Halifax Magazine April 2019

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On our cover As sea levels continue to rise, flooding will become a more common problem in Nova Scotia.

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CONTENTS

PHOTO: SAM GILLETT

Vol. 19 No. 3 | April 2019

16

FEATURES

DEPARTMENTS

16 | WELCOMING THE BEAUTIFUL GAME As pro soccer comes to Halifax, a trio of local supporters are getting fans ready

7 | EDITOR’S MESSAGE Our planet is changing, and places like Nova Scotia are going to bear the brunt

18 | THE WATER IS RISING And it’s getting higher.

Are we prepared for the consequences of steadily-rising sea levels?

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26

$100

23 | EATING, SLEEPING, AND BREATHING MUSIC Doris Mason reflects on a remarkable career at the forefront of Nova Scotia’s live music scene 26 | PAVED WITH GOOD INTENTIONS How Halifax got stuck with the Cogswell Interchange

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18 ANDREW J. WRIGHT, TAKEN UNDER PERMIT K070 2018/19

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15 | ENTERTAINMENT An evening with Jane Goodall; The Color Purple opens at Neptune theatre; Halifax ComedyFest; singer/ songwriter Neko Case; and more

30 | OPINION: THE JOY, AND COST, OF GIVING A newcomer with unique skills wants to help other immigrants

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9 | CITYSCAPE How Halifax’s elite covered up a historic bank fraud; a local researcher’s work takes him to Antarctica; how you can support a local good cause

28 | BEER: BOYS’ CLUB NO LONGER If 2018 was the year of #MeToo, can 2019 be the year of women in beer?

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stories?

8 | CONTRIBUTORS Meet the writers and photographers who work on Halifax Magazine

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EDITOR’S MESSAGE

With or without you: sea levels are rising either way Twenty years ago I was, if not a climatechange denier, at least an aggressive climate-change skeptic. I’d gleefully debate anyone I knew who was passionate on the subject. I’d explain how the planet’s climate had been changing throughout its history.

(Kind of like saying “People have always been fat” when the doctor tells me to lose weight).

I’d argue that even if humans are having some minor effect, the results are easily mitigated. The ingenuity of the human spirit!

The triumph of technology! Why, this could even be a good thing! Think of all our great technological adaptations! Historically, great floods spark explosions of progress! We could be on the cusp of a new golden age.

In short, I was an idiot: naïve and willfully blind. But I eventually recovered. Bit by stubborn bit, I came to realize how little my opinion matters in this regard. A warming planet doesn’t need my belief. It’s happening either way and a lot of people are going to suffer as a result.

So these days, I think a lot about what the next 20, 30, 50 years are going to look like in Canada’s Ocean Playground. I read a lot of reports and have the opportunity to meet lots of experts. Clear pictures appear. I see periodic shortages of staple foods and other essentials, as spring storms wash out the isthmus of Chignecto, severing Nova Scotia’s only road and rail links to the rest of Canada.

I see life badly disrupted in villages and towns around the province, as thousands of homes and their neighbourhoods become unlivable due to frequent floods, contaminated drinking water, and overwhelmed sewage systems.

Downtown Halifax becomes an oft-flooded zone. Lower Water Street, the Bedford Highway, and the Armdale roundabout wash out several times each year. Inland communities where property taxes soar and infrastructure groans as thousands of people suddenly decide that rarely-flooded Enfield might be a nicer place to live than underwateragain Chester.

Countless millions of people from coastal Asia and Africa will be climate-change refugees; it’s doubtful countries like Bangladesh will even still exist. Those people won’t be sitting patiently amidst the floodwaters while we debate how to help them. They will throng into our large and mostly empty country in

numbers that are now just the stuff of Conservative fever dreams.

This isn’t fear-mongering, any more than a weather forecast is fear-mongering. This is simply the situation.

None of this means, however, that things are hopeless. We can still mitigate the damage we’re doing to the planet, and take preparations to ensure Nova Scotia is still a place where people can live and thrive in a century. In our cover story on page 18, Chris Benjamin talks to the experts about how we’re preparing and what we need to focus on. This is part of a special package of stories produced in collaboration with Advocate newspapers around the Maritimes. See halifaxmag.com for links to the other stories.

You’ll also find a new column from Zack Metcalfe, plumbing various environmental issues and offering practical tips you can

PHOTO: TAMMY FANCY

BY TREVOR J. ADAMS

tadams@metroguide.ca Halifax Magazine @HalifaxEditor @HalifaxMagazine

follow to reduce the harm humans are causing to the planet. For example, did you know that if we all went vegan, some 75% of the planet’s farmland could be returned to nature? Yes, you love steak and bacon. So do I. But lately, eating them troubles my conscience. Sometimes the greater good demands compromises.

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CONTRIBUTORS BOB GORDON Cityscape Bob is a journalist and popular historian specializing in Canadian military and social history. His work has been published in The Beaver, Air Power Review, Parents Magazine, and various Canadian titles. He contributes regularly to Espirit de Corps.

TAMMY FANCY Photo for Editor’s Message A freelance photojournalist, Tammy has shot for East Coast Living, Bedford Magazine, Profiles for Success, and Our Children magazines, plus two cookbooks. fancyfreefoto.com

KIM HART MACNEILL “Boys’ club no longer” Kim is a freelance journalist and editor of East Coast Living. Read her beer column on HalifaxMag.com. @kimhartmacneill

CHRIS BENJAMIN “The water is rising” A freelance journalist and editor, Benjamin is the author of three award-winning fiction and nonfiction books plus short stories published in journals and anthologies across Canada. He is managing editor of Atlantic Books Today.

SAM GILLETT “Welcoming the beautiful game” Sam is a journalism student at the University of King’s College. @SamGillett1

MARJORIE SIMMINS “Eating, sleeping, and breathing music” Marjorie is an award-winning journalist and the author of Coastal Lives and Year of the Horse (Pottersfield Press). She works as a freelance journalist and teacher, dividing her time between Nova Scotia and British Columbia. marjoriesimmins.ca

MARIANNE SIMON “The joy, and cost, of giving” Marianne is a writer and subeditor and has published many children’s stories, articles and poems in magazines and newspapers. Her interests include teaching and conducting Englishconversation classes. mariannesimon777@gmail.com

KATIE INGRAM “Paved with good intentions” Katie frequently writes for Halifax Magazine and is the author of Breaking Disaster: Newspaper Stories of the Halifax Explosion.

ANDREW WRIGHT Cityscape A British marine biologist that studies whales and dolphins around the world, Andrew is primarily exploring how human noise influence them. His current focus with Fisheries and Oceans Canada is the North Atlantic right whale.

BRUCE MURRAY Photography for “Boys’ club no longer” Bruce has been creating food and lifestyle photography for more than 20 years in the Maritimes and in his original studio in Vancouver. visionfire.ca

8 | halifaxmag.com APRIL 2019

CITYSCAPE HISTORY

James Forman: the fraudster Halifax’s elite protected

BY BOB GORDON

Royal assent to establish the “Company of the Bank of Nova Scotia” came in 1832.

The bank’s 13 directors included the leading figures in Halifax’s merchant elite: among them William Lawson, William Blowers Bliss, Andrew Belcher, James William Johnson, James Forman, James Boyle Uniacke, and Mather Byles Almon.

They elected William Lawson the bank’s first president.

J a m e s Fo r m a n b e c a m e C a s h i e r (equivalent to Chief Operating Officer today) at a salary of $1,200.

According to the Dictionary of Canadian Biography, Forman was a leading light in Halifax society, “active in the community as a member of the Nova Scotia Literary and Scientific Society, treasurer of the Halifax Mechanics’ Institute, trustee for the Provincial Building Society, member of the council of the Horticultural Association and International Show Society, and president of the North British Society of Halifax.”

From a prominent Halifax family, he seemed an ideal choice after a brief internship at a bank in Saint John, N.B. Additional employees included two tellers at $500 per annum and a messenger paid $200 yearly. In 1837, Mather Byles Almon replaced Lawson as president. A close friend of Forman’s, he remained president for decades.

The bank offered a dividend for the first time in 1833, and did every year thereafter.

It opened new branches in Pictou, Yarmouth, Annapolis, and Liverpool. The

bank also made international connections with the Baring Brothers in London and with the Merchant’s Bank of Boston, plus banks in New York and Portland, Maine.

For almost 40 years the bank chugged along, slowly expanding but offering only modest returns. In the summer of 1870, the bank’s accountant approached Almon with an incredible but irrefutable tale. For decades, their trusted associate Forman had been ripping off the bank. For more than a quarter of a century, Forman helped himself to about $315,000.

According to the bank’s official history, “it was nearly half the shareholder’s total equity in 1870, and more than 15% of the Bank’s total assets.” William Young, Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Nova Scotia, captured the enormity of the scam: “Everything was fair on the surface, and everything rotten below. The falsifications on the books were endless, but so skillfully done as to defy detection.”

The directors received the news on Aug. 9, 1870, and it quickly went public. One week later, the Halifax Morning Chronicle argued that the directors’ negligence was as much to blame as the embezzler himself.

“That Mr. Forman was allowed to pursue his path of dishonesty unchallenged is disgraceful to the President and Directors....

It is a pity though there is no way to punish the criminally careless Directors. They are morally responsible for the losses of the shareholders, who entrusted them with the guardianship of their interests.”

When he took office with the Bank of Nova Scotia, James Forman was a respected Halifax businessman.

The directors stayed silent and the Halifax elite closed ranks. Forman signed over Thorndean, his three-storey Georgian residence in the South End on Inglis Street and all its contents to be auctioned. John S. Maclean, a Halifax merchant and ship owner and Almon’s replacement as president of the selfsame Bank of Nova Scotia, bought the estate.

Forman repaid approximately $180,000.

The bank wrote off the remainder and declined to prosecute Forman who repaired to England and died within months.

tadams@metroguide.ca Halifax Magazine @HalifaxEditor @HalifaxMagazine

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APRIL 2019 halifaxmag.com | 9

CITYSCAPE PEOPLE

Not an average winter sun break

BY ANDREW J. WRIGHT

Each winter many Haligonians head south for a little sunshine. However, I overshot the more typical destinations and ended up in the Ross Sea, Antarctica.

I went to join a team under the leadership of Dr. Regina Eisert, of the Top Predator Alliance (with support from Pew, Antarctica NZ, and Boxfish Research, among others), investigating the behaviours of fish-eating killer whales: a major consumer of commercially important Antarctic toothfish.

This work is in support of the recently establish marine protected area in the Ross Sea region, which seeks to ensure the fishery doesn’t affect toothfish predators and the local ecosystem.

One way to track killer whales’ movements is through the sounds they make, which is why I got involved: I investigate the effects of ship noise on right whales in my main role as

10 | halifaxmag.com APRIL 2019

post-doctoral research in the Maritimes with Fisheries and Oceans Canada.

Among other things, we planned to deploy underwater recorders together with surface time-lapse and underwater video to determine when whales are present, using techniques we tested successfully last year.

The information will also help us explore the unique dialect of Ross Sea killer whales, allowing us to deploy acoustic recorders in offshore waters in the future to better understand where these specific whales spend their time.

The 24-hour sunlight allowed us to work at night when the whales are most active. The lower sun produces colours not seen in the day and creates shadows in the volcanic backdrop to our study site. (Antarctica is one of the most volcanically active places on Earth.)

Nightshift involved waking around 5 p.m. and

having dinner before leaving Scott Base, New Zealand’s main Antarctic base. We’d survey the ice edge by helicopter, photographing any killer whales we saw for identification later and occasionally dodging a suicidal South polar skua (a local seabird related to seagulls).

Once we found a spot to work, we’d land on the sea ice and set everything up. Often the whales would leave, forcing us to move or simply await their return. As an extreme measure, we would break out a warm lunch, an almost guaranteed way to encourage whales to appear. At the end of the night, we’d return home to our dinner, a hot shower, and bed, while the other inhabitants of Scott Base began their day.

But nothing in Antarctica is ever that straightforward. Installing equipment requires a solid section of sea ice so that all your gear does not float away overnight.

Top left: Scientists use killer whales’ markings, especially their dorsal fins, to identify individuals. (Andrew J. Wright, taken under permit K070 2018/19). Top right: A south polar skua: an opportunistic species that often steals food from other birds and even occasionally killer whales. (Andrew J. Wright, taken under permit K070 2018/19). Background image: Killer whales cruising the waters in front of Mount Erebus. (Andrew J. Wright, taken under permit K070 2018/19).

Last year we used a channel cut by an icebreaker to allow supplies to reach Scott Base and the U.S.’s nearby McMurdo Station by ship. This year the channel refroze, closing it to both us and the whales.

Instead we collected as much acoustic data as we could from short deployments along the northern ice edge, while sections of the “ground” were frequently breaking off, a process called tiling. We also focused more on other parts of the project: including collecting DNA samples and filming underwater video using a remote operated vehicle (essentially an underwater drone).

This was all hard work. Despite the various recent reports that Canadian temperatures were colder than those in Antarctica, it’s still pretty darn cold down there. And that’s during the summer! Several warm layers were needed most days in

addition to our float suits that are standard safety kit where a dip into the Southern Ocean is a possibility. We’d also be juggling several pairs of gloves in an eight-hour working day, as warmer pairs do not allow for fine motor skills. Occasionally, some tasks required us to abandon gloves entirely, which is never good for the fingers.

A helicopter dropped us at our field sites but we had to carry heavy equipment right up to, and often up to a kilometre along, the ice edge (all depending on how cooperative the whales were that day). Often we had to shovel snow to reach solid sea ice and then drill holes through the ice. Manual labour is dangerous in those conditions, as sweating takes away more body heat as soon as you stand still.

Despite the threats, our field trainer kept us safe on the ice and our pilots kept us safe in the air. The broader staff of Antarctica New

Zealand, the group responsible for logistics and science support in New Zealand’s Antarctic research efforts, kept in contact while we worked, kept us fed and made sure we had all the necessary field supplies. This solid support meant we did get some recordings despite the challenges, plus some amazing underwater footage (albeit not of foraging), eleven DNA samples and hundreds of photo-ID images of killer whales to expand our growing catalogue.

With this support, the team will hopefully get more data next year. Meanwhile, I have returned to the comparative warmth of a Maritimes spring.

tadams@metroguide.ca Halifax Magazine @HalifaxEditor @HalifaxMagazine

APRIL 2019 halifaxmag.com | 11

CITYSCAPE THE PITCH

Dartmouth Adult Services Centre In this space, Halifax Magazine invites local non-profit organizations to share what they do, and how readers can help. If you know an organization that would like to share its story, email the editor: tadams@metroguide.ca.

More than quality programs for adults with an intellectual disability, the Dartmouth Adult Services Centre (DASC) gives people the support they need to realize their potential and become active members of their community. Through social enterprise and a variety of vocational and community employment programs, DASC works to ensure each client finds personal fulfillment As a leader of non-profit social enterprise in Nova Scotia, DASC runs several businesses out of its Burnside facility. These services allow companies to outsource projects and tasks that translate into continued

programs, employee-skill development, and the endorsement of DASC’s goals within the community.

The mission of DASC, in association with the community is to provide opportunities for adults with an intellectual disability and support them in realizing individual potential.

Some of the businesses run at DASC include packaging and assembly, complete mailing services including printing, addressed and unaddressed mail, collating, inserting, and labelling, promotional-button making, and boardroom rentals.

For over 50 years, DASC’s packaging and assembly business has specialized in packaging items from bulk, assembling products from individual components and kitting, making them industry experts. In the past few years, DASC has been packaging

food too and has become co-packers for several local businesses. Outsourcing these types of projects to DASC means companies can rely on efficient and timely service and “buying social” at the same time.

“We are thrilled to be able to utilize the services that DASC has been able to provide,” says Craig Bethune, Atlantic Canadian regional director with Medline/Medical Mart. “It truly has been a great partnership and a big win for us in terms of how you were able to provide us with the tasks needed to help our health-care clients. We have had nothing but wonderful feedback from our customer as well. I look forward to continuing to utilize DASC services wherever we think it can work.”

Another dynamic business at DASC is the rental of state-of-the-art boardroom and training rooms, offering video conferencing,

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smart boards, and all tools to set up the right atmosphere for a business meeting or social function. DASC offers free unlimited parking and our venues are the perfect combination of function and elegance for all meeting and organized events.

DASC’s commitment to the community ensures competitive pricing, quality personal service, and exceptional attention to detail.

For more information, contact Alex Wilson at 902-468-6606 (ext. 227) or sales@dasc-ns.ca.

tadams@metroguide.ca Halifax Magazine @HalifaxEditor @HalifaxMagazine

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ENTERTAINMENT The hottest things to see and do in Halifax this month

APRIL 9

Jane at 85: Reasons for Hope With her landmark fieldwork, animal researcher and activist Jane Goodall forever changed the way we see our chimpanzee animal cousins. See her at the Dalhousie Arts Centre as she talks about her work, the escalating threats to chimpanzees and their habitat, and how she’s able to stay hopeful about the future. artscentre.dal.ca

APRIL 16

Neko Case Best known to Canadians as a member of cult favourites The New Pornographers, the indie-rock singer/ songwriter makes a rare visit to the East Coast. See her at the Dalhousie Arts Centre, performing works from her new album Hell-On. artscentre.dal.ca

APRIL 26

APRIL 25–28

Stars on Ice

Halifax ComedyFest

Top figure-skating talents from across Canada strut their stuff at this popular annual performance at Scotiabank Centre. The roster includes Olympians Elvis Stojko, Kaetlyn Osmond, Patrick Chan, Meagan Duhamel, Eric Radford.

See them at Scotiabank Centre. ticketatlantic.com

Venues around the city host as this popular festival returns, showcasing stand-up comics from across the country and around the world. This year’s lineup includes Hoodo Hersi, Shaun Majumder, Sophie Buddle, Alonzo Bodden, Debra DiGiovanni, Mark Critch, Erica Sigurdson, and many more. halifaxcomedyfest.ca

APRIL 9–JUNE 2

Neptune Theatre Neptune presents the inspiring family saga The Color Purple: the story of a woman who, through love, finds the strength to triumph over adversity and discover her unique voice in the world. Based on the Pulitzer Prize-winning novel by Alice Walker, this musical features a joyous score containing jazz, ragtime, gospel, and rhythm and blues. Starring Tara Jackson as Celie. neptunetheatre.com

Patrick Chan

APRIL 27–28

Symphony Nova Scotia With Dvorák’s Eighth and Dinuk’s Farewell, the Symphony features a new work by longtime composer-in-residence Dinuk Wijeratne, who returns for a last hurrah after a recent move to Toronto. For more about Wijeratne and his work, see the March Halifax Magazine (halifaxmag.com) cover story “Home is where the heart is.” symphonynovascotia.ca

Hoodo Hersi APRIL 2019 halifaxmag.com | 15

| FEATURE |

BY SAM GILLETT

AS PRO SOCCER COMES TO HALIFAX, A TRIO OF LOCAL SUPPORTERS ARE GETTING FANS READY

WELCOMING The HFX Wanderers kick off their inaugural season this month.

After announcing Canadian and international player signings over the winter, the team is formed and hosting events around the city promoting “The Kitchen,” their pop-up stadium on downtown Halifax’s historic Wanderers grounds.

The Privateers 1882 are the team’s first and largest supporters’ group.

Built upon a shared passion for soccer, the group is already creating community through meetups, marches and lively discussions about the Wanderer’s newest signings.

James Covey, supporter-club president, has been an avid Wanderers fan since before the team was announced. The 48-year-old web-team

Before Halifax’s pro soccer team played a game, James Covey, Garrett McPhee, and André Bourque were its most diehard fans.

16 | halifaxmag.com APRIL 2019

PHOTO: SAM GILLETT

THE BEAUTIFUL GAME manager was at the HFX Wanderers reveal in May 2018 where he and other Privateer’s sang songs and waved flags in blue and white Wanderers scarves.

The Wanderers Amateur Athletic club, namesake of the team, was founded in 1882—perhaps a little after the last of “Barrett’s Privateers” of folk-song fame, who inspired the other half of the Privateers name.

“It’s like suddenly you have a whole new circle of friends,” says Covey.

While they’re fiercely proud of the East Coast, the group traces their beginnings to Edmonton, Alberta. Garrett McPhee, a “displaced Cape Bretoner” was working there when he heard rumours of an all-new Canadian Premier League. Coincidentally, he named a Twitter account “Halifax Wanderers” while dreaming of an East Coast team.

Team plans became more concrete and soon he was receiving messages from across the province from fans eager to connect to a group of supporters.

Covey and others managed the group on the ground in HRM, hosting the first in-person meet-up in February 2017 at the Halifax Ale House.

In 2018 the team did officially come to the Maritimes, and so did McPhee . “I probably wouldn’t have moved to Halifax, honestly, if there wasn’t a team,” he says. “That’s the whole reason I’m here.”

While Covey is the face of the group, McPhee is one of a few who manage the Privateer’s active Facebook page, Twitter account, and website.

Over the past two years, the group has gathered across the city to watch international games and plan for the inaugural season. “The thing we like about it is the sense of ownership over the club,” says Covey. “The relationship between the fans and the club is different than in other sports.”

He says soccer allows supporters to develop traditions and a unique culture, as opposed to other sports like hockey, where play breaks often and planned activities distract the fans. “We can provide a message that you can’t necessarily do in a hockey game,” says André Bourque, a Halifax-based paramedic who joined the Privateers last year.

During a soccer match, songs and signs, broadcast to a TV audience, could raise important issues among the community. They mention hoisting flags during Pride Day, or celebrating East Coast heroes like Viola Desmond, through signs and banners.

For Bourque, that’s the draw of being in a supporter group. “It seems like a good cause,” he says. “It blends soccer and doing something for your community.”

McPhee lists off ideas how the Privateers can reach out to Halifax in other ways, like donating “clean sheets for clean sheets” (finishing a game without conceding goals) to Halifax shelters. They also ran a food drive for Feed Nova Scotia last Christmas. “I don’t think the community aspect of [the Privateers] can be overstated,” says McPhee.

Many supporters groups around North America host charity events, like New England Revolution’s supporter club, the Midnight Riders.

Covey and McPhee say the Midnight Riders have served as a model for charity involvement, and also advised on the Privateer’s charter, which will firm up the group’s rules and expectations of their members.

“We want to adopt a charter which addresses what’s [allowed] on game day, and what values we espouse,” says Covey.

Both the Privateers and HFX Wanderers will stay separate entities, each supporting the other as they continue to grow. “What will be interesting is watching what traditions our fans come up with,” says Derek Martin, president and owner of Sports and Entertainment Atlantic, the owner of the team. “We expect them to develop traditions that they take a hold of and keep doing game after game after game.”

An official beer brewed by Wayfarers’ Ale Society (soon to hit Halifax taps), honorary Privateer captains, and bagpipers marching to the game are all key for the Privateer’s plans this season. “It’s making these traditions, that’s the really fun thing,” McPhee says.

The Privateers have already had a taste of the game-day atmosphere.

In July 2018, the Wanderers (consisting of players from the Atlantic

“WE WANT PEOPLE TO GO, ‘DAMN I WISH I LIVED IN HALIFAX.’” — GARRETT McPHEE

Select’s Under-23 team) hosted Germany’s Fortuna Düsseldorf for a friendly game in the new stadium. Covey, McPhee, and Bourque gathered fans at local bars and pubs before marching across the downtown to the Wanderers grounds, where a 1,000-seat bleacher will be home base during games. “I had to stop and look [at everyone], and realize… this is awesome,” says McPhee.

When they arrived at the Kitchen, about 50 fans gathered in their section of stands. As more people migrated towards the Privateer’s section chants and East Coast songs like Joel Plaskett’s “Nowhere With You” echoed across the field.

“I think you’ll see that throughout the season,” says Bourque, who cheered alongside McPhee and Covey at that first game. “People will see what’s going on in The Kitchen and saying ‘hey, I want to be a part of that.’”

For the Privateers, the preparation may be almost as fun as the celebrations at the field. They plan to march to the field together from downtown Halifax, rain or shine, with drums and bagpipes in tow.

Local celebrities, like Cory Bowles of Trailer Park Boys, will join the Privateers as honourary captains of the club.

“We’re out here on the East Coast,” says Covey. “and the best parties are going to be the ones we put thought and effort into.”

McPhee agrees, mentioning how through the Privateers could celebrate East Coast culture in front of a national audience: “We want people to go, ‘damn I wish I lived in Halifax.’”

tadams@metroguide.ca Halifax Magazine @HalifaxEditor @HalifaxMagazine

APRIL 2019 halifaxmag.com | 17

| COVER STORY |

THE WATER IS ARE WE PREPARED FOR THE CONSEQUENCES OF STEADILY-RISING SEA LEVELS?

PHOTO: DARRELL OAKE-THE HALIFAX DAILY NEWS/ CP

BY CHRIS BENJAMIN

18 | halifaxmag.com APRIL 2019

Recall Hurricane Juan, the once-in-50-years storm that ravaged Halifax in 2003. It uprooted swaths of seemingly unmovable trees, knocked down power lines, forced street closures, flooded the downtown with seawater (and marine animals), caused $300 million in damage, and killed eight people.

Now imagine a storm like that in 2050. Or 2100, when such extreme weather events will likely be much more frequent. Juan hit so hard in part because the Atlantic Ocean was unusually warm.

It’s only getting warmer.

Halifax’s waterline will look much different in 2100. Global sea levels will be as much as 2.5 metres higher than they are now. And don’t forget the increasing rates of coastal erosion, or the fact that we’re sinking.

Tim Webster, a renowned geomatics researcher at NSCC, has spent two decades using computer models, remote sensing equipment and geographic information systems to map, monitor and model erosion and flood risks in an age of rising tides. In a map of downtown Halifax under various storm scenarios 100 years from now, the water hits Lower Water Street and the Armdale roundabout. The maps don’t account for subsidence (seriously, Halifax is slowly sinking) or for waves; they are set for a still-water flood level.

“I’m not panicked,” Webster says of the results of his own work.

“I’m happy about governments and planning associations that don’t shy away from the data and want to make it accessible to the public, and are willing to say to people, ‘You can’t build here.’”

UNCERTAIN FUTURE According to the United States National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), “The pace of global sea level rise nearly doubled from 1.7 mm/year throughout most of the twentieth century to 3.1 mm/year since 1993.” The causes are glacial and ice-sheet melt, plus thermal expansion of seawater. All due to global warming.

NOAA says there’s more than a 90% chance that the sea will rise at least two metres by 2100. It recommends that coastal cities prepare for a 2.5-metre rise.

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), which draws its conclusions from scientists and data from around the world, projects a 1.3-metre increase by 2100, in a recently leaked draft report.

Millions of people will be displaced in North America alone.

“Accounting for Arctic melt waters could make the numbers higher,” says Eric Rapaport, an associate professor in Dalhousie’s school of planning. His work focuses on land-use change, climate change, and vulnerability analysis. “And there is still uncertainty with that issue,” he adds. “The melting could accelerate.” Greenland and Antarctic ice sheets are melting faster than scientists first projected.

PHOTO: ISTOCK/SHAUNL

PHOTO: APPLIED GEOMATICS RESEARCH GROUP, NOVA SCOTIA COMMUNITY COLLEGE, APPLIED RESEARCH

Tim Webster (centre) and team members carry a turbidity sensor from the Northumberland Strait as part of their research on water clarity and bathymetric lidar mapping.

“ACCOUNTING FOR ARCTIC MELT WATERS COULD MAKE THE NUMBERS HIGHER. AND THERE IS STILL UNCERTAINTY WITH THAT ISSUE. THE MELTING COULD ACCELERATE.” —ERIC RAPAPORT

Predictions keep changing because technology and data keep improving. Alex MacDonald, a climate-change specialist with HRM, says any rules relating to sea-level rise are subject to change based on new information. And he is actively looking for new information.

“We’ve recently acquired new [Light Detection and Ranging tools] to create a detailed digital elevation model for the entire municipality, which will be used to better understand coastal and inland flood vulnerability due to climate change,” he explains.

Based on that model, Halifax will reassess the vulnerability of coastal properties. The new model, MacDonald says, “will help us map out vulnerable areas and better understand what infrastructure could be at risk.” HRM also plans to continue working with communities, building on a community-based mapping project in Eastern PassageCow Bay, on climate adaptation and emergency preparedness.

BEST LAID PLANS There is good news and bad news, Rapaport says: “The city has done a really good job with its bylaws to keep the waterline a living shoreline, and designing for storms.”

He points to the $200-million mixed-use (including 130 residential units) Queen’s Marque development, as a harbourside property that is planned with sea-level rise in mind, “with electrical equipment above ground, and the second floor is residential so people aren’t in harm’s way.” The Armour Group, which owns the development, situated its ground floor based on sea-level rise projections from the Bedford Institute of Oceanography.

APRIL 2019 halifaxmag.com | 19

| COVER STORY |

Tim Webster’s sea-level rise modelling, exploring an extreme scenario in which a tsunami strikes the city.

“WE HAVE SOME RESIDENTIAL PROPERTIES FOR SALE THAT COULD BE FLOODED. DEVELOPERS ARE CONTINUING TO SELL.” —ERIC RAPAPORT Nancy Anningson, the senior coastal-adaptation coordinator at Ecology Action Centre, also feels HRM is making strides. “Halifax has done some waterfront-specific activities in the past two or three years,” she says, “including increasing the vertical allowance amount.”

According to Alex MacDonald the amount, which is set for residential use only, is “2.5 m above the Ordinary High Water Mark in Halifax Harbour” under the city’s Land Use By-Law. “The current vertical allowance/setback accounts for the worst-case storm surge and flooding conditions expected during a storm in 2100.”

Anningson notes that while Halifax has good setback rules, there are too many exceptions. Numerous properties have been subdivided so that it’s just 15 metres from coast to road.

MacDonald also acknowledges the vertical allowances and setbacks do not apply to commercial properties.

On the provincial side of things, Nova Scotia is set to announce its Coastal Protection Act, after a decade of lobbying from environmentalists. “It will prevent coastal ecosystems from being tampered with,” Anningson says. The Act also aims to protect sand dunes, saltwater marshes, and wetlands, all key features in protecting from flooding and slowing coastal erosion.

FILLING THE PLANNING GAPS Setback rules are good and necessary. But still absent in Halifax is a formalized, proactive plan for developing responsibly in the new reality. A year ago, the Globe and Mail reported that Develop Nova Scotia (formerly the Waterfront Development Corporation), the largest Halifax waterfront property owner, was drafting such a plan.

“They do need a master plan,” says Rapaport. “They can build all the buildings out of reach of the sea, but the roads behind them—Lower Water Street isn’t getting any higher. When it floods, then what?”

20 | halifaxmag.com APRIL 2019

MacDonald says he isn’t aware of a plan being developed by DevelopNS, but that “they want to be part of any conversation on a plan being led by other stakeholders.” He says HRM is “engaging with DevelopNS” on climate strategy around development and harbour use.

Ultimately, an effective plan will need to further curb development in potential flooding areas, an idea that private property owners have in the past been prone to resist.

“Most of our coastline is appropriate land use,” Rapaport says. “But we have some residential properties for sale that could be flooded.

Developers are continuing to sell waterfront properties. The city needs to take a stance on single detached developments being sold within 100 metres of the shore.”

It’s a safety issue and a financial one. Victims of flooding usually expect compensation from governments or insurance companies, preventable costs that are born by everyone as taxes and rates increase.

The solution, Rapaport says, is as simple as Halifax enforcing a flood-line map preventing new development in high-risk areas. If that seems too radical, it’s worth taking a close look Tim Webster’s maps.

Decision makers do know that our environment is changing, and they are making initial efforts to change with it. It’s no longer optional.

READ MORE This story is part of a special package of features from Halifax Magazine and Advocate newspapers around the Maritimes exploring the effects of rising sea levels.

Visit halifaxmag.com for more.

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| FEATURE |

EATING, SLEEPING, AND BREATHING

MUSIC DORIS MASON REFLECTS ON A REMARKABLE CAREER AT THE FOREFRONT OF NOVA SCOTIA’S LIVE MUSIC SCENE

BY MARJORIE SIMMINS

APRIL 2019 halifaxmag.com | 23

| FEATURE |

DORIS MASON has had one non-musical job in her life. As a teenager, she was assistant manager in a jeans store in Halifax.

When she quit, the district manager pleaded with her to stay on. “‘Where’s this music thing gonna get ‘cha?’” recalls Mason, now 59.

Since then, music has taken her around the world and back, to Europe, across Canada and the United States, and the Caribbean, performing as a solo act and as a leader of Canadian tourism musical and multimedia presentations. She continues to travel where the music takes her.

Mason and her “heavy-duty” RD700 Roland keyboard are a wellknown duo at the downtown waterfront pub Stayner’s. With a broad repertoire (R&B, jazz, boogie-woogie, pop, rock ‘n’ roll, Celtic, and folk) she has a big and loyal contingent of fans.

Mason has also shared a stage and recorded with American R&B and gospel great Mavis Staples, performed with Cape Breton legends Matt Minglewood and the late John Allan Cameron, and teamed with the late, great blues master, Dutch Mason, to name only a few musical giants.

“No, I am not related to Dutchie,” Mason smiles. It’s the most-asked question of her musical life. But they played music together for decades, beginning when she was a teenager. Mason also acted as musical director for Dutch’s 60th birthday concert, which packed the Metro Centre back in 1998. “Dutch arrived in a limo, with his 80-year-old mother,” she recalls. “We had a 30-member mass choir singing and a big horn section playing as he came in.”

Born and raised in New Glasgow, into a musical family of nine, Mason started on the piano when she was three. Her father, William Norbert Mason, played the fiddle and saxophone; all four daughters accompanied him on piano. Mason’s mother, Beatrice Marguerite Mason (née Faulkner), loved to sing and dance.

“I eat, sleep, and breathe music,” Mason says.

“And I’ve always been obsessed by melody.”

Mason was composing by age seven and was soon performing original material on regional

24 | halifaxmag.com APRIL 2019

television. By 17, she had earned Grade X (the penultimate certification level, after associate diploma) from the Royal Conservatory of Music in Toronto.

In her 20s, she explored R&B, jazz, and funk. By 22, she had founded the Mason Chapman Band with Halifax’s Bruce Chapman and recorded a self-titled LP. Then came Mason’s entrée into musical theatre, starting in 1985 with The Rise and Follies of Cape Breton Island, a light-hearted look at life in Cape Breton, followed by a 10-year-stint as band leader and contributing writer with the beloved comedy and musical production, The Cape Breton Summertime Revue.

Mason’s longest musical involvement has been as the musical director for Drum, a touring show that blends music, dance, poetry, video, rhythm, and song. The tour de force features 20 musicians, dancers, drummers, and singers from the four principal cultures of Atlantic Canada: Aboriginal, Black, Celtic, and Acadian. A Brookes Diamond production, the show has now run for almost 20 years.

“We started Drum in 2000,” says Mason. “It’s toured the United States, in London, England, and twice, by request, on Parliament Hill, in Ottawa, on July 1. We also performed at the Olympics in 2010, and for the Queen in Halifax, also in 2010.”

For Drum, Mason arranges all the music, writes some of it, organizes the vocals, decides on the timings of the pieces, and schedules rehearsals. She also sings, plays three keyboards, and does some percussion. “Everyone plays percussion as well as their main function, whether it’s singing, dancing or playing an instrument,” says Mason. “I make sure everyone is hitting all their notes and coming in at the right time.”

Mason also performed in Denny Doherty’s hit show, Dream a Little Dream, between 1996–2006.

Doherty, born and raised in Halifax, was a founding member of the hugely popular 1960s folk band, The Mamas and the Papas. “Dream or Drum: I went back and forth with the two

During her long career, Doris Mason has shared the bill with music legends like Denny Doherty and Mavis Staples.

shows,” says Mason. “I could have done that show forever. I loved the harmonies.”

Sadly, Doherty died in 2007, age 67.

The uncertainties of the musical life are not for everyone. “I learned a long time ago, you have to trust what comes next,” says Mason. “You don’t know where music is going to lead you. One minute you’re chopping ice in your driveway,” she laughs, “the next, you take a phone call and you’re off to New York City for six months.”

Composer and musician Scott Macmillan met Mason in New Glasgow in the mid-1970s. “We were on the road with our rock band of the time, and our lead vocalist had flu,” he recalls. “Doris came in. We did one tune after another. She knew all the lyrics; she was ready!” He laughs.

“She was 16 years old. The bartender looked the other way.”

Since then, Halifax-born and-raised Macmillan has played on stage with Mason many times, sometimes they perform as a duo. Mason has three albums, one of which (Photograph) she co-produced with Macmillan. That album features 12 original songs performed by 17 musicians, including horns and strings.

“She is a gifted songwriter,” says Macmillan. “She’s written hundreds of songs.”

Mason, says Macmillan, is that rare vocalist known as a coloratura soprano: a type of operatic soprano noted for vocal agility. “Her vocal range is astounding,” he adds. This includes when she sings “scat,” improvised jazz singing where the voice imitates an instrument.

“She did a wonderful tribute for Ella Fitzgerald,” says Macmillan.

“She called it Ella-vation. She also performed at the jazz festivals in Sydney, Cape Breton, and in Halifax. Basically, Doris does everything.

And she can read music like crazy. She’s aces… In all the years I’ve played with her, I’ve never heard her play a wrong note. That right hand flies over the keyboard.”

Jennyfer Brickenden is married to Macmillan and manager of their business, Scojen Musical Productions Ltd. She tells people what to look forward to when they see Mason perform. “You’re in for a really good, high-quality music presentation, and humor,” she says. “Doris has so much confidence. She has the chops to deliver.”

Being a solo act and a single woman in the music business is hard.

“Doris is a tough cookie,” says Brickenden. “You have to be, as a solo female in the music business. She’s also a musician’s musician. She can really look after herself musically.”

Mason seeks balance. “You have to be tough as nails to withstand this business physically, mentally, and emotionally,” says Mason. “But you also have to be soft, sensitive, and creative… When I worked at the jeans store, I could tell what size you wore when you came in the door.

But I always knew music would be my life.”

tadams@metroguide.ca Halifax Magazine @HalifaxEditor @HalifaxMagazine

“YOU HAVE TO BE TOUGH AS NAILS TO WITHSTAND THIS BUSINESS, PYHYSICALLY, MENTALLY, AND EMOTIONALLY.” — DORIS MASON

APRIL 2019 halifaxmag.com | 25

PAVED WITH GOOD INTENTIONS HOW HALIFAX GOT STUCK WITH THE COGSWELL INTERCHANGE

BY KATIE INGRAM

PHOTO: ROBERT NORWOOD NOVA SCOTIA ARCHIVES ACCESSION NO. 1987-481 NOS. 359-377

Halifax had grand plans to revolutionize urban living.

It ended up with a failed development rooted in class discrimination and racism.

In the late 1950s, Halifax planners wanted the city to become more modern, with a focus on cars as trends saw more residents living in the suburbs and commuting to work. Central to the plan was an elevated freeway across the harbour, known as Harbour Drive. Part of this development was the Cogswell Interchange.

“In hindsight it was very much with a certain perspective of what cleaning up the city meant,” says former Halifax Regional Municipality archivist Sharon Murray. Murray digitized 4,000 photos in 2017 related to urban renewal.

The proposed development had issues from the beginning, including the demolition over 2,000 buildings, mostly homes.

At the time downtown Halifax had a large population of poor, working class neighbourhoods. According to a 1957 report, A Redevelopment Study of Halifax, Nova Scotia from planning consultant Gordon Stephenson, the median annual earning in the study area in 1951 was $1,800 (about $16,800 in 2018 dollars). This comes out to $34.62 a week. The cost of a three-to-five-room rental in 1956 could range from $15 to $130 per week.

The intersection of Jacob and Grafton streets, part of a neighbourhood razed to construct Scotia Square and the Cogswell Street Interchange.

26 | halifaxmag.com APRIL 2019

These neighbourhoods were crime-ridden, rundown, and overcrowded. Stephenson called one (located between City Hall and Jacob Street) “deplorable.”

“Here are some of the worst tenements, and dirty cinder sidewalks merge with patches of cleared land littered with rubbish. It is suggested that the clearing of this area should have high priority. It will provide well placed and needed sites for commercial premises,” he wrote. “In its present state of decay and stagnation it is repelling to good commercial development.”

For Stephenson, getting rid of this area was the first step to a better Halifax.

Murray believes the issue was more than getting rid of a few unsightly buildings.

“These were homes for better or worse; these people were forcibly removed from their homes,” she says. “They didn’t have any say in the decision-making process. The people that were making the decision were not people living in these neighbourhoods.”

Many people spoke out against the development, including Bauer Street resident C.H. Griffith. In a 1956 letter to the Mail-Star they wrote the city has decided to “confiscate” neighbourhoods, forcing people to move “regardless of their unanimous disproval.”

Along with being a poorer area of the city, a large majority of Halifax’s African-Nova Scotian population lived around this area. According to research from Tina Loo, history professor at the University of British Columbia, about 6,000 African-Nova Scotians were displaced during the city’s urban renewal, 400 of whom were from Africville.

The rest lived in the area around Maynard and Creighton streets.

Unlike Africville, which was more segregated, this area had a mix of black and white residents, all low-income. “There was a class aspect as much as there was a race aspect,” says Loo. Loo says African-Nova Scotians residents were concerned about more than losing their homes. “The minister at the Cornwallis Street Baptist Church … spoke out against the impact of redevelopments on his parishioners who he was worried wouldn’t find accommodations, if they could at all,” she says.

Government officials moved residents out of the area starting in 1958. Many went to public-housing areas, like Mulgrave Park. Neither Loo nor Murray know if everyone who was displaced got a home. Loo says there was one public-housing unit for every one of four families displaced. This also didn’t factor in single-person households.

COURTESY OF FBM AND HALIFAX REGIONAL MUNICIPALITY

| FEATURE |

The Cogswell Interchange was completed, but due to public backlash in 1970, Halifax abandoned the Harbour Drive project.

For years, there’s been talk about demolishing the Interchange and starting anew. A recent update on HRM’s website from fall 2018 says it has gathered public input on urban spaces and buildings. Many residents have raised concerns about the development, especially related to affordable housing. According to Statistics Canada, in 2016 HRM’s population was 403,131; some 58,825 residents (about 14.5%) were “low income.”

Mayor Mike Savage, who spoke of looking forward to more bicycleand-pedestrian-friendly spaces, wants to “reconnect the city.” He says the original redevelopment didn’t “respect the neighbourhoods” and those living there.

He feels the development contributed to a social divide, separating residents based on their income brackets. “Downtown has the opportunity to to break that cycle, regardless of age, income … it’s an opportunity if done correctly,” he says.

On Feb. 27, 2019, HRM Council approved a design plan for the Cogswell site. It includes a multi-use trail, plazas, several parks and green spaces and a transit hub. Construction could begin in the fall of 2019.

The document presented at council says affordable housing was discussed at length during public-engagement sessions. Although, “the comments and recommendations regarding building design and use will be reviewed and considered through the [municipal planning strategy and land-use bylaw] amendment process initiated for the Cogswell District.”

In a January email, HRM spokesperson Erin DiCarlo addressed the subject. “Last July, regional council approved an affordable housing work plan setting out six initiatives to increase supply. To date, decisions about affordable housing in the Cogswell District area have not been determined,” she said. “Staff will be seeking Council’s direction in this regard and note that of the six initiatives in the affordable housing work plan, the use of the density bonusing program and/or the sale of municipally-owned lands would be explored.”

Murray wants something that better reflects Halifax. “This Cogswell redesign has the potential to echo that history if they aren’t more thoughtful and they don’t consult the people it impacts,” she says.

But Halifax can’t replace what is lost.

“Despite it all, there was a sense of community that has essentially been erased,” says Murray.

PHOTO: NOVA SCOTIA ARCHIVES, PHOTO COLLECTION: PLACES: HALIFAX: SCOTIA SQUARE

The proposed new Cogswell Interchange area.

Duke Tower and Scotia Square under construction. Photo taken 1967

HOW WE GOT HERE ® The city razed about 5.6 hectares in the early 1960s. In the late 1960s, it took another five hectares. ® Scotia Square was another development that came out of the demolished area. ® One of the proposals for Harbour Drive included a four-lane divided highway, with interchanges on Devonshire Avenue, the Macdonald Bridge, and Cogswell Street. ® Additionally, another bridge, running parallel to the Macdonald Bridge was suggested. ® When the development was first announced, it was opposed by several residents who worried about Halifax’s historic buildings. One such building was the Pentagon Building on Buckingham Street; its design resembled New York’s triangular Flatiron Building. Workers demolished the Halifax landmark.

tadams@metroguide.ca Halifax Magazine @HalifaxEditor @HalifaxMagazine

APRIL 2019 halifaxmag.com | 27

DRINK

PHOTO: BRUCE MURRAY/VISIONFIRE STUDIOS

BOYS’ CLUB NO LONGER

Good Robot’s Kelley Costello sees more women working in the beer industry.

28 | halifaxmag.com APRIL 2019

IF 2018 WAS THE YEAR OF #METOO, CAN 2019 BE THE YEAR OF WOMEN IN BEER?

BY KIM HART MACNEILL Good Robot’s tap room on Robie Street had a decidedly feminine vibe on March 8.

Women filled most of the seats and every tap on the wall poured women-brewed beer as people toasted International Women’s Day with the FemmeBot Brewing Competition.

“The bar was full of friendly people bouncing from table to table comparing score sheets,” says Robyn Vaughan, a home brewer and entrant. “No one cared about winning.

Winning is a goal, but not the main goal.”

This year marked FemmeBot’s third anniversary and its biggest series of events celebrating feminine energy, creativity, and beer. The event is open to all people who “wish to share space in respectful celebration of women,” say organizers.

It started when employees Kelly Costello and Erica Fraser sat down with a beer and pondered how to mark International Women’s Day. Year one was a single event, but the tap room stayed at capacity for most of the day. Year two grew to three days, and 2019 offered five days of FemmeBot. “It’s gained traction because people are paying attention and hopefully they’ve had fun in the past,” says Costello. “We’ve got more women on staff now, so that’s more people to organize and push out the word.”

In the U.S., women consume 32% of all craft beer and hold 29% of all brewery jobs. Only 4% of the country’s over 4,000 breweries had female master brewers, according to a 2014

survey. That’s an old study. It’s also the most recent one I found, because the place of women in the industry isn’t well studied.

Nova Scotia’s craft beer industry is predominantly male, but women fill many roles. Several work on the brewing side. A handful own or co-own breweries. Boxing Rock’s Emily Tipton is president of the Craft Brewers Association of Nova Scotia (CBANS).

Things aren’t perfect here. I’d need several extra sets of hands to count the number of times a man (on either side of the bar) suggested that I might prefer a radler or a glass of wine to the English bitter I ordered.

Offensive beer names and sexist labels still bombard women.

“We get a lot of shit for FemmeBot,” says Costello. “The first year all of the women [working at Good Robot] took the day off and the guys did all of the work. We had some white knight get all up-in-arms on the internet about maybe we needed the money and not the day off. No dude, we decided to take the day off.”

Vaughan says people assume she brews because her boyfriend works at a brewingsupply shop. “I do more of the brewing that happens at home. People assume when I’m at a brew shop I’m picking up ingredients for him.”

I’ve been there. When I buy at 50-kg bag of grain alone, a male employee offers to carry it to my car. If my boyfriend buys the grain, there’s no offer. I’m not condemning

chivalrous men. I’m asking why I get the offer and he doesn’t.

There are steps in the right direction.

In 2017, CBANS’s members passed a motion to “uphold the fundamental principles of inclusiveness and equality to all in our day-to-day activities,” and “pledge zero tolerance of discrimination in marketing practices.”

On April 27, Good Robot and FemmeBot will host the inaugural Brewster Festival, featuring 15+ women-owned breweries and womenmade beer and cider. The breweries include: Boxing Rock Brewing (Shelburne, N.S.), Port Rexton Brewing (Port Rexton, N.L.), Big Tide Brewing (Saint John, N.B.), Shipwright Brewing (Lunenburg, N.S.), among others. Get tickets at tickethalifax.com.

“It’s getting better, but obviously there’s still a long way to go,” says Vaughan. “The only way to get parity is to promote more women entering beer through home brewing and in breweries.”

If brewing interests you, pop into a brew shop and look around. You can start with a kit containing everything you need or a small one-gallon batch that you can brew on your stove with your pasta pot.

“I live for a day when FemmeBot is just a celebration and not a statement,” says Costello. “But for now, we’ll keep talking about sexual assault in taxis, pink tax, and negative comments on the internet.”

Must-try beers La Rive du Sud (Bière de garde)

Susannah (Imperial pale lager)

Boxing Rock Brewing Shelburne, N.S. 7.5% Before refrigeration, fermenting beer in the summer wasn’t easy. This historical French style was brewed in winter and stored underground until summer. It’s dark, sweet, with hints of nutmeg, clove, and allspice.

Garrison Brewing Co. Halifax, N.S. 8.8% This all-female developed, brewed, and designed beer comes from Kellye Robertson (Shipwright Brewing), East Coast Wild Foods, and Garrison’s female staff. It features wild-foraged sumac and sea buckthorn and a heavy dose of Hallertau Blanc and Topaz hops for a spicy, tropical flavour.

APRIL 2019 halifaxmag.com | 29

OPINION

THE JOY, AND COST, OF GIVING A NEWCOMER WITH UNIQUE SKILLS WANTS TO HELP OTHER IMMIGRANTS

BY MARIANNE SIMON Almost all of us take the ability to read and write for granted. We barely recall learning how. But acquiring the skills is a tremendous achievement, even more so if you’re doing it later in life.

Recently I began volunteer tutoring for the Nepali Seniors’ Conversation Circle in Halifax held on Fridays. The circle included 11 men and women (aged 45–70). They’re Nepalispeaking refugees from Bhutan who settled around Clayton Park. I’m fluent in Nepali, so I knew I could help.

It was a pleasure speaking Nepali again after many years.

During our conversations, I realized the people in our group had never been to school and couldn’t read or write their mother tongue.

Only a few of them could count up to 50 and recognize the alphabet. One of the women couldn’t even hold a pencil properly. Some said they were not able to remember what they had learned the previous week. But they were hopeful and enthusiastic.

I had to think deeply about how to organize the sessions so that everyone in the group would benefit. When I asked them what they wanted to learn first, they answered unanimously, “Teach us to make phone calls.” They knew very few English expressions like hello, good morning, thank you, and bye. They also knew a phone call started with “hello” and ended with “bye.” But what about the conversation between those two words? How will they master that part? I hoped with a lot of practise and perseverance, they would learn the skill of making a telephone call using their limited vocabulary.

My thoughts flew back to the foothills of the Himalayas, in India’s Darjeeling District, where I lived among Nepali people for more than a decade. There were many women labourers who worked on the building site of a big school.

They broke large stones into small chips which were used to make concrete building blocks. They sat patiently from morning till evening breaking stones with their bare hands and small hammers.

I used to watch them from my office window. They had never been to school, they couldn’t write their names or sign on the dotted lines while receiving their wages.

Their life seemed sad and full of care. I wondered about their dreams and aspirations. What would help to put smiles back on their faces? I did not know. But I wanted to do

30 | halifaxmag.com APRIL 2019

something for them. Maybe I could teach them how to read and write, I thought.

With the help of the supervisor on the construction site, I got 18 women to come to my evening class. Now the question was, what books do I use? The truth was, there were none.

So I wrote the course in their everyday language. The lessons were based on their daily life, the problems they faced, and the topics they could relate to.

The students’ enthusiasm overwhelmed me. After a full day’s hard labour it must have been difficult for them to attend a class in the evening to learn reading and writing.

But they kept coming.

What attracted them was not only the opportunity to learn, but also being together in a clean, comfortable place talking, exchanging ideas, and learning from each other. It was a social event for them. And I remember the day one of them burst into the office and declared, “Mo padhnoo sakchoo!” (“I can read!”). She was thrilled because she could read, for the first time in her life, the sign on a shop in the bazaar. It was, for her, an earthshattering achievement.

The Nepali Seniors in the Conversation Circle in Halifax were not only eager to learn, but they were also enjoying the social aspect of the get together every Friday. The tea break half way through the session was a favourite. It was a time to exchange ideas and family news. And they enjoyed their bingo using numbers and alphabet.

The biggest challenge for them was that they were trying to read and write English, a new language they didn’t speak.

That posed a real obstacle. I could find plenty of course material, but it needed to be tailored to suit their need, and I knew I could do it.

Unfortunately, I had to leave the sessions in January. I loved volunteering but could no longer lose 20% of my weekly wages giving up a work day. It wasn’t possible to move the sessions to the weekend. Not being able to work with the Nepali group any longer is very disappointing. As I continue building my new life in Canada, I hope to soon have the financial security to resume that sort of volunteering.

tadams@metroguide.ca Halifax Magazine @HalifaxEditor @HalifaxMagazine

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