Earlier this fall when Premier Tim Houston announced that Pat Dunn, a white man, would be the new Minister of African Nova Scotian Affairs, Vanessa Fells immediately started getting phone calls from media asking her for comment on Dunn’s appointment. “When things like that happen, our members only meet once a month,” Fells said. “So, […]
Black News File
Stories from the Black community in the Maritimes from November 4 to November 8.
1. Black Yarmouth high school principal retires after 42 years Last week, Don Berry, who was the principal at Yarmouth Consolidated Memorial High School, retired after 42 years as an educator. CBC and Saltwire Media both reported on his retirement, his kindness, and creative ways of inspiring students, as well as the weeklong series […]
Black News File
Stories from the Black community in the Maritimes, August 31 to September 6, 2021.
1. It’s all white, so it’s all right! (Part 1) The new provincial PC majority government was sworn in last Tuesday, including the new Minister of African Nova Scotian Affairs, the Office of Equity and Anti-Racism Initiatives, as well as Communities, Culture, Tourism and Heritage — Pat Dunn. Premier Tim Houston faced questions and criticism […]
Halifax cops and Black people: the Rodney Small case
Morning File, Thursday, June 4, 2020
News 1. Police and Black people in Halifax The police murder of George Floyd is highlighting what Black people have known forever: there is too much policing. On Tuesday, Sarah Dobson drew our attention to the Halifax case of Rodney Small, then a 15-year-old living in Uniacke Square. An appellant court ruling explained the (alleged) […]
Wilson-Raybould, Churchill? Evidence our legislative committee systems don’t work
The committees don't work, of course, because of the people in charge. But the system itself makes that failure possible, even inevitable.
Quick now, what does Judy Wilson-Raybould v Justin Trudeau, Gerald Butts, Michael Wernick et al have in common with Zach Churchill v Tim Houston, Ramona Jennex, Denise Peterson-Rafuse et al? Well yes, of course, both feature all-powerful political bosses — Liberal Prime Minister Justin Trudeau of SNC-Lavalin infame and Liberal Premier Stephen McNeil of the Yarmouth ferry...
How Vaportecture is used to obscure Canada Land’s untendered sale of land for a Shannon Park stadium
Morning File, Tuesday, April 2, 2019
News 1. Joan Baxter and Jennifer Henderson on Northern Pulp This evening at 7pm, Joan Baxter will be interviewed by Jennifer Henderson on stage at the St. Margaret’s Centre in Tantallon. From the Facebook event page: Incisive, no nonsense, take no prisoners. Joan Baxter’s brilliant exposé “The Mill – Fifty Years of Pulp and Protest” […]
Race in Nova Scotia: one small step forward, another giant leap into the past
Back in the fall of 1968, Stokely Carmichael’s mere presence scared the hell out of Halifax. Are there lessons for today?
Last month, the Bank of Canada released its new $10-banknote featuring an image of Viola Desmond, the iconic Canadian civil rights pioneer who refused to give up her seat in the whites-only section of the Roseland Theatre in New Glasgow in 1946, and touched off this country’s modern civil rights era nine years before Rosa...
Revolutionary – Burnley “Rocky” Jones: Examineradio, episode #82
Halifax Examiner Saturday columnist El Jones speaks with Jim Walker, a noted History professor at the University of Waterloo and a member of the Order of Canada. Walker is the co-author of a recent (auto)biography of iconic black activist and lawyer Burnley “Rocky” Jones. Also, The Borg Ship has stalled out on Argyle Street, with an […]