Thinking Out Loud with Sheldon MacLeod

Even in the face of hateful intolerance, Jagmeet Singh is taking the high road. The leader of Canada's New Democratic Party (NDP) recently attended the leadership convention for Nova Scotia's NDP. Ahead of the Saturday afternoon speech, Singh spoke to the issues facing our country right now including inflation (profiteering), the allegations of political interference in the Mass Casualty and of hi...

Colin James is glad to be back touring after the pandemic shut down live performances for many over the past two years. His 20th album, "Open Road" is a fitting title as his tour makes a stop in Halifax at the Rebecca Cohn Auditorium on July 7th, 2022. The Saskatchewan-born artist has come a long way from failing music class in high school to playing in a bluegrass band to sharing a stage with Ste...

Indigenous culture is known to be based on an understanding that all things on the planet are interrelated. And that is a mindset a Halifax psychiatrist is hoping more of us adopt for ourselves and the planet. Dr. Marie-Therese O’Neill recently wrote a piece for the Chronicle Herald/Saltwire. In it she notes "Indigenous Peoples in Canada and elsewhere always knew that our happiness cannot be separ...

In 2011, Jodi Brown got sick and she ended up leaving her job as an aircraft maintenance planner and landed on social assistance and in public housing. And it was from there that she became an anti-poverty advocate for people who needed support. She is someone who has a lived experience in finding suitable housing and surviving on a limited budget with limited income. This week, Nova Scotia's Audi...

Nova Scotia is underutilizing the public housing it owns according to the latest report from Auditor General Kim Adair. There are 20 recommendations from her office on ways to improve the governance of the public housing and the lack of accountability that exists. There are more than 11-thousand units across the province and there are currently more than 6-thousand people on waiting lists. And the...

June 21 is National Indigenous Peoples Day. According to the government website, it is a day for all Canadians to recognize and celebrate the unique heritage, diverse cultures and outstanding contributions of First Nations, Inuit and Métis peoples. Jarvis Googoo has taken to his social media account this month to share his knowledge about Indigenous History. A year ago, he was struggling with the...

It was a recent tweet from Mi'kmaw educator Jarvis Googoo that prompted this conversation. He has been using his social media account to share information and stories about Indigenous History in the time before and after the settlers arrived in Mi’kma’ki, the ancestral and traditional lands of the Mi’kmaq people. June is Indigenous History Month and there has been a renewed interest in teaching al...

When faced with adversary, she's always risen to the challenge. An accidental opioid overdose by her brother more than a decade ago put Amy Graves on the path to activism in Nova Scotia. She become the founder of a group called Get Prescription Drugs Off The Street. From there she ended up working in Corrections in Alberta before returning to Nova Scotia during the pandemic. One day last December,...

In the history of the Nova Scotia Teachers Union (NSTU), there's only been one strike. And it lasted one day. The Stephen McNeil Liberal Government used legislation, known as Bill 75 to impose a four year contract on the workers that froze wages and took away the right to strike. And at the time, the NSTU called it unconstitutional and an affront to good faith collective bargaining. And this week,...

It's estimated that Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder (FASD) affects 40-thousand children in Nova Scotia. That's more than the people affected by Down syndrome, autism spectrum disorder, Tourette’s syndrome and cerebral palsy combined. And one educator and blogger is troubled that there's no support being offered to families affected by FASD in this province. Grant Frost says some of the kids who ha...

A program to help Nova Scotia families afford their first home isn't keeping up with the housing market. The Down Payment Assistance Program saw the number of people accessing the grant in 2021 drop by 50 percent over the year before. And so far in 2022, only 12 applications have been approved. That has Dartmouth-Cole Harbour MLA and former Halifax Regional Councillor Loralei Nicoll wondering if s...

It's not just academic. She served for five years as a Victim Service's worker with Halifax Police. Dr. Ardath Whynacht is an activist and writer who works for and with survivors of state and family violence. She teaches sociology at Mount Allison University and has spent time with people convicted of murder as well as those who are affected by violence. Her book "Insurgent Love - Abolition and Do...

June 9th, 2022 is Early Childhood Educators Day in Nova Scotia. Premier Tim Houston made the proclamation to recognize and acknowledge the important service provided. The people who are doing this work are having a tremendous impact on giving children the best opportunity for success through play-based-learning. And according to Catherine Cross, they deserve see higher pay and better benefits. She...

Halifax has long held a historic connection to one of the greatest marine disasters following the sinking of RMS Titanic in 1912. Not only did the Mayflower Curling Club act as a temporary morgue, the city is also the final resting place for many of the passengers. Parts of James Cameron's 1997 film about the disaster, was shot in Halifax including the Fairview Lawn Cemetery. And now, 110 years la...

The movie Jaws has had a lasting impact on the way people perceive great white sharks. And with the work of catching, tagging and tracking these animals, US-based Ocearch is showing us they are no strangers to Atlantic Canada. But there's more to learn about the world's largest predatory fish that have been around since the time of the dinosaurs. Vanessa Schiliro is a Marine Biology student at Dal...

Corey Roberts was an alcoholic but his mother says that should not have been a death sentence. Jeannette Rafuse Rogers has been in court many times over the last six years since her son died after being arrested for public intoxication. Last week, a judge acquitted two former special constables of criminal negligence in the 2016 death of the 41-year old. They were accused of failing to conduct pro...

There was a moment when Mark Long had decided he didn't want to live with the effects of his PTSD any longer. He had been a police officer for 15 years and the trauma had piled up inside to where he needed help. And he was eventually able to find a program in California that saved his life through peer counselling and support. From that, Cracked Armour clothing was born to raise awareness of PTSD...

Imagine your husband passing away in your arms while you wait for more than a half hour for an ambulance to arrive. And the most bitter pill was that this wasn't in some remote area of rural Nova Scotia. This was at a building on Joseph Howe Drive, just minutes away from the QEII hospital. There was no ambulance available that morning. That was the incident that propelled Anne MacPhee into advocac...

In a small way, it was a return to the way governments used to deal with affordable housing. An announcement of 37 sites from the provincial land inventory that could be used to build housing, including affordable housing, for thousands of Nova Scotians. Progressive Conservative Housing Minister John Lohr said "While there is still work that needs to be done on these sites, we know communities acr...

Tourism revenue in 2020 wasn't zero. But it certainly wasn't the $2.6 billion that was recorded in 2019. And 2021 rang in at around $1 billion. This year, Tourism Nova Scotia is hoping former residents will come the blazes home or current ones will plan an exciting staycation. An online advertising campaign is underway to encourage people to support local tourism businesses. Darlene MacDonald is t...

After two summers of pandemic restrictions, there's a lot of optimism about the upcoming tourism season. But how it turns out will depend more on inflation and gas prices than marketing and good intentions. Tourism Nova Scotia has launched an advertising campaign to encourage residents to support local businesses by booking a staycation this summer. And while confidence in the business community i...

You know it if you've been to the grocery store or the gas pump lately. Inflation is having a big impact on the cost of living with the Consumer Price Index and food prices increasing by more than they have in decades. While the price of gas and diesel may have stabilized slightly, they are still at historic highs. And so far, the Nova Scotia Government has rejected calls for a reduction in motive...

On the first day of the Mass Casualty Commission hearings, people were assured this won't be a cover up for the RCMP or government. And on day 25, there are still concerns of openness and transparency. The latest criticisms come from a decision to have two senior RCMP leaders testify remotely, without there being any cross examination by lawyers representing the families of the victims. That promp...

According to new data from the province, there were more deaths by suicide in Nova Scotia in 2021 than in any other year at 142. A clinical psychiatrist is urging government to quickly address this preventable problem. Doctor Simon Sherry is a professor in the department of psychology and neuroscience at Dalhousie University. He has previously commented on the suicide crisis in Nova Scotia and he...

Claudia Chender's first election win was in Dartmouth South as a member of the New Democratic Party in 2017. She was victorious in her bid for re-election in 2021 and earlier this year, she entered the race to replace Gary Burrill as party leader. After the deadline for candidates passed this weekend, Chender was the only one registered. She will become leader during the NDP convention June 24th-2...