Let's Talk Antigonish Podcast

Anne Simpson is one of Antigonish’s most quietly remarkable residents; — novelist, poet, visual artist, essayist, community builder. Perhaps not unexcepted for a poet, she thinks carefully before answering Anuj and Justin’s questions resulting in eloquent answers with nuggets of wisdom for anyone considering a career in writing or as an artist. How It Started: Logistics Simpson trained as a visual...

We sat down with Colette Rennie and Charlie MacDonald to talk about Pomquet's past, present, and the salmon-supper-fille future! This episode marks something of a first: Justin and Anuj pack up the recording equipment and head out of town — fifteen minutes down the road, as it turns out — to chat with Colette and Charlie inside the Pomquet Community Centre. It’s a fitting location. The centre itse...

This episode came about almost by accident. Anuj, recruited by Dr. J’s principal to coach table tennis, found himself at the school’s awards night recently — a four-hour marathon event — watching two grade 11 students hold the room together from start to finish. Those two students, Austin Wabbi and Brooklyn Wasson, are the incoming co-presidents of the class of 2027, and Justin and Anuj invited th...

The question that launched this episode was a simple one, posed by Anuj after a conversation with Justin one day: why doesn’t the theatre put on more plays about harder-hitting social issues like racism, war, and other difficult topics? It’s a fair question, and it opens a door into a genuinely fascinating conversation about what it means to run a professional theatre company in a small Nova Scoti...

Ticks are on everyone’s minds this summer, and also on everyone’s dogs (apparently). Justin and Anuj sat down with Jantina Toxopeus, a professor of biology at St. Francis Xavier University whose research focuses on what happens to insects and arachnids in extreme cold. As Justin puts it, her expertise is figuring out what happens “when you freeze a bug”. As it turns out, that expertise has a lot o...

If you’ve lived in Antigonish for any length of time, chances are someone has told you to go see the Ships of 1801. And if you’ve been, you already know why. And if you haven’t, this episode is your entry point. Justin and Anuj sat down with Duncan MacDonald, the writer and producer behind one of the most beloved annual events in Antigonish, for a wide-ranging conversation about the show’s origins...

If you’ve lived in Antigonish for any length of time, you’ve driven past the entrance to Whidden’s Park Campground at the corner of Main Street and Hawthorne — probably hundreds of times. You may have glanced down the lane and kept driving. Most people do. This episode is for everyone who never turned in and wondered what the heck goes on back there. Justin and Anuj sat down with Andrew Whidden —...

Sean Cameron is back. The Mayor of Antigonish returns for his second appearance on the podcast, this time fresh off the approval of the town’s 2026 budget to walk Justin and Anuj through what the town is spending, why, and what residents can expect this summer and beyond. The Town-County Relationship: Better Than You Think The episode opens where the recent episode with The Warden left off: the on...

Nicholas MacInnis is back. The Warden of Antigonish County — and, he confirms, still happily in the role — returns for a wide-ranging second conversation with Justin and Anuj covering two of the biggest issues facing the county right now: the long-overdue renewal of the town-county sewer agreement, and the newly approved Eigg Mountain Wind Project, which is generating both excitement and controver...

If you’ve driven past Church Street Extension lately, you’ve probably noticed the construction. That’s the new RK MacDonald Nursing Home going up — a 125,000 square foot facility that has been in the works since 2017 and is on track to open in 2028. It’s one of the biggest building projects in Antigonish right now. Justin and Anuj sat down with Terry MacIntyre — CEO and administrator of the RK Mac...

There’s a good chance you’ve benefited from the work of the Sisters of St. Martha without ever knowing it. If you’ve been treated at St. Martha’s Regional Hospital, used community transit, found support through SAFE or the Friendship Corner, or simply walked through the Bethany Centennial Garden behind the hospital on a difficult day — the Marthas are somewhere in that story. This year marks 125 y...

We sat down with Jim Bickerton, professor of political science at StFX since 1984, to talk about what the recently approved (and highly contentious) provincial budget means for Antigonish. Jim is a long-time voice in Atlantic Canadian media on matters of provincial politics, and a fellow Antigonisher. What follows is a calm, analytical, and occasionally blunt conversation, full of useful context f...

We sat down with Paul Curry, President of the Antigonish Chamber of Commerce to talk honestly about what it takes to run a small business in Antigonish; the red tape, the razor-thin margins, the trouble finding workers, the fallout from the recent construction traffic that crippled a few Main Street businesses. But it was not a conversation filled with doom and gloom; quite the opposite in fact. P...

Mack Murphy and Haley Qualizza are back. The two StFX Student Union Vice Presidents — Mack for Campus Affairs, Haley for External Affairs — were such compelling guests in their first appearance on the podcast that Justin and Anuj made them the show’s first-ever returning guests. Last time they covered student life in Antigonish broadly. This time there was unfinished business: at the end of that f...

Justin and Anuj sat down with Heather MacIsaac—a pharmacist by day, and as of this year, a JUNO-nominated composer—to talk about her debut album The Moon’s Daughter , her long and winding road through competitive piping, performance anxiety, and the kitchen ceilidh culture that makes Antigonish’s music scene unlike anywhere else. What Even Is Trad Music? If you’re not already in the scene, MacIsaa...

Immigration is a subject that almost every resident of Antigonish has bumped into in some way. Walk into a local Tim Hortons, visit Parkland or the RK, or stroll through the StFX campus, and the town’s growing diversity is immediately visible. But behind that visible change is a complex and increasingly uncertain legal and policy landscape that is affecting real people in our community right now....

Lynne DeLorey, who recently became the first-ever Director of Tourism for the Antigonish Tourism Association (ATA), is on a mission to change the face of Antigonish tourism. Justin and Anuj sat down with DeLorey for a wide-ranging conversation about what the town has going for it, what it’s missing, and what the Antigonish Tourism Association is doing to put Antigonish firmly on the tourism map. W...

If you haven’t been to a pharmacy lately for anything beyond picking up a prescription, you might be missing out. As of February 1, 2026, the Nova Scotia government has rolled out province-wide funding for a broad range of minor ailment treatments at pharmacies across the province — and it’s a bigger deal than most people realize. On our latest episode, Justin sat down with Miranda Teasdale, owner...

For most Antigonish families, Dr. John Hugh Gillis Regional High School is simply “the regional”—the place where virtually every teenager in the area spends their formative years. But for those without direct connections to the school, or newcomers to the community, what actually happens inside that large building on the edge of town can remain something of a mystery. Justin and Anuj invited Princ...

This week we sat down with Haley Qualizza and Mack Murphy, student leaders at St. FX Students’ Union, to discuss housing challenges, drinking culture shifts, the need for third spaces, and what it means to call Antigonish home When you live in a university town but aren’t connected to the institution, it’s easy to develop incomplete—sometimes inaccurate—impressions of student life. Students become...

We sat down with the Honourable Michelle Thompson, Nova Scotia’s Minister of Health and Wellness and Antigonish MLA, to discuss healthcare transformation, her role as a local representative, and what’s actually happening to improve access to care. When someone gets elected to represent their community, they don’t necessarily expect to oversee one of the most complex portfolios in government. But f...

We sat down with artist Anna Syperek and Andrea Terry, director and curator of the StFX Art Gallery, to find out if it’s possible to making a living as an artist in Antigonish. It’s a question that haunts creative people everywhere: can I actually support myself doing what I love? For visual artists in particular, the path from passion to sustainable income often feels impossibly precarious. But i...

We sat down with Mi’kmaw community historian Trevor Gould to pepper him with questions about Paqtnkek, the history of the Mi’kmaq in this area, and the origins of the name “Antigonish” Every time someone says “Antigonish,” they’re speaking a Mi’kmaw word—though most don’t realize it. The town’s name comes from Nalikitquniejk, meaning “the place where the branches are broken off,” a descriptor of t...

For most Canadians, the Senate of Canada remains something of a mystery—an appointed body they vaguely remember from high school civics class. But as Senator Mary Coyle explained in this week’s episode of Let’s Talk Antigonish, the reality of Senate work is far more dynamic, consequential, and increasingly independent than most citizens realize. Senator Coyle, who has represented Nova Scotia in th...

Catherine MacPherson, the local food security coordinator with the Antigonish Community Fridge and Pantry, sat down with Let’s Talk Antigonish hosts Justin and Anuj on Christmas Eve to discuss the stark reality of hunger in our community and how residents are responding with compassion and creativity. The Community Fridge, operating since August 2022, is addressing the growing food insecurity prob...