Thinking Out Loud with Sheldon MacLeod

There are several news stories circulating on the immediate future of the shelter at the Mi'kmaw Friendship Centre. Some are focusing on the increased demand for services and the challenges of meeting their core goal of helping the urban indigenous population. Other stories are looking at the expiring lease agreement, lack of secure funding for 2022 and allegations from workers who have applied to...

Halifax Mutual Aid (HMA) describes itself as a group of people committed to taking action against homelessness by building small crisis shelters for those who need them. They also acknowledge these shelters are not a solution to the housing crisis. And recently, they've launched a fundraising initiative called a Gingerbread Story Kit. It's a way to build your family's understanding of the housing...

Researchers at Dalhousie University have surveyed 165 owners from around the world about their dogs to discover how many words their pets respond to. Dr. Sophie Jacques is an associate professor in the Department of Psychology and Neuroscience. She teamed up with a colleague who also is a dog trainer. Their recent report was published in Applied Animal Behaviour Science and it identifies which bre...

Nova Scotians elected a government last summer in part because of the promises to fix health care in this province. And there has been a lot of work already to identify and make a plan to address some of the long-standing issues. This week, the Minister of Seniors and Long-Term-Care announced $57 million to support current and future workers and to open more beds. Susan MacDougall is the Chair of...

Nova Scotia's Auditor General gave the province a passing grade for it's financial reporting during the pandemic. But there were questions raised by Kim Adair about measuring the effectiveness of COVID-19 spending and industries that may not recover. The other unanswered question was about the province's long-term economic recovery plan. And those are also some of the questions being asked by the...

It's a bit of a setback for the operations of the majority of Canada's CH-148 helicopters. All but two of the long-awaited Sea King replacements have been taken out of service because of cracks recently found in the tail sections of the aircraft. The exact cause of these stress fractures isn't clear, but one Defence analyst says in some ways this shows the maintenance and inspection processes are...

It has been 32 years since the murder of 14 young women at Polytechnique Montréal. This act of violent misogyny led Parliament to designate December 6th as The National Day of Remembrance and Action on Violence Against Women. Erica Kelly is a fourth year engineer student at Dalhousie. She is also the VP Logistics for the Women in Engineering Society. That group is hosting their annual ceremony of...

It's one of the certainties for all of us but it's not something we talk about often, or ever. And when Stephanie Purcell's father was diagnosed with a rare cancer in February of 2019, they decided to celebrate the time he had left with love and gratitude. Stephanie has written about her family's experience and what she calls the gift of Medical Assistance in Dying. And she opens up about why she...

Canada and other countries are introducing new travel restrictions and testing requirements with the arrival of the new COVID variant Omicron. And with the potential for more variants, we're going to have to expect more snap travel restrictions, vaccine passports, cross border testing in the foreseeable future. Doctor Robert Huish is a professor at the Department of International Development Studi...

He's kept a steady hand on the public health directives under three premiers since the start of the global pandemic. And Doctor Robert Strang has fielded many questions from journalists and others in his regular briefings. How concerned is he about this latest COVID variant? And what are his thoughts on people who are distrustful of science and the public health measures that have been put in plac...

Today is Giving Tuesday. That's the day after Cyber-Monday following Black-Friday and it's a lead in to the giving season. And it's also the start of a new project by The Unity Values Foundation. That was a group created to change the world based on the values of individual people. Steve Skinner is with the group and he says they want to empower people to help others. They do that by fundraising d...

He's not calling it a retirement. But after 45 years as a broadcaster, Steve Murphy has certainly earned the right to step away from the nightly news desk. The award-winning journalist and anchor will be leaving the post he's held since 1993. He will be focusing on his long-form interviews and other projects after his last newscast on Tuesday, November 30th. But in this conversation, Murphy reflec...

While they haven't been a band for more than 50 years, there's no denying the universal appeal for the music of The Beatles. And with a new docuseries airing on Disney's streaming service, there's even more interest in the event that was seen as the zenith of the band's evolution in the 1960's. Kevin Brunkhorst is a music professor at St. Francis Xavier University in Antigonish. He teaches a cours...

A former Liberal Cabinet Minister is now working with the Progressive Conservative Government in Nova Scotia. Geoff MacLellan was named as the person who will chair the Halifax Regional Municipality planning task force. Liberal Iain Rankin is concerned with the lack of clarity from Premier Tim Houston on what the intent and duties will be. Rankin also gives his comments on the way the government i...

With the opening of the first session of parliament since the election saw our second Speech from the Throne in just over two years. And while the address is mostly ceremonial, there were promises made to help with the pandemic, the economy and the environment. Doctor Lori Turnbull is an associate professor of Political Science at Dalhousie University. In this conversation, she speaks to the dynam...

Even people living in Canada's Ocean Playground have a lot to learn about how we influence the ocean and how it influences us. And a team of researchers from Dalhousie University have completed some breakthrough work on ocean literacy and on an educational strategy. The team was led by Lisa "Diz" Glithero who is being recognized for spearheading a research collaboration that helps Canada become a...

Statistics Canada says the latest Consumer Price Index is showing a 4.7 percent increase in costs due to things like gasoline and food prices. Doctor Sylvain Charlebois is a professor with Dalhousie's Agri-food Analytics Lab. And he points to the natural disaster in British Columbia as another pressure on our supply chain. And he says that's likely to affect many other areas of the country, perhap...

Teachers and other school staff have until the end of the month to get their first vaccination and have a second one scheduled, or they face being suspended without pay. And today Health Canada has given approval to start offering COVID vaccinations to kids under the age of 12. Earlier this week, there were reports of outbreaks in six schools across Nova Scotia. Paul Wozney is the president of the...

Soon a Nova Scotia grown spruce tree will be arriving in Boston for the holidays. It's an annual tradition to thank them for their support following the Halifax explosion. And it elicited a few people to write letters to the editor over the practice. Some people are worried about the environmental impact of cutting down 60-year old trees as part of the tradition. For that perspective, I reached ou...

Several media outlets are reporting on the conversation between members of Halifax Regional Council and the Chief Administrative Officer prior to the eviction of homeless people around HRM last summer. The details show that they were discussing the need to keep the details from service providers and the public ahead of the actions planned for August 18th. That day saw two dozen people arrested at...

It was a very quiet influenza season last year, in part because of the public health measures and lock downs associated with COVID-19. And health officials are once again urging people to roll up their sleeves for an influenza vaccination to help keep our population safe. Janet Hazelton is the President of the Nova Scotia Nurses Union. In this conversation, she discusses the flu shot, mandatory CO...

Carrie Low is a Halifax woman who has been fighting against the justice system for the past several years. She applied to have automatic publication ban lifted saying she has nothing to hide. She went to police in 2018 to report she'd been abducted outside a Dartmouth bar and was then sexually assaulted. She also is critical of the way police handled her case saying they didn't investigate properl...

It's not often that a political leader willingly gives up power and control without being pushed or affected by scandal. But this week, that's exactly what happened with New Democratic Party Leader Gary Burrill. He announced he would be stepping aside to allow the party to continue under new leadership. He will be staying on until the new person is chosen by the party and he will remain as the MLA...

Affordable housing has been an ongoing political story in Nova Scotia and we've seen it come to a head in Halifax. Governments at every level are offering solutions and programs to try and help address the challenges. But a roof over your head is only part of the social determinants of health. And that is something being highlighted in a blog post by the CEO and President of United Way Halifax. Sa...

Nova Scotia has announced it will soon be covering an expensive but life-changing drug described as the biggest innovation in the history of the treatment of cystic fibrosis. Trikafta costs up to $300-thousand dollars per patient per year. And right now, there are about 180 Nova Scotians who could benefit from this treatment. Health Minister Michelle Thompson told the Legislature they hoped to hav...