d all remember to mute our microphones when we’re not speaking. A reporter at the New Brunswick COVID-19 briefing didn’t remember and was heard peeing in the background. Click here to watch that video.

But can you hear them wash their hands?

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Government

City

Wednesday

Audit and Finance Standing Committee (Wednesday, 10am) — virtual meeting; no dial-in or live broadcast.

Community Design Advisory Committee (Wednesday, 11:30am) — virtual meeting

Design Advisory Committee (Wednesday, 4:30pm) — virtual meeting

Thursday

Reclaiming Power and Place ‑ Virtual Read (Thursday, 10:30am) — a group reading of Reclaiming Power and Place: The Final Report on the National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls (2019). More info here.

Project (Thursday, 12pm) — architecture lecture with Telmo Pievani from University of Padua, Italy, and Alessandro Melis, University of Portsmouth, UK. More info here.

MScOS Confronting rhetorical framings of occupation as inherently “good” (Thursday, 12pm) — from the listing:

Recent scholarship resists implicit, dominant perspectives that exclusively frame occupations as socially valued and positively meaningful activities that contribute to health and wellbeing. This seminar opens discussions about complex experiences of occupation shaped by social, political, and economic contexts. Potential implications for broadening understanding of occupation will be explored.

Info and Zoom link here.

Affine Groups: Projections and Generalized Wavelet Transforms (Thursday, 2:30pm) — Keith Taylor will talk.

We discuss harmonic analysis on groups of invertible affine transformations of n-dimensional Euclidean space with a focus on the construction of self-adjoint idempotents (aka projections) in the Banach algebra of integrable functions on the particular group. These constructions led to the development of higher dimensional generalizations of the continuous wavelet transform. We will present several concrete examples that illustrate the deeper structure.​

Mathematics Zoom Room, info and link here. Bring your own idempotents.

reimagine NS ‑ Nova Scotia’s Promise, Reimagined (Thursday, 6:30pm) — panel discussion featuring Alice B. Aiken, Wanda Thomas Bernard, Danny Graham, and Lori Turnbull will

reflect on what we’ve uncovered and learned throughout the last five episodes and discuss how we, as a collective, can come together to keep moving forward, prosper and build a stronger Nova Scotia.

In an episode shaped around envisioning the future, our panelists will also explore the questions: What do organizations need to do to support a reimagined Nova Scotia? How can institutions like Dalhousie make a difference? What can policy makers and influencers do to contribute? And how can we as an individual take action?

More info and registration here.

Towards a Unified Field of Israel/Palestine Studies (Thursday, 7pm) — Derek Penslar from Harvard University will give the 2020-21 MacKay History Lecture.

Within universities the most visible aspect of the debate about Israel/Palestine is student and faculty activism, often associated with support for or opposition to the Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) movement.  This activism rarely integrates the academic teaching and research that lie at the centre of a university’s mission. In this talk I examine the development of the academic fields known as “Israel Studies” and “Palestine Studies.” I discuss their contributions, their strengths and limitations, and whether they should remain independent or be united into a single field. I hope to show how thoughtful and rigorous scholarship can break down barriers and transform hostile rhetoric into productive conversation.

Info and registration link here.

Province

Wednesday

No meetings.

Thursday

Human Resources (Thursday, 10am, Province House) — Kelliann Dean from NS Office of Immigration; Kevin Orrell, Deputy Minister of Health and Wellness. Info and CART link here.

On campus

Dalhousie

Wednesday

Workshop: How to find a job in a pandemic (Wednesday, 12pm) — workshop for Dalhousie and King’s students and alumni. Info here.

Safe Space for White Questions ‑ Online Pandemic Edition (Wednesday, 12:30pm) — Ajay Parasram from Dalhousie and Alex Khasnabish from Mount Saint Vincent lead the fourth of a series of free public drop-in sessions; open to all (particularly white identifying people) who would like to come ask a question or two about a wide range of issues generally captured under the banner of “progressive” politics that you would like to better understand. More info and link here.

Epidemiologic contributions to health and wellbeing at the start of life (Wednesday, 1pm) — Stefan Kuhle will talk.

The presentation will provide an overview of Dr. Kuhle’s research program and teaching portfolio. Dr. Kuhle’s research examines etiologic as well as policy-relevant questions on the influence of early life factors on long-term child health. His projects use primary and secondary data with the application of traditional and emerging epidemiologic and biostatistical methods. Examples of highlighted research include the developmental origins of health and disease and their associated costs, the 3G Multigenerational Cohort Study of women and their mothers and offspring, and the vision for a platform for child health research in Nova Scotia. Dr. Kuhle will also describe his experience and philosophy of teaching state-of-the-art epidemiologic concepts to graduate students.

More info and link here.

Thursday

Reclaiming Power and Place ‑ Virtual Read (Thursday, 10:30am) — a group reading of Reclaiming Power and Place: The Final Report on the National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls (2019). More info here.

Project (Thursday, 12pm) — architecture lecture with Telmo Pievani from University of Padua, Italy, and Alessandro Melis, University of Portsmouth, UK. More info here.

MScOS Confronting rhetorical framings of occupation as inherently “good” (Thursday, 12pm) — from the listing:

Recent scholarship resists implicit, dominant perspectives that exclusively frame occupations as socially valued and positively meaningful activities that contribute to health and wellbeing. This seminar opens discussions about complex experiences of occupation shaped by social, political, and economic contexts. Potential implications for broadening understanding of occupation will be explored.

Info and Zoom link here.

Affine Groups: Projections and Generalized Wavelet Transforms (Thursday, 2:30pm) — Keith Taylor will talk.

We discuss harmonic analysis on groups of invertible affine transformations of n-dimensional Euclidean space with a focus on the construction of self-adjoint idempotents (aka projections) in the Banach algebra of integrable functions on the particular group. These constructions led to the development of higher dimensional generalizations of the continuous wavelet transform. We will present several concrete examples that illustrate the deeper structure.​

Mathematics Zoom Room, info and link here. Bring your own idempotents.

reimagine NS ‑ Nova Scotia’s Promise, Reimagined (Thursday, 6:30pm) — panel discussion featuring Alice B. Aiken, Wanda Thomas Bernard, Danny Graham, and Lori Turnbull will

reflect on what we’ve uncovered and learned throughout the last five episodes and discuss how we, as a collective, can come together to keep moving forward, prosper and build a stronger Nova Scotia.

In an episode shaped around envisioning the future, our panelists will also explore the questions: What do organizations need to do to support a reimagined Nova Scotia? How can institutions like Dalhousie make a difference? What can policy makers and influencers do to contribute? And how can we as an individual take action?

More info and registration here.

Towards a Unified Field of Israel/Palestine Studies (Thursday, 7pm) — Derek Penslar from Harvard University will give the 2020-21 MacKay History Lecture.

Within universities the most visible aspect of the debate about Israel/Palestine is student and faculty activism, often associated with support for or opposition to the Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) movement.  This activism rarely integrates the academic teaching and research that lie at the centre of a university’s mission. In this talk I examine the development of the academic fields known as “Israel Studies” and “Palestine Studies.” I discuss their contributions, their strengths and limitations, and whether they should remain independent or be united into a single field. I hope to show how thoughtful and rigorous scholarship can break down barriers and transform hostile rhetoric into productive conversation.

Info and registration link here.

Saint Mary’s

Wednesday

Under the Influencers – Entrepreneurs in Rural Communities (Wednesday, 6pm) — webinar featuring alumni who own wine, beer, and cannabis business in rural communities across Nova Scotia.

In the harbour

06:00: Titus, car carrier, moves from Pier 31 to Autoport
15:00: Algoma Integrity, bulker, moves from Bedford Basin anchorage to National Gypsum
15:00: Algoma Verity, bulker, sails from National Gypsum for sea
15:00: Titus sails for sea
16:30: Kyoto Express, container ship, sails from Fairview Cove for Dubai

Footnotes

I was supposed to head to Bridgewater today for meetings. I was to be there again on Saturday for more community work. I spent yesterday switching the meetings to online. While I’m a bit Zoomed out right now, at least I have that option.

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