Halifax Magazine March 2018

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CONTENTS

Vol. 18 No. 2 | March 2018 FEATURES

16

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

14 | STILL BUILDING Higher interest rates and tighter lending rules have done little to cool Halifax’s residential market

9 | LETTERS TO THE EDITOR Halifax Magazine readers respond 10 | CITYSCAPE True-crime fans find a community in Halifax; Victoria Hall’s spirit lives on in a new home

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34 | OPINION: THAT OTHER OFFICIAL LANGUAGE HRM wants to improve French services, but is that what Halifax needs?

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32 | DRINK: BEER TO THE PEOPLE The creators of Atlantic Canada’s most popular (and only) beer podcast share their favourite beers (and thoughts on Premier Stephen McNeil)

7 | EDITOR’S MESSAGE Removing the Cornwallis statue was a good step, but we have a long way to go if we’re serious about reconciliation

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28 | SHOPPING: DEEP ROOTS Halifax Seed spans four generations

24 | BUILDING BALANCE Best known for her work on Halifax Central Library, architect Susan Fitzgerald has a unique perspective and fosters new talent

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12 | ENTERTAINMENT Championship basketball, The Sheepdogs, The Mountaintop reimagines Martin Luther King Jr.’s final hours, and more

18 | GET UP, STAND UP From war-torn Kuwait to his native Sudan to Canada, filmmaker and musician Fateh Ahmed shares his story

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16 | FOR THE COMMON GOOD As the Halifax Common evolves, volunteers fight for its original spirit

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MARCH 2018 halifaxmag.com | 5

EDITOR’S MESSAGE

More work to do After exhausting all other options, Halifax Council finally did the right thing and removed the statue of Edward Cornwallis from a downtown park.

In addition to founding the city, Cornwallis had a bloody legacy, putting a bounty on Nova Scotia’s Mi’kmaq and before that, taking part (as a senior officer) in a campaign of murder, rape, and expulsion against rebellious Scottish Highlanders. For many, the statue was a constant reminder of a brutal legacy.

Removing the statue was an act of compassion and an important symbol of reconciliation.

I applaud Council for the move. But it’s not the end of the matter. There is still much to do.

You’ll still find bloody-minded colonial rulers venerated around Nova Scotia.

Cornwallis’s name adorns streets and whole communities. Jeffrey Amherst, the man who lends his name to the town of Amherst, was every bit as murderous (in one letter, he recommends giving natives smallpox-tainted blankets to spread the plague and decimate the population).

The Duke of Cumberland (the guy Cumberland County is named after) was known as “Butcher Cumberland” for his atrocities against the Scots, including ordering the murder of wounded and surrendering rebels.

And I could go on. North America’s colonial history is full of brutalities against native populations and anyone who pushed against the status quo. That’s our history, and history can’t and shouldn’t be rewritten.

That’s why you’ll never hear me call for expunging those names from history books.

But people don’t learn history from road signs and statues. When we name a community after a man, we’re honouring him. That’s why you see lots of things named for Churchill and none named for Hitler. Both men are part of our history, but we don’t venerate them equally.

Whenever I talk about this, I hear the same two rebuttals.

First: So, all white British men are bad?

Nope. These specific white British men were bad, and we don’t need to celebrate them. Do you hear me calling for the removal of the statue of noted white British man Joseph Howe? For the renaming of Joseph Howe Drive?

You do not, because Howe was not an awful person. Worthy honourees abound. Why neglect them in favour of brutes like Cornwallis, Cumberland, and Amherst?

Second: What about the French and Mi’kmaq who scalped the British?

They’re irrelevant to this conversation.

There are no towns named for them. There are no statues of them. We don’t celebrate them, and we shouldn’t. Yet you know of them, so they clearly remain in our history. Let’s give Amherst and his ilk the same treatment.

Confronting our legacies, examining what we’re really built upon, is a key part of growing up for any country. Countries like New Zealand are already far deeper into this process.

They’ve worked hard to pay their historical debt to the country’s native Maori. When appropriate, they’ve renamed communities.

They’ve revamped and replaced monuments, so they reflect the stories of all citizens. They’re trying hard to tell their whole history, and they’re richer for it.

We can continue on our journey to becoming a better, fairer Nova Scotia by admitting our history to ourselves. Not pretending that this

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BY TREVOR J. ADAMS

tadams@metroguide.ca Halifax Magazine @HalifaxEditor @HalifaxMagazine

was an empty land until noble British settlers arrived and built civilization.

We’re mature enough to admit that our history has villains as well as heroes, that we have deeds to celebrate and crimes to atone.

We must understand that reconciliation is a long and ongoing process, not as simple as removing one statue.

History is giving us an opportunity to do better and build a Nova Scotia that respects all its founders, not just the white male British ones.

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The colour is dark like winter, but the flavour is bright like spring.

MARCH 2018 halifaxmag.com | 7

CONTRIBUTORS KATIE INGRAM “For the Common Good” Katie frequently writes for Halifax Magazine and is the author of Breaking Disaster: Newspaper Stories of the Halifax Explosion.

MARJORIE SIMMINS Cityscape Marjorie is an awardwinning 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

RICHARD WOODBURY “Still building” Richard writes for both local and national publications and his work has been published by Reuters, Metro, and Enterprise Magazine. richardwoodbury.ca

TOM MASON “Deep roots” Tom is a proud Haligonian who has been writing about business, technology, travel, lifestyles, and Atlantic Canadian issues for three decades.

KRISTIN KING “The doughnut dream” Born in Richmond, Virginia and raised in New Providence, Bahamas, Kristin is studying English literature and psychology at Saint Mary’s University.

JENNIFER TAPLIN “Building balance” Jennifer has left freelancing behind and is now lifestyles editor with the Chronicle Herald.

OLIVIA LAVERY Cityscape A master’s student at the University of King’s College journalism school, Olivia studied history and political science at Western University before moving to Halifax.

SARAH SAWLER “Get up, stand up” Sarah is an award-winning journalist whose work has appeared in such publications as Halifax Magazine, Quill & Quire, Atlantic Business Magazine, and ParentsCanada. Nimbus Publishing released her first non-fiction book, 100 Things You Don’t Know About Nova Scotia, in April 2016.

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

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LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

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In “The truth about Cornwallis” article Van Horne’s interpretation of events and use of certain “facts” are questionable.

• Battle of Culloden was in 1746, not 1745. (The article has been updated at Halifaxmag.ca to correct this fact-checking error. —Ed.) • One is left with the impression Cornwallis was in command of the Highland “clearance;” he was lieutenant colonel of a regiment under orders of the Duke of Cumberland.

• The statement that “Earlier in the summer that Cornwallis arrived, some New England fishermen attacked a Mi’kmaq village near Canso and killed all the women and children” lacks citation. What is recorded is that in August, 20 English workers sent to Canso were attacked and taken prisoner by the Mi’kmaq.

• The Mi’kmaq (sometimes supported by Acadian insurgents) carried out eight raids in Dartmouth (1749–1759) resulting in the deaths of several dozen settlers including women and children, leading one D artmouth historian to note that Dartmouth had become a “ghost town” by the early 1760s…yet Van Horne mentions only the first raid (on the woodcutters) in September 1749.

• The statement that reads in part, “…the French, who adopted the Mi’kmaq way of life…and assimilated in their new country… “needs clarification. Did all of the French population including the Acadians assimilate with the Mi’kmaq (unlikely) or integrate in certain locales?

Truth may be elusive but let’s stick to recognized facts as we progress reconciliation.

Len Canfield, Halifax

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I just read your editorial in the Halifax M agazine (“We have enough cheerleaders,” January 2018). I agree with your outlook.

Having lived in this city for almost 30 years I have seen the good, the bad, and the ugly. Little is uglier than the racism that lies just under the veneer of civility, or the poverty that impacts so many children. Only through constant exposure to the light of investigation can there be change. Halifax can be better.

Rev. John E. Boyd, Halifax

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CITYSCAPE PEOPLE

A true-crime community

BY OLIVIA LAVERY

“[MY FAVORITE MURDER] HAS SPURRED OTHER WOMEN TO SHARE THEIR INTEREST AND CREATE A COMMUNITY. THEY TAKE IT SERIOUSLY AND FOCUS ON THE VICTIMS.” —GWYNETH CHRISTOFFEL

Karen Kilgariff (left) and Georgia Hardstock, hosts of the My Favourite Murder podcast.

A group of women sit around a table in a Halifax sports bar. They’re meeting for the first time but they’re not talking about sports—they’re talking about murder.

Earlier this winter, nine women from a Facebook group called Halifax Murderinos got together. They’re followers of a podcast called My Favorite Murder, hosted by American women Georgia Hardstark and Karen Kilgariff. In each episode, the hosts tell each other their favourite true-crime stories.

The podcast, which has now produced over 100 episodes, has amassed a massive following and is particularly popular among women.

The podcast often discusses violence against women and encourages women to look out for themselves. Followers refer to themselves as “murderinos”, and Facebook groups like Halifax Murderinos are springing up around the world.

Elle Kaufman and Gwyneth Christoffel, both 22-year-olds in Halifax, started the local

10 | halifaxmag.com MARCH 2018

page. Christoffel says true-crime stories have interested her for years, but it’s hard to find people to share the interest with.

“It has spurred other women to share their interest and create a community,” Christoffel says of the group. “They take it seriously and focus on the victims.”

Kaufman feels the same. “I guess I just think that normalizing women having an interest in things that affect women is really important,” she says. “And having an open dialogue is okay, and there’s always a lot more resources than you feel like there are. If you listen to My Favorite Murder or do research on crime or listen to other crime podcasts a lot of it is sexualized and gender-based violence.”

Her point is reflected in the stories that are shared on the My Favorite Murder Facebook page. People have posted about the recent trial of Christopher Garnier, convicted of murdering off-duty Truro police officer Catherine Campbell, several times.

Both Kaufman and Christoffel hope that their Facebook page will help spread awareness for women’s safety and for organizations that aim to eliminate violence.

My Favorite Murder’s hosts donate money from ticket sales and fan donations to End the Backlog, an organization that aims to have untested rape kits tested so that victims of assault can pursue legal action.

The women who attended the last meet-up plan to get together again soon. Comments on the Facebook page following the meet-up say things like, “I had a really fun time! I feel like the community they talk about on the show was personified!”

As the Halifax Murderinos leave the gathering, they yell the Murderino slogan: “Stay sexy and don’t get murdered!”

tadams@metroguide.ca Halifax Magazine @HalifaxEditor @HalifaxMagazine

LANDMARKS

Victoria Hall’s spirit finds a new home

BY MARJORIE SIMMINS

Victoria Hall, the landmark Second Empire-styled mansion on Gottingen Street, celebrated its 150th anniversary as a home for senior women in 2010. Three years later, owners sold it and it became an apartment building. A genteel way of life that included birthday parties and singalongs for residents, homemade meals served in the dining room, and an annual, a summertime “Strawberry Social,” also open to the public, was gone.

Or was it? Where had the final 29 residents gone? And what about the actual trust, established in 1860, and now financially bolstered by the sale of Victoria Hall?

“Victoria Hall has not disappeared,” says Sheila Ross, chair of the board of directors for the now-renamed Victoria Hall Society (VHS).

“The work continues.”

Syd Dumaresq, a long-time member of the board of directors, explains.

“We didn’t want to be in the business [of owning a building] anymore,” he says. “So we became tenants of the Sisters of Charity, at Caritas Residence... [Victoria Hall] has gone from a money-losing venture with a very limited future, to a financially sustainable organization.”

High on the hill above Mount St. Vincent University, with a sweeping view of Bedford Basin, Caritas (Latin for “charity”) was built for the Sisters as a retirement residence in 2008. It now belongs to Shannex Incorporated. Through an arrangement with the Sisters, VHS has access to 16 rooms at Caritas, all currently full. At the time of the move, 14 residents came to Caritas, while the remaining 15 moved to various nursing homes around the city.

“If we had more money, we’d be delighted to take on a third pod of eight, which would encompass the whole floor,” says Dumaresq. Six floors at Caritas have residences for both assisted and independent living. A lower floor houses the Sisters of Charity offices. The main floor has the dining room, chapel, a library, a beauty salon, and other business offices.

A fourth-generation architect heading SP Dumaresq Architect in Halifax, Dumaresq is almost a hereditary board member. His family has served in this capacity on and off since the turn of the 19th century.

But he’s seeing the organization through something new in its history.

“We had to change our antiquated business structure,” says Dumaresq.

This required the adoption of a special bill in the provincial legislature in 2014. The Board of Directors welcomes men and women to serve, either on the board, or on committees reporting to them.

“We also need volunteers to help with our social events, or with taking residents to doctors’ appointments, or even going shopping,” says chair

Sheila Ross. “The things that family would do.” With an average age of 89, many of the women don’t have families now, she says. “We have 12 volunteers now and I would like to see one for each client here.”

The trust is finite, says Ross, and the need for subsidized housing for senior women remains high: “We would ask people to consider donating, to maintain the independence of women [in our care].”

Much has changed, but not the essential role of the organization.

“Our mission, to provide homes to women of modest means, remains unchanged,” says Sally Mitchell, administrator at VHS. “As always, each resident receives a subsidy. And the food is still wonderful, with four options at each meal, plus a daily special.”

VHS has also maintained its traditions. “We organize preChristmas events, birthday celebrations and yes, even the Strawberry Social,” says Mitchell.

Victoria Hall was the idea of Halifax residents Isabella Cogswell, Charlotte Lawson, and Jane Liddell. The well-to-do women had seen the desperate need for affordable housing for elderly unmarried or

widowed women. After an extraordinary fund-raising effort within their well-heeled circles, the women tasked an all-male “Board of Trustees” to set up a trust, which ultimately served to purchase and buy the first residence. An all-female “Committee of Management” ran the day-to-day operations. For the next century and a half, nearly 1,000 women lived at the Gottingen home. Each had subsidized rent.

One of the residents at Caritas is Pearl Stevens, age 99, who moved into Victoria Hall in 1999. Like some of the others from the original building, she was uncertain how the move to Caritas would feel.

“They showed me my room,” says Stevens, who grew up on Big Tancook Island. “With the two big windows, and all that light coming in, and I just loved it. The food is really good, too.” Stevens enjoys doing word puzzles and reading her Bible (“not that trashy novel stuff,” she smiles) and seeing her neighbours come and go by her room, where the door is always open.

From the perspective of the Sisters of Charity, the Victoria Hall women have been welcome co-residents of Caritas. “This is their home,” says congregation leader Joan O’Keefe. “They use the house the same way the Sisters do.”

The Sisters, who number approximately 50, don’t all live at Caritas.

Nor are they necessarily retired. “But we all have the same values,” O’Keefe says. “Even if some of us are not religious, we all have a spiritual dimension. Both the Victoria Hall women and the Sisters are very caring with one another... It’s a natural thing, the way the friendships develop. We are all women living out our lives the best we can.”

MARCH 2018 halifaxmag.com | 11

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

MARCH 2 TO 4, 8 TO 11 It’s championship-basketball season in Halifax, as Scotiabank Centre hosts two major tournaments. From March 2 to 4, the AUS Basketball Championships sees Atlantic Canada’s top men’s and women’s university teams battle for the regional titles. The following weekend, the U Sport Men’s Basketball Final 8 comes to town, with top teams coast-to-coast competing for the national title. ticketatlantic.com

PHOTO: NICK PEARCE

University championship basketball

MARCH 10

Cecilia Concert Series The Ladom Ensemble features Michael Bridge (accordion), Adam Campbell (percussion), Pouya Hamidi (piano), and Beth Silver (cello). Critics call them “elegant and contemplative” and “rocking and fiery.” This young group of musicians from across Canada offers a unique and lively musical fusion experience. See their evening concert at the Maritime Conservatory of Performing Arts on Chebucto Road. ceciliaconcerts.ca

MARCH 16, 17

The Sheepdogs The acclaimed roots-rock throwbacks put on a lively show every time they visit Halifax, and few venues suit them better than the cozy confines of the Marquee on Gottingen Street. Sam Coffey & The Iron Lungs open the show. etixnow.com

MARCH 17

MARCH 23

Halifax Mooseheads

Dartmouth Community Concert Association The Brogue Saxophone Quartet goes well beyond the boundaries of a traditional saxophone ensemble, constantly adding to their repertoire. See the lively and engaging foursome at Woodlawn United Church in Dartmouth. dartmouthcommunityconcert.ca

The city’s major-junior hockey team takes to the ice and Scotiabank Centre for their final home game of the regular season, hosting Acadie-Bathurst at 4 p.m. halifaxmooseheads.ca

CONTINUING THROUGH MARCH 18

Neptune Theatre Ahdri Zhina Mandiela directs as Neptune and the Black Theatre Workshop team up for The Mountaintop. Playwright Katori Hall reimagines Martin Luther King Jr.’s final hours as he confronts his destiny and legacy. Tristan D. Lalla (left) plays the civilrights leader. neptunetheatre.com

12 | halifaxmag.com MARCH 2018

tadams@metroguide.ca Halifax Magazine @HalifaxEditor @HalifaxMagazine

| FEATURE |

IMAGE: THINKSTOCK

STILL BUILD

BY RICHARD WOODBURY

When Nick Allen and his girlfriend decided last year to buy a home, they thought they knew where they were going to buy. The plan was the Woodlawn area of Dartmouth, as they had both grown up there and their parents still lived there. Once they began searching, they found the houses in the area were smaller than they were looking for, would require more renovations than they wanted, and they knew they’d have to buy a car to get around.

They broadened their search.

For the previous five years, the couple had been renting in downtown Halifax and many of their friends still live there. Allen works in project management for the city at Alderney Landing while his girlfriend works at Saint Mary’s University, so good transit service was a priority. “We didn’t want to change our lifestyle completely,” he says.

The search was soon narrowed down to two spots: north-end Halifax and Dartmouth.

In both places, the prices are more affordable, the neighbourhoods are close to their

14 | halifaxmag.com MARCH 2018

respective downtowns and there’s a cool factor because of the interesting shops, restaurants, and breweries.

For Allen, one of the main reasons they chose Dartmouth was the price. While they paid $260,000 for their home on Thistle Street, he says they didn’t see anything for less than $300,000 in the Hydrostone.

Dartmouth has been an it place for a number of years and isn’t showing signs of slowing down. “It’s definitely a vibrant, booming community, in particular for young families,” says real estate agent Colleen Ryan.

“There’s great schools over there, there’s great amenities, there’s parks, fabulous restaurants, local brewpubs.”

For people pondering whether to get in the market, some interesting trends and developments are at play.

The number of listed resales in the Halifax Regional Municipality increased 5.5% in 2017 to 5,413, according to data from the Canada Mortgage and Housing

Corporation. Katelyn MacLeod, a CMHC market analyst for Nova Scotia, anticipates similar growth in 2018 because of strong economic factors, such as a growing population in Halifax, stable employment, and growing average weekly earnings.

At the same time, the number of MLS listings dropped from January 2017 to 2018, from about 3,800 to 3,200, says real-estate agent Don Ranni. This means fewer options for potential home buyers. “I don’t think they can wait as long as they have been waiting in the past to make a decision because the inventory is down,” he says.

Ryan says this January and February have been her busiest in years, which makes her bullish about 2018. “It feels like a spring market already,” she says.

While 2018 has been shaping up to be a good year in Halifax, there are some market forces expected to cool demand. On Jan. 1, new guidelines by the Office of the Superintendent of Financial Institutions (OSFI), Canada’s top

DING

banking regulator, went into effect. The so-called stress test now means buyers who put down a down payment of at least 20% will be tested to see if they could pay their mortgage if interest rates increased.

Previously, the stress test only applied to people putting down less than 20%.

MacLeod says this might impact some buyers, but says the increase in average weekly earnings may help offset that. As well, she says the full effect of this won’t likely be felt until the second and third quarter of the year because that’s when the largest numbers of real estate transactions typically place.

Another concern has been interest rates that have creeped up in recent years and are expected to continue increasing in 2018 and 2019, says a CMHC housing market outlook published in the fall of 2017.

Ryan says the consensus among realtors she’s spoken with was interest rates would have an impact on sales, but that hasn’t quite

HIGHER INTEREST RATES AND TIGHTER LENDING RULES HAVE DONE LITTLE TO COOL HALIFAX’S RESIDENTIAL REAL-ESTATE MARKET

turned out to be the case. “If anything, it doesn’t seem to have slowed down,” she says.

Even with these factors, MacLeod says homes in HRM are still relatively affordable.

For 2017, the average resale price was a little under $293,000, a 2% increase over the previous year. “If you look at the resale market overall, last year a little over 60% of sales were priced under $300,000, so there are still many affordable options out there for buyers,” she says.

For Jill Turtan, she agrees with the assessment that housing prices here are reasonable. She and her husband are originally from B.C. and moved to Halifax in August 2016. “We’re from Vancouver and nobody can afford to buy there,” she says. While the couple budgeted $500,000 for their home purchase, they were pleasantly surprised when they went 22% below their budget and spent $390,000 on a home in the Colby Village area of Dartmouth last year.

As an accountant, she especially has an appreciation for that. She also says rising interest rates weren’t too big of a concern. “It’s higher than it’s been, but relative to most other debt you could have, it’s quite a bit lower, so it didn’t really affect us all that much, especially the fact we ended up going well below our budget,” says Turtan.

In what might seem like a contradictory comment, Ryan says now is a good time for both buyers and sellers to enter the market.

She says with fewer MLS listings (and thus less competition), sellers have a better shot at getting close to their asking price for a home.

For buyers, she sees now as being the right time to jump in. “If you’re ready to buy, now is a good time to buy before that momentum picks up. You’re getting ahead of the curve … the feeling is things are going to get more and more heated and excited,” says Ryan. tadams@metroguide.ca Halifax Magazine @HalifaxEditor @HalifaxMagazine

MARCH 2018 halifaxmag.com | 15

| FEATURE |

FOR THE AS THE HALIFAX COMMON EVOLVES,

BY KATIE INGRAM If the Halifax Common could speak, it might say that it owes a lot over the past 12 years to Peggy Cameron, Beverly Miller, and the Friends of the Halifax Common.

In 2006, Miller, a long-time community activist and member of the Heritage Trust of Nova Scotia, realized the Common needed a voice. “There’s Friends of the Public Gardens and Friends of Point Pleasant Park,” says Miller. “The Halifax Common needed us. The Halifax Common needed more friends.” Miller, then made a call to Cameron, an activist and owner of a wind-energy company.

In 2006, Cameron was also starting the Commons North Neighbourhood Association to stop the demolition of a set of historic houses on West Street.

Currently, FHC’s Facebook page has just over 300 members.

A proclamation from King George III established the Halifax Common in 1763 “for the use of the inhabitants of the Town of Halifax forever.” Originally this space contained 95 hectares of open land between Cunard and South streets, bordered by Robie, North Park, and South Park streets.

Over the years, public institutions and other buildings took over Common space, including Dalhousie University’s Carlton Campus, Victoria Park, the former Halifax School for the Blind, the former Halifax Poor House, All Saints Cathedral, the Public Gardens, Citadel High, and the CBC television building.

Currently, the Common is down to about 0.8 hectares of “true” open space, all on the North Common. “It’s just this attitude, that it’s there, it’s open space and we can do what we want with it,” says Miller.

Cameron agrees. “The Common is for everyone and it’s really the place where democratic decision should be the most profound and authentically demonstrated,” she says. “It’s is something that in the past 200 years has been handed off to institutions, so we have to make sure they are caring for [it].”

According to the 1994 Halifax Common Plan, the amount of space allotted for the Common was not to decrease: the land owned by the municipality, would not decrease and the municipality would try to increase the amount of land it owned through a “recapture of lands.”

But they say that HRM hasn’t properly implemented the plan. The duo point to the former site of the Halifax School for the Blind at South Park and South Streets. After workers demolished that building, a commemoration garden opened, but in 1999 the garden was bulldozed in favour of 12 new parking spaces for the Victoria General Hospital.

“I think that goes back to why we formed, because [the Common] … hasn’t been planned for or cared for,” says Cameron. She adds that having an open

16 | halifaxmag.com MARCH 2018

COMMON GOOD VOLUNTEERS FIGHT FOR ITS ORIGINAL SPIRIT space helps get residents outside, enjoying nature or partaking in a particular activity, like baseball.

In late March 2017, Tiffany Chase, then senior communications advisor with the HRM, said in an email that the municipality will prepare a new Halifax Common Plan. This new plan will “address open space and recreational uses on the Common.”

“The 1994 Common Plan will be an important consideration,” said Chase. “How the Common has developed and should be developed in the future will be the central matter under consideration.”

One more recent development that Miller and Cameron felt needed more public consultation was the skating Oval, originally built for the 2011 Canada Games. It was supposed to be temporary.

“When it was made permanent, we asked to speak to the Council about a better solution and they wouldn’t let us speak,” says Cameron. “So, I and a few others went to a few community Councillors and our proposal was to put it around the skate park or on the soccer field and use the existing Pavilion building.”

Cameron is adamant that the group isn’t against development or progress. “We don’t want to be opposed to things, but we want people to look at the possibilities,” says Cameron, adding that outside developments can also affect the Common.

These include the Armco development near the corner of Quinpool Road and Robie Street. The developer wants the structure to be 20 to 25 storeys tall. The original plan was for 29 storeys. Even though the building won’t be as tall, the height still worries Cameron. “Our biggest concern about that size of development is it’s going to create huge shadows on the Oval and create huge winds on that corner,” says Cameron.

Jacob Ritchie, urban-design program manager with HRM, says staff worked with Armco on the design. “When it gets to the tower form, we try to make it very narrow so that if it does cast a shadow, it passes very quickly,” says Ritchie. “Staff worked with the applicant to narrow down the [side] that faces the common, so when a shadow does get cast it lasts for a shorter amount of time.”

He adds that the Centre Plan should help protect the Common from shadows. Anything taller than six storeys might have to take a “layer cake” approach with a narrower top if it goes above that limit, so that shadows are minimal.

But the North Common isn’t the only space the Friends are concerned about. Last spring, Sports & Entertainment Atlantic announced plans to put a pop-up stadium on the Wanderers Grounds, on the corner of Sackville and Summers streets. It will seat some 6,000 spectators.

Derek Martin, president of Sports & Entertainment Atlantic, pitched the idea as a three-year pilot project to gage public interest in a permanent structure. He feels that the space wasn’t being well used.

“There wasn’t this investment into making it a gathering space,” says Martin. “That, to me, was a real shame: that the status quo was an underutilized public asset in the centre of the city.”

Cameron says this type of event is a problem. “The city [spent] money on fixing up the Wanderers Grounds, so our ask is that they keep it open to the public and for public use,” says Cameron. “It should be a field that is generally available for all sports people, not just a speculative, entertainment kind of property.”

Martin says this wouldn’t be the case. Those who wanted to rent the space from HRM could. He adds the site used to host events like boxing matches and baseball, with people watching from large grandstands.

“All we’re doing is enhancing a public space that was designed and used for sport for 200 years,” says Martin.

In June, HRM Council approved the plan, now set to begin in 2019.

The field hosts at least 14 soccer matches per year. Martin says that number isn’t final, but he wants to respect public use and find a good balance.

Cameron says amateur teams and events will lose at least 20% of their playing time. (She calculates that based on a June 2017 HRM staff report that says that in a seven-year period, the grounds were used for 325 hours per year).

As developments arise, Cameron says the Friends will continue to work for the Common. And now, with plans to implement a Common Plan and the Centre Plan, they hope changes will help preserve the space. “We are persisting because there is a pay off,” says Cameron. “With any kind of social change, it requires people to believe in something.”

tadams@metroguide.ca

Halifax Magazine

@HalifaxEditor @HalifaxMagazine

MARCH 2018 halifaxmag.com | 17

| COVER STORY |

18 | halifaxmag.com MARCH 2018

FROM WAR-TORN KUWAIT TO HIS NATIVE SUDAN TO CANADA, FILMMAKER AND MUSICIAN FATEH AHMED SHARES HIS STORY

BY SARAH SAWLER

ew Haligonians have had journeys like documentary filmmaker and musician Fateh Ahmed. It began in 1977 in Antwerp, Belgium, where he was born to Omaima Hassan Karrar and Awad Ahmed El Mekki. Ahmed only lived there for five years, while his father was attending university, but they were formative years. “That’s when I was exposed to reggae and to Bob Marley’s music,” he says. “When you’re that young, everything gets absorbed quite easily, and disseminates through all of your experiences later.”

Once Ahmed’s father finished his degree, he got a contract in the biology department at the University of Kuwait, but it took a while to sort out the details. So while they waited, they moved back to his parents' homeland of Sudan. There, Ahmed spent time with his maternal grandmother, Nafisa Kamil, Sudan’s first female journalist and the founder of a number of orphanages. She often took Ahmed along on her visits. “During those early years, that helped me to see how life could be very fragile,” says Ahmed.

“As well, it was learning how to share, to give, and to celebrate as a nation.”

The family left Sudan for Kuwait after about a year and a half, where they settled into a home near the Shuwaikh port. The first few years were peaceful and stable, and two more children were born.

Ahmed spent a lot of time with his father, a medical virologist and violinist with a keen interest in art, history, science, and technology. Kuwait had a major impact on Ahmed’s education. It's where he learned English and developed his core skills as a pianist.

He pauses in his story here: “This was the foundation for everything that came after.”

“After” began in 1990, when Iraq invaded Kuwait and the Gulf War began. Sometimes there was no power, sometimes no water. The oil fields burned; even during the day, the air was black. Ahmed was 12.

“Obviously you would see tanks and soldiers through the entire country," he recalls. "Planes.

Sometimes you would hear an explosion. But you come to learn, living through a war that not every day is a war day. A lot of the days just felt normal. But then there were days when you truly couldn’t leave your home.”

Until the war ended in February of the following year, Ahmed’s father took over the kids’ education, and a piano-less Ahmed maintained his skills by playing notes in the air. Then they moved to Saudi Arabia. But their minds and hearts were still in Sudan where the National Islamic Front (NIF) government had executed 28 army officers after accusing them of a failed coup, burying them in a mass grave.

“I get my humanitarian side from both of my parents, but especially from my mother," Ahmed says. "Early on, she took care of the family, and she taught us a lot, and I’m still very close to her. Later on, as we grew up, that’s when she continued doing her work in philanthropy. She helped establish hospitals in the South of Sudan for those who were injured and to support some of the unprivileged in the north part of the country.”

Ahmed’s aunt Samira Karrar started a humanitarian group that demonstrated against the Sudanese government, and fought for the rights of the executed army officers’ families.

Ahmed, who was in high school, vented his political frustration by making music.

F

MARCH 2018 halifaxmag.com | 19

| COVER STORY |

In 2003, he came to Halifax after hearing good things from his brother about the quality of education offered. His brother was studying computer animation; Ahmed enrolled at NSCC, where he earned a degree in recording arts. During that time, he also performed at festivals with bands like Afro-Musica and Merimac.

Later, he earned a degree in digital filmmaking from the Centre for Arts and Technology (now daVinci College, where his brother studied and he now works as an instructor). His work as a documentary filmmaker reflects those early experiences.

Currently, he’s working on a documentary about The Wailers, the legendary reggae band that Bob Marley once led. In particular, he's focusing on bassist and original band member Aston “Family Man” Barrett. Ahmed met Aston Barrett Jr. when The Wailers Band performed at the Halifax Jazz Festival in 2013, after Barrett noticed Ahmed near the backstage area and invited him to meet his father.

“We’ve been friends ever since,” says Barrett. “My father loves him a lot, he thinks he’s really great.”

After getting to know the family, Ahmed shared an idea: “Fateh came to me one day and said, ‘You know, it’s really time you should start a documentary because your father is of a certain age, and he has so much history to talk about, but he doesn’t really share the history with a lot of people. But there are so many people in the world that want to know.”

Barrett Jr. agreed. Ahmed says there’s always more to learn about The Family Man. “There’s always something new that I’ve never heard before,” he says. “When you’re telling the story, you have to try and put everything together. There are always bits of things that filter out.”

Barrett Jr. is also thrilled that Ahmed’s focusing on his father.

“Even the Marley family, they adore my father,” he says. “They call him Uncle. Bob Marley always said, ‘If there’s something wrong with the music, call Family Man. He’ll fix it.’ Fateh’s such a big fan of my family, Uncle Carly and my father. It’s really great.”

Ahmed’s earlier documentaries include Pushed Out, about the impact of gentrification in North End Halifax, and Without Consultation, about the 2015 film tax credit changes in Nova Scotia.

He produced both through his film company, Core Film Productions.

For Colin Hampsey, an associate producer on Pushed Out, one particular story comes to mind when he reflects on his work with Ahmed. “We went to the North End one day, and we talked to… I think he was a homeless person, living on the streets there,” says Hampsey. “It was a really powerful interview.

As soon as they’d wrapped up, Hampsey says a police officer arrived. “We kept the cameras rolling, we stayed there with him, we

“[Halifax] means home...it’s a home where you support one another and it’s a home where you learn and exchange cultural diversity with love.”

—Fateh Ahmed

Top left: Ahmed met, and became fast friends with, reggae legend Aston “Family Man” Barrett in 2013 Top right: Fateh Ahmed at age two, in Antwerp, Belgium.

Right: Ahmed’s daughter Omayma, at age five.

20 | halifaxmag.com MARCH 2018

wanted to make sure that everyone knew this guy was just giving us an honest interview, he wasn’t just sticking around on the streets to be a nuisance or anything like that,” says Hampsey. “A lot of people, especially with a camera in their hand, will run away… But Fateh’s concern at the time wasn’t his documentary, it was this guy.

And I think that speaks volumes about how he is as a professional.”

Ahmed also made an impression on actor and former MLA Lenore Zann when he asked her for an interview during the filmtax-credit protest in April 2015.

“Fateh is a brave soul," she says. "He’s passionate about his music, about film, about artists, about reaching across the void to hold hands with people who might be different from you, but really we’re all the same. I love the fact that he’s not afraid to speak out at a time when other filmmakers were nervous and not really up for speaking out loudly against what the government was doing. To be fair, they were afraid that their film project would not get greenlighted.”

Ahmed also performs as one of the founding members of Halifax reggae band Kore. That’s when he started playing with Lil Thomas, head of the audio-engineering department at daVinci College.

“We both had an interest in the same type of music, found a common thread and started playing music together and enjoyed it,” says Thomas. “Fateh had started playing music with a couple of other friends and invited me into the fold.”

Thomas only plays with Kore occasionally, but he’s spent enough time with Ahmed to know what he’s capable of. “He’s an excellent musician, very well-rounded in terms of diversity of styles,” says Thomas. “He can sit down at a piano and whip off beautiful classical music and then turn around and play reggae music or pop R&B type-stuff. Very good instinctive musical feel and really fun to jam with as well.”

When asked what Halifax means to him now, Ahmed doesn’t hesitate: “It means home. I honestly couldn’t think of any expression better than that. It’s a home where you meet your family, it’s a home where you support one another and it’s a home where you learn and exchange cultural diversity with love.”

Fittingly, he attributes his success in this new home to his family.

He speaks about his father, who passed away just a couple of months ago. “He excelled in almost everything he touched,” says Ahmed.

“He was indeed an exceptional human being and I came to learn so much because of him. So, he was my mentor, perhaps the best and the greatest one I ever had in my entire life.”

“Fateh is a brave soul...

He’s passionate about his music, about film, about artists, about reaching across the void.”

—Lenore Zann

PHOTO: BRUCE TRACY

tadams@metroguide.ca Halifax Magazine @HalifaxEditor @HalifaxMagazine

MARCH 2018 halifaxmag.com | 21

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24 | halifaxmag.com MARCH 2018

BUILDING BALANCE BEST KNOWN FOR HER WORK ON HALIFAX CENTRAL LIBRARY, ARCHITECT SUSAN FITZGERALD HAS A UNIQUE PERSPECTIVE AND FOSTERS YOUNG TALENT

BY JENNIFER TAPLIN

“[LIFE] MOVES SO FAST... WE’RE TRYING TO MAKE BUILDINGS THAT ARE A LOT MORE NIMBLE AND FLEXIBLE.” —SUSAN FITZGERALD

Left: Susan Fitzgerald’s Halifax home showcases her unique architectural style.

When the phone rang in the Porter house near Birmingham, England little Susan Fitzgerald would pick it up. On the other end, a patient of her mother’s would go on and on about symptoms while she took copious notes and asked questions. Her first job was a doctor’s receptionist.

She says she learned there is no separation of work and family, and women can be busy professionals and still raise happy families.

Now at 49, Fitzgerald perches on a chair in the white and glass boardroom inside the Fowler, Bauld and Mitchell Architects office on Hollis Street. She talks happily about being an award-winning architect, Dalhousie professor, mentor, designer, mother, and wife.

Daughter of two doctors, she attended boarding school in England. It might raise eyebrows here, but in England it’s quite normal, she says. It was there she met and heard stories from children from all over the world. “It was understanding that the world was very complex and there were all different ways of living in the world,” she says.

But her mom was Fitzgerald’s first hero and mentor. “She was a doctor, we had a grandmother living with us, and three children,” she recalls.

“She was busy but she worked hard.”

She learned from her mother how to balance life and have a good career.

“She was very kind and very unflappable but I don’t know if I’m quite like that,” she laughs.

She studied math but didn’t want to go work in a London bank like many of her classmates.

Then she met a young man from the Annapolis Valley named Brainard Fitzgerald and fell in love. Six weeks later they were living in Halifax.

Susan was 21.

“It was a total culture shock because I lived in London for four years,” she says. They moved to Vancouver where she studied interior design and got a job working for an architect. She learned an appreciation for the wide-open Canadian landscape and how architecture works with agriculture.

They moved back to Halifax when she was 25 and Fitzgerald studied architecture at Dal, graduating at the top of her class and already winning awards. They had a son, Will and a daughter, Sophie.

She worked for a few firms before starting at FBM in 2002, mentoring under architect Tony Cook. “He was remarkable and he let me do a lot of the design work.” Fitzgerald also worked with husband Brainard designing houses he would build. She started teaching at Dal a year after graduation.

Entering in a field that is male dominated wasn’t easy. “Often you go to site meetings and often you’d be the only female in the room,” she says. “It is stressful: there you are, you’re the only female and sometimes you’re one of the younger people on the site.”

That’s why Fitzgerald mentors many women students. Alicia Gilmore worked with her last fall in her first year at architecture school.

Fitzgerald is a role model because she’s so driven and works hard on her own projects but

MARCH 2018 halifaxmag.com | 25

| FEATURE |

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also helps students find their own voice in their work, she said.

“There are lots of good professors at the school but it’s nice to see from a female’s perspective that you can be principal of a firm, professor and also have a family,” Gilmore says. “She somehow managed to balance all of it and do it like it’s easy. It gives us hope that you can have it all: both the career and family life too.”

Fitzgerald introduces her students to international design. Travel and understanding how other, more dense cities use green space and urban agriculture are key. She’s explored many Central and South American cities, often with her family.

Havana particularly fascinates her. Unusable properties that workers turned into gardens dot the Cuban capital. “If you suddenly add a landscape into a city and you start growing things...it adds a relief [to the density] and it changes the climate with a micro-climate effect,” she says. “They have a market and places

where they sell homeopathic remedies because they don’t have many medicines.”

She regularly takes students there to study architecture through urban agriculture. They learn people don’t just need a place to exist in the city but also need these outdoor spaces.

The plaza in front of Halifax Central Library has some of Fitzgerald’s fingerprints on it. She was involved in the early stages of imagining and shaping what the library should look like.

Her work involved workshops and focus groups with children, First Nations, newcomers, people with disabilities and others. These were people who needed a voice in the project who weren’t attending public consultation sessions.

Fitzgerald says she believes architecture has to be flexible to suit the humans using it now and in the future. That’s something she particularly learned while designing schools and houses.

“Everyone moves through life and it’s amazing how fast life changes,” she says. “It moves so fast that it’s hard enough for humans

The unique architecture of Havana inspires Susan Fitzgerald.

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26 | halifaxmag.com MARCH 2018

to respond, let alone buildings. Now we’re trying to make buildings that are a lot more nimble and flexible.”

It’s tricky, but there are some universal truths to all spaces and people, Susan says.

“Everybody likes access to nature, everybody likes daylight, everybody likes to feel comfortable and warm,” she explains. “There are certain things that are truisms about any place. While spaces have to evolve, there are some deep rooted human needs and architecture has to take care of those.”

Their house on King Street, for example, is a shrine to work-play-live. The striking design includes a sleek glass and a passageway to an outbuilding in back—the answer to urban density. The house has been the subject of news stories around the world (with particular interest in South America and Germany) and it was nominated for a major international award for important projects.

That passion for creating exceptional spaces is just who she is, says her son Will Fitzgerald.

“She is probably one of the hardest working people I’ve ever met,” he says. “Everything she takes interest in she takes a great interest; it’s never something that’s only 10%. It’s always 100%.”

Just like Susan’s parents immersed her in their profession, Will, who is in his second year of political science at Dal, grew up visiting job sites all over the province and traveling the world with his mom. He said he used to like telling other kids that his mom designs schools.

“I am a huge fan of her work,” he says. “As the son of an architect, I’ve created my own ideas of what nice architecture is and what I would want to do if ever I was an architect. I think she’s really good at creating buildings that have the intimacy between the street or whatever context it’s in and the actual building. I find so many buildings lack that.”

tadams@metroguide.ca

Halifax Magazine

ACCOLADES Fitzgerald says these are the award wins that make her proudest.

2011 Canada Council for the Arts Professional Prix de Rome.

2013 EnRoute Magazine Air Canada Hotel Design Awards—Best Overall Architecture for Cabot Links Lodge.

2016 The Wood Design Awards 2016 for Cabot Links Lodge.

Ten Lieutenant-Governor awards including the medal of excellence.

@HalifaxEditor @HalifaxMagazine

MARCH 2018 halifaxmag.com | 27

PHOTO: JAYME MELROSE

SHOPPING

HALIFAX SEED SPANS FOUR GENERATIONS Emily Tregunno

DEEP ROOTS

BY TOM MASON Fred Tregunno is a name that’s central to his family lore: the founder of one of the oldest family businesses in Halifax and the oldest family-run seed business in the country.

He was a seed salesman who started his career in Hamilton, Ontario, selling to farm and garden supply companies across eastern Canada in the early part of the 20th century. Halifax Seed was one of his customers, a successful business that was already 59 years old when he raised the money to buy it in 1925.

The company had weathered hard times, including economic depressions in 1893 and 1907 and the devastating explosion of 1917 that destroyed its harbour-front headquarters along with half of the city of Halifax. The business was built to last.

Fred’s new venture prospered as expected. Eventually his sons Warren and Paul joined the company and took over as owners when he died in 1960. Warren’s son Tim joined the company in the 1970s, and he too eventually rose to be an owner and manager.

Emily Tregunno and her sister Alison stepped into their current management roles soon after the death of their father Tim at the age of just 55. For Emily, taking over the family business wasn’t always her plan.

“My sister and I both went all the way through university thinking we would never be part of this business,” she says. “My father did a fabulous job not putting any pressure on us ever.” By the time she graduated in 2006 she decided to give Halifax Seed a try. Her intimate knowledge of the company was factored into the decision. “Our employees are really an extension of our family,” she explains. “Some of them have been with us for 30 or 40 years.”

Garden seeds have been the one and only constant of the business over the last 152 years. Today Halifax Seed sells an array of gardening supplies that would have baffled a young Fred Tregunno: electronic grow lights, customized greenhouses, drip irrigation systems, computer operated growing systems—all perfect tools for surviving the Apocalypse or for participating in the new urban growing movement.

“There are some cool things going on in horticulture right now,” says Emily. “A lot of people are starting to grow some of their own food. In the last 10 years we’re seeing a younger demographic, a demographic that really cares about what they’re growing and what they’re eating.” Add

28 | halifaxmag.com MARCH 2018

to that the expected wave of interest in growing small plots of cannabis at home when that becomes legal. “Legal cannabis is an exciting opportunity for us,” she adds. “We’re experts in growing, after all.”

The company has expanded several times since Fred Tregunno’s 1925 purchase. Today Halifax Seed operates a second retail location in Saint John, New Brunswick and a distribution centre in Debert, Nova Scotia.

But its business model hasn’t changed much. In fact, by the time Amazon got around to changing the world in 1994, Halifax Seed had already been following a similar model for 128 years without the Internet.

“It’s been interesting to watch the business go from mail order to online,” says Emily. “We have a lot more competition than we used to have but we’ve stayed very competitive in that market. The biggest challenge for us is overcoming the expectations that Amazon has given to all online consumers. When people order the product today they want it at their door soon after they press submit. We have to make sure we have everything in stock ready to go.”

But where Amazon supplies products, writes algorithms, and compiles electronic customer profiles, Halifax Seed shares the knowhow that allows customers to grow their purchases successfully from seedlings to mature plants. “We take pride in making sure the staff here are knowledgeable and trained,” says Emily. “When you purchase a plant in our garden centre and take it home to plant it, we want to make sure you’re able to grow it successfully all the way through.”

Tregunno says her progression from employee to owner was a natural one thanks to a solid secession plan, a company board of advisors, a strong management team, and help from Family Business Atlantic.

She says she has no idea if her daughter will take over the business next (she’s two years old) but the secession plan is ready if she’s interested. “I think it’s important to provide them with the opportunity if it’s something they want to do,” she says. “But if they choose to pursue other things that’s great too. Being a part of a family business is very unique. It shows a lot of stability in the company when you hit three, four, five generations. It’s a great business to be a part of and an exciting time to be in horticulture.” tadams@metroguide.ca

Halifax Magazine

@HalifaxEditor @HalifaxMagazine

Memories like this are meant to be kept.

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THE DOUGHNUT DREAM

IMAGE: THINKSTOCK

THE WOMEN BEHIND VANDAL DOUGHNUTS BRING A REBELLIOUS TWIST TO CANADA’S FAVOURITE SWEET TREAT

PHOTO: KRISTIN KING

DINING

Sonia Gillies-da Mota and Nicole Tufts

BY KRISTIN KING Her resumé doesn’t suggest she’d end up in doughnut business. Sonia Gillies-da Mota graduated from Memorial University of Newfoundland with a degree in marine biology. She focused in aquaculture, mainly working with Atlantic salmon. She began her career in marine biology at the Ocean Science Center working with harp seals. She then progressed into oyster and salmon aquaculture.

While she was still in university, Marine Harvest (the biggest salmonfarming company in the world) recruited her. She moved to British Columbia to take the job, but soon realized that she really wanted to work for herself.

She decided to start her first company, CANPOR, trading as a seafood broker and moved to Halifax shortly after.

She met former navy sailor Nicole Tufts, who has become a business partner and a friend. They opened Riot Snack Bar on Quinpool Road. It was a farmto-table restaurant that specialized in making traditional comfort food such as burgers, chilli fries, fries etc., with local organic and seasonal ingredients.

“What Nicole and I really pioneered with that restaurant was the fact that the whole menu could be made vegan or vegetarian, so it was a place where, regardless of dietary preferences, everyone could eat under one roof,” says Gillies-da Mota.

Tufts started off in music production when she was younger. She switched into culinary school and became a chef before age 25. She got tired of the same routine and decided she wanted to travel more, so she joined the navy for six years. Then she also realized she didn’t want to work for anyone else. Soon she met Gillies-da Mota.

Riot was their first venture.

Vandal Doughnuts, in Gus’ Pub on Agricola Street, came next— touted as the world’s only doughnut shop inside a bar. Tufts says they were “able to do everything they wanted to do when they were kids,” like creating doughnuts inspired by pop culture.

They even do a Donald Trump doughnut, with proceeds going to Planned Parenthood. Doughnuts have pop-culture referencing names such as Prince, The Simpsons, Froot Loops, and Rick N’ Morty.

Tufts says their reason for creating doughnut names like these ones is “just pure funk! To be silly and creative as possible.”

They say that they haven’t had any setbacks while opening Vandal Doughnuts. The stress doesn’t compare to their last venture. “We paid our dues of hardship with Riot Snack Bar,” Gillies-da Mota says.

Adds Tufts: “There were a lot of nights spent in the fetal position and watching Super Soul Sunday with Oprah Winfrey.”

They chose the name Vandal Doughnuts to reflect their personalities. “It’s because we’re sassy, creative, and rebellious,” says Gillies-da Mota.

“If you name your business something rebellious, you have a little bit more freedom” adds Tufts. tadams@metroguide.ca

30 | halifaxmag.com MARCH 2018

Halifax Magazine

@HalifaxEditor @HalifaxMagazine

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DRINK

BEER TO THE PEOPLE THE CREATORS OF ATLANTIC CANADA’S MOST POPULAR (AND ONLY) BEER PODCAST HOSTS SHARE THEIR FAVOURITE BEERS (AND THOUGHTS ON PREMIER STEPHEN MCNEIL)

BY KIM HART MACNEILL

When Anthony Wight, Kyle Andrus, and Phil Church talk about interviewing Premier Stephen McNeil for their podcast, they sound like they’re describing first-date nerves.

On a January afternoon, the hosts of the 902 Brewcast, a podcast dedicated to Atlantic Canadian breweries, sat at Battery Park beer bar in Dartmouth, wondering if the premier would actually show up.

The trio met McNeil a month earlier at the All-Party Party, a Craft Brewers Association of Nova Scotia event for politicians. Church asked the premier to come on the podcast, and he agreed instantly. “But that’s beer,” says Church.

“You put a beer in front of someone, they have to agree.” He notes that booking the premier is a lot harder for most media organizations.

(Editor’s Note: Truth.)

By the big day the podcasters lost faith. “The day of I thought, ‘Oh god this is not going to happen, this is not going to happen,” says Andrus. “Then it started snowing and I thought, ‘This is definitely not going to happen.’ And then he walked in.”

The 902 Brewcast celebrated its one-year anniversary in November, and 50th podcast in February. Each weekly episode features a 90-minute interview with the brewer and owner from a local brewery, while everyone on the mic samples a few beverages. Each month also features a tasting episode, welcoming beerloving guests including Chris MacDonald from 32 | halifaxmag.com MARCH 2018

Atlantic Canada Beer Blog, certified cicerone and Globe and Mail beer columnist Crystal Luxmore, and this columnist, to give their thoughts on local offerings.

Wight pushed for the podcast. “[We] had been talking beer back and forth, and I thought it would be cool to just record it for our own sake,” he says.

But they didn’t want it to just be “three dudes talking about beer,” says Wight. “We wanted to visit these breweries and tell their stories about the work they do. Some of it is about the struggles they face in making beer in this province.” Plus, Andrus adds, the occasional free beer isn’t a bad perk.

While the podcast discussions can veer way off topic, there is a relaxed conversational energy to each interview that makes you feel like you’re sitting at the bar sharing a pint with friends.

“We all kind of joked around that we should have said something more controversial maybe it would have gotten more media attention,” says Church of the McNeil episode.

“There were some things he was not going to talk about. We’re not journalists, so we’re not going to push it.”

McNeil shared his frustration with regulations, offering the example that a brewery with a hospitality permit can sell a customer four 4-oz. samples at once, but not a single 16-oz. glass, and his hopes that NSLC

repeal the regulation requiring craft brewers to be able to supply 32 stores to be eligible for shelf space so more breweries can sell in their local stores.

Since 2016, the trio have visited and interviewed dozens of brewers across the Maritimes and collaborated with 2 Crows Brewing (“Slave labour,” Andrus describes his time on the canning line). They have more big plans for year two.

Andrus says he hopes to shoot video in 2018 to go with the podcast. Wight says that the way the Nova Scotian craft-beer scene is growing, the podcasters aren’t worried about running out of new breweries to visit, but that they hope to visit some Newfoundland breweries this summer.

“The Maritimes as a whole has caught up in a hurry,” says Church of the Nova Scotia craft beer scene. “I’ve lived in Toronto and go to Quebec and Maine all the time. We were behind, but the amount of catching up that’s gone on here the last four years is amazing.”

KIM HART MACNEILL Kim is a freelance journalist and editor of East Coast Living.

Read her weekly beer column on HalifaxMag.com and follow her on Twitter. @kimhartmacneill

Must-try beers: Recommendations from the 902 Brewcast

Recess Pilsner

Exile on North Street (IPA)

Eclipse (Black IPA)

Schoolhouse Brewery Windsor, N.S. 4.7%, 24 IBU “It tastes the way pilsner should taste, light crisp, refreshing,” says Church. “A crushable, quaffable beer, and you don’t have to think too much about what you’re drinking.” This one is soft and malty, with a spicy and floral hop character. Light in bitterness, Schoolhouse calls this “the most approachable” beer in its regular line-up.

Unfiltered Brewing Halifax, N.S. 6.5%, 65 IBU Brewer Greg Nash “is always tweaking that recipe a little bit, as people should,” says Andrus. “It’s good to keep readjusting to make sure a recipe is where you want it to be. He seems to have it really dialled in right now.” A constant favourite from the North End brewery, this East Coast IPA is known for being aggressively bitter and hoppy.

Lunn’s Mill Beer Co. Lawrencetown, N.S. 7%, 60 IBU “I don’t really like black IPAs,” says Wight. “It’s kind of a weird style, but this one hits all of the right notes.” Personally, I love black IPAs and this one is a perfect example of the style. This citrusy hopforward brew is zesty enough to keep you warm in winter, with a hint of roast to wait out the end of the cold months.

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OPINION

THAT OTHER OFFICIAL LANGUAGE HRM WANTS TO IMPROVE FRENCH SERVICES, BUT IS THAT WHAT HALIFAX NEEDS?

BY RYAN VAN HORNE

Halifax Regional Council’s decision last year to hire a full-time French-speaking communications advisor and pay to translate PSAs seems, on the face of it, to be a wise move.

Since French is one of Canada’s two official languages and Halifax has 12,000 citizens who declare French as their first language, it’s a no-brainer, right?

But how many of those people who declare French as their first language are unilingual francophones?

Dartmouth Councillor Tony Mancini, who championed this move, says that question came up during the debate. Mancini said the number of 350 was bandied about and so some wondered, if this is only going to help 350 people, why are we spending all this money?

Wouldn’t it be better to spend this money helping some new immigrants?

I questioned Mancini, since he represents a sizeable chunk of the city’s francophone community. I asked why Council placed a higher priority on ensuring French-language services were met when most of these people also understand English.

Most can speak English and don’t face a significant language barrier, not like a new immigrant from Syria, for example. “The first place to start is with one of our own languages, which is French,” Mancini says.

The new communications officer will largely help French media in Halifax, who will now have a French-speaking spokesperson to do interviews about what the city is doing.

Translating PSAs into French will help citizens more directly, but could there have

34 | halifaxmag.com MARCH 2018

been a better use of these resources? Should the city have put a higher priority on, say, hiring an Arabic translator to help translate the bureaucratese of City Hall for new immigrants? This would help them navigate the gauntlet of red tape that is surely quite daunting for a newcomer who doesn’t understand English at all, much less only speak it as a second language.

There are many Arabic-speaking immigrants from Syria who could benefit from having someone help them access municipal services and adjust to life in Halifax.

Mancini recognizes this as a need and says the initiative to provide French-language services is a start.

“There’s a lot more we can do, not only for the French community, but other different communities that we have,” he says. “It’s all about celebrating and respecting the diversity.”

As to the argument that there are only 350 unilingual francophones in Halifax, Mancini suggests there is more to consider.

If you are bilingual and English is your first language, consider in what language you normally prefer to read the newspaper, or listen to the radio. In what language do you read important information about government services?

If you have a preference, like me, to check this in English, then you understand the value of providing these services in French to citizens whose first language is French.

The city does offer services and information in “just about any language” through the 311 desk, Mancini says. Breton Murphy, HRM’s

manager of public affairs, says service is available in 150 languages and is always looking to increase awareness of language and cultural barriers that new arrivals face and respond to them.

“For example, when parks and recreation staff are hiring for various recreation programs, they’re keeping an eye open for those who speak Arabic, and other languages,” Murphy wrote in an email. “The challenge with that, of course, is that we can only make our hiring decisions based on who applies.

We encourage anyone who speaks a second language to apply because there is definitely a demand for that skill.”

Murphy also points the city’s Diversity and Inclusion Office, which has two people to help newcomers. Mancini says people are always more comfortable reading and learning new information in their first language.

That extends to other languages and Mancini would like to see more signs, like the Arabic sign at the Oval. “Something as simple as a sign in your first language,” he says. “It’s so much more welcoming.”

RYAN VAN HORNE Ryan is a Halifax journalist, playwright and documentary film director. His work appears in magazines and newspapers from coast to coast and at ryanvanhorne.com.

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