This month’ Nova Scotia Barristers Society’s newsletter contains a powerful segment of essays and poems written by people in prison, and guest edited by El Jones, with help from guest editor “R”. You definitely should check it out.
In his introduction to disability arts Alex Kronstein tackled what disability arts is. In this follow up we will take a look at some examples of disability art from Nova Scotia, elsewhere in Canada and the world to provide inspiration for a stronger disability arts scene in Atlantic Canada.
Journalist Scott Costen, who runs the excellent Queens County Citizen, argues in this op-ed that it is high time for Queens County the fly the Pride flag.
Retired school teacher Carolyn van Gurp offers up a brief and powerful lesson to Halifax mayor and councillors. “You have a chance on Tuesday evening to begin to right years of wrong by placing the symbol of this treaty violation and subsequent atrocity where it belongs, in history books and a museum, not on a pedestal in a public park. Please make the decision to remove or relocate this statue in time for us all to truly celebrate Treaty Day together in October.”
Some more thoughts on the Cornwallis statue. It’s not about the historical record, it’s about racism.
Get rid of that damn Cornwallis statue, we say, and sooner rather than later. Another well-considered and nuanced editorial by the Nova Scotia Advocate.
Tony Seed reminds us that the movement to get rid of the repulsive Cornwallis statue goes back quite a while. Read the speech delivered by then 93 years young Halifax activist Betty Peterson in 2010 at the Peace and Freedom Park, and find out more about Betty and other organizers in the biographical notes Tony provides. See you at the Peace and Freedom Park this Saturday!
Michael McDonald, a Mi’kmaq of Sipekne’katik First Nations, offers up a fascinating version of the history of Kjipuktuk, or Halifax, that is quite different from the one we usually hear. For one thing, it starts way before Cornwallis arrived.
Disability arts is about how being a disabled artist influences what they create. In this first of two articles Alex Kronstein surveys the landscape of disability arts, and offers up some samples, including a stunning video. It is all about resistance, affirmation, and pride.
Now that the North End Community Health Centre has moved to new quarters on Gottingen Street, the Johanna B Oosterveld Centre, often referred to as the JBO, is lost to the community. Many local groups used that space for meetings, press conferences, panels and other activities. Nancy Hunter. who used to teach a yoga class there, believes it’s part of a trend and wonders what we can do to stop it.