News brief: Opponents of aerial spraying occupy more parcels in Annapolis County
People opposed to aerial spraying of glyphosate are occupying three parcels of forested land on South Mountain in Annapolis County.
Annapolis Valley
Policing Black lives in rural Nova Scotia, an interview with Jessica Bundy
In terms of racism and policing much of the focus has been on Halifax’s urban core, but what about rural Nova Scotia?. We talk with Jessica Bundy, a young African Nova Scotian academic who wrote about the policing experiences of Black residents of the Town of Digby and surrounding communities.
News brief: Truck flying confederate flag in Wolfville grim reminder that symbols of white supremacy must be banned
Photos of a truck flying the confederate flag, taken yesterday in Wolfville and posted on Twitter today, serve as a reminder that racism is alive and well in Nova Scotia.
News release: PSAC stops contracting out of cleaning jobs on Canadian Forces bases of Kingston and Greenwood
(Wonderful) News release: Plans to contract out cleaning services to private companies at Canadian Forces Bases (CFB) in Greenwood and Kingston have been shelved and the Department of National Defense (DND) has committed to creating a new process for future reviews. Workers at CFB Greenwood were facing unemployment as of next week, with their work being contracted out to a private, for profit company.
President Cutten and a shameful episode in the history of Acadia University
George Barton Cutten, one of Acadia’s early presidents, is honoured on the university’s website and has a student residence named after him. Turns out the man was an ugly racist, staunch supporter of the eugenics movement, and not a fan of democracy. Is it time to rename Cutten House? Reporters Colin Mitchell and Christopher Vanderburgh present the facts.
Open letter to Dominic Leblanc: Save the Avon River
A letter written by Joanne Light to federal Fisheries minister Dominic Leblanc. She pleads for a radical rethink of the proposed twinned Avon River causeway in Windsor. Endangered salmon cannot enter the Avon River to spawn, and that should be fixed. Leblanc knows what to do, after all, a couple of years ago he helped fix a similar problem in the Peticodiac River, in his own riding.
Rally at Windsor courthouse charges racism and disrespect in police and Crown handling of death
Dashonn States was only 22 years young when he died this June as the result of a single car crash. Dashonn was merely a passenger, not the driver, but his family says even after his death he continues to face racism and disrespect as the case winds its way through the court system. This morning a rally at the Windsor courthouse demanded justice and respect for Dashonn’s memory.
A river must run through it — Twinning the 101 and the Windsor Causeway
A group of environmental activists in the Annapolis Valley is calling for a radical rethink of the Avon River causeway in Windsor. Endangered salmon cannot enter the Avon River to spawn and the group has launched a letter writing campaign to call on the federal Department of Fisheries to interfere.
Weekend video. Four feet up
Watch this wonderful documentary by Nova Scotia’s Nance Ackerman, about the exceptional eight-year old Isaiah and his equally remarkable family as they live in poverty in the Annapolis Valley.