🗞️ NDAs perpetuate gender-based violence

Ohhhh Halifax,

There’s one in every family. Look under the rock of every home that boasts a high-achieving, well-adjusted human and you’ll invariably find a conversely sinister, dark-sided good-for-nothing one. And it seems the Keith brood is no different.

According to author and historian Ann Larabee, while Alexander Keith became famous as a Halifax brewer and politician, his namesake nephew became notorious for his life of deceit and crime. 

That’s right, Bizzaro Alexander Keith—Alexander Keith Jr.—had a rap sheet as long as my gangly arm, but his biggest crime was an insurance fraud scheme that led to the deaths of dozens of people in an explosion almost 150 years ago in Germany. You can read all about it Larabee’s new book The Dynamite Fiend: The Chilling Story of Alexander Keith Jr

Oh, and BTW,  if you can’t figure out who the trifling, bad actor in your family tree is…it’s probably you 👀.

Have a great day!

– Julie

🌡️ Traffic & Weather

Today: ☀️ 26°

Tomorrow: ☀️ 27°

Next Day: ☁️ 23°

7-day forecast

🚗 Driving, biking or busing today? Check out the current traffic conditions and ongoing road closures.

💨 Here is Halifax’s Air Quality Index and the smoke report.

NEWS + OPINION

How NDAs are perpetuating a culture of gender-based violence

Picture this: You’re about to board a cruise ship for a two-week vacation. You’ve worked your butt off for months to be able to save up the money and you can’t wait to start enjoying the fruits of your labour. But before the guy hands you the key to your room, he pulls out a document full of legal jargon and says you can’t start your vacation until you sign it.

“What’s it for?” you ask.

“It says that if something very bad happens to you while we’re at sea, you can’t ever tell anyone about it. Ever. For the rest of your life. And if you do tell someone about it, we’ll go ahead and sue you,” he responds.

Would you sign it? Or would you see it as a huge red flag that something is very amiss on the cruise ship, and run?

It may be an overly simplistic analogy, but being asked to sign a non-disclosure agreement when you start a job is asking employees to do exactly that. It’s asking them to sign away their right to speak about any wrong-doing—or even illegal activity— at the workplace. 

NDAs are routinely silencing people around the province—in almost all sectors of work. And that silence is causing long-term trauma to those people—statistically women are impacted at a four times greater rate—as they carry the secrets of what happened to them and, in that silence, the guilt of allowing perpetrators to go on to harm others.

The Coast’s Julie Lawrence spoke with Can’t Buy My Silence co-founder Dr. Julie MacFarlane and Halifax-based trauma therapist Kristina Fifield about a new public training session to raise awareness of the misuse of NDAs.

🤔 Need To Know

🇨🇦 As the House of Commons gets back to business for the fall session, support for prime minister Justin Trudeau and his Liberal government has hit a “new low”—according to new polling.

🎞️ From quirky comedies to deep dramas, come hungry for stories and leave stuffed with cinematic goodness—at the Atlantic International Film Festival! Screening now at Park Lane.*

💰 Nova Scotia’s premier is repeating his government’s calls for Ottawa to foot the full bill to protect a vital strip of land that connects the province to the rest of the country against rising sea levels.

💼 Calling all job seekers from the 2SLGBTQIA+ community to attend the 5th Annual Out & Equal Job Fair to connect with inclusive employers!*

📚 Members of the union representing workers with Halifax Public Libraries have accepted a new collective agreement—ending a nearly month-long strike and allowing branches to reopen Thursday.

🎉 Come hangout on the Halifax Waterfront this fall with Downtown Hali Hangouts! These free, fun events will run over four Thursdays starting September 19 from 6-8 pm.*

*Sponsored Post

CITY

The Coast’s candidate vetting explained

In October, Haligonians will go to the polls to elect a new council. For democratically engaged citizens in the HRM, voting has a few parts. There are some easy parts, like knowing where and when to vote. That’s the easy part because the city creates websites informing everyone that voting happens between October 8 and October 19, 2024. People can vote online from October 8 to 16. In-person advance voting will happen on October 12 and 15. On election day, October 19, 2024, polls will be open throughout the HRM from 8am to 7pm. The city also lays out who can vote right here, and if you meet the criteria of being a citizen of Canada and resident of Halifax over the age of 18 you can make sure you’re on the list of electors right here.

In the lead-up to the municipal election, The Coast did a series of interviews with experts in various fields of municipal government and published them as a series of podcasts. They’re the ones with HFX Votes 2024 in the title and can be found here. During that series, the CEO of the Downtown Halifax Business Commission, Paul MacKinnon, explained the commission gets successful candidates by getting would-be members to read the commission's strategic plans and then asks what, if anything, new candidates would want to change. Not to let a good idea go to waste, that’s what The Coast is doing for this fall’s municipal election. 

The Coast’s vote guide will be out prior to advance polls opening on October 8, but in order to know if our vetting process is right for you and your vote, you need to know what we’re doing and why we’re doing it. So, without further ado, check out Matt Stickland’s guide to how to choose a candidate in Halifax’s 2024 municipal election.

🗞️ In Other News

🏥 The provincial health department says that—as of Monday—the state-of-the-art 1.5 Tesla MRI machine is performing scans on patients at the QEII.

💡 Ottawa is negotiating a $500M bailout for Nova Scotia Power Inc, saying the money will be used to prevent a 19% spike in electricity rates.

🚒 The family of a Truro firefighter who died in 2019 after an accident at Nova Scotia's only firefighter training school say they're appalled to learn that serious gaps at the school continued as recently as this spring.

🏘️ The federal finance minister announced changes to mortgage rules that are aimed at helping more Canadians to purchase their first home.

🏅 The Motionball Marathon of Sport in support of Special Olympics Nova Scotia is taking place this Sunday in Halifax—bringing athletes of all abilities together for a fun day of competition, while raising awareness and funds.

🎞️ Atlantic International Film Festival

DAY 7 - PREVIEW

There are two days left of Atlantic International Film Festival action! Have you seen all of the films you wanted to catch? Either way, we have a recommendation for you to check out at the Park Lane Cineplex—this time a French film from directors Matthieu Delaporte and Alexandre de la Patellière. The two sought to retell the classic revenge story from Alexandre Dumas, The Count of Monte Cristo. After being imprisoned for 14 years for a crime he didn’t commit, Edmond Dantès (Pierre Niney) escapes prison to carry out his vendetta on the people who put him there by taking on multiple personas—most notably, the titular count. The film starts at 6:15pm in theatre eight.

Tickets can be purchased here.

🗓️ Things To Do

Looking for something to do this week? Check out these Coast picks:

🗓Graeme Patterson—Strange Birds: The sculptures in this innovative show are also the settings for both a projected animation and a virtual reality environment. | Sep 6-Nov 10

🗓 Gina Burgess Live at Stillwell Brewing: Recently recognized with an East Coast Music Award, Gina Burgess presents her debut album, ISNOW, accompanied by her full band. Reflecting her years living part-time in Nunavut, ISNOW gives rise to the images and soundscapes of the north. These original compositions highlight the intersection of jazz, Celtic, folk, classical, klezmer and contemporary Inuit throat singing. | Sep 20 |  8pm | $20

🗓 Fall Atlantic Maker Market: Discover a wide range of unique products from 85 incredible makers in Atlantic Canada. Don't miss out on this opportunity to support local and find one-of-a-kind treasures for yourself or as gifts for loved ones. | Sep 20-21 | $6

🗓 Habitat's HUGE House Party: More than 600 attendees will gather to enjoy award-winning live local music, delicious food, exciting opportunities to win prizes and more while raising support for Habitat for Humanity Nova Scotia's work to help families in Nova Scotia build strength, stability and independence through affordable homeownership. | Sep 20 | 7pm | $125

Have an event to share? Let us know at [email protected].

⚓️ What’s In The Harbour

➡️ The Tropic Hope container ship leaves Halifax for West Palm Beach at 6am.

➡️ The CSL Tacoma bulk carrier leaves Halifax for Burlington at 12pm.

➡️ The Elka Delos oil tanker leaves Halifax for Saint John at 12pm.

🛳️ The One Cygnus container ship arrives in Halifax from Singapore at 3:45pm.

🛳️➡️ The Norwegian Gem cruise ship arrives in Halifax at 8am and leaves for Canadian seas at 5pm.

🛳️➡️ The Mein Schiff 1 cruise ship arrives in Halifax at 9:30am and leaves for Canadian seas at 7:30pm.

🍴 Where To Eat & Drink

🌶️ Get all the best things rolled into one with the Jalapeno Popper Garlic Fingers from Rinaldo’s: garlic butter, mozzarella, herb cream cheese, jalapenos, bacon, parm, breadcrumbs and parsley.

🍩 Get the Blackberry Crumble donut this week only at Total Donut Solutions: blackberry icing topped with house-made shortbread cookie crumble.

👀 In Case You Missed It

🏠 Short-term rentals in Nova Scotia, such as Airbnbs, will have to be registered with the province when new regulations come into effect at the end of September—a move the government hopes will create more long-term housing. The rules introduced in the Short-term Rentals Registration Act will see new registration requirements, categories, rates and fines for non-compliance. The Coast’s Brendyn Creamer looks at the numbers to see if the new regulations really will increase Nova Scotia’s housing supply.

🚲 For rentals, repairs, knowledge and trips, there’s a place for bike enthusiasts and newbies on Dalhousie University’s campus.  The Dal/King’s Bike Centre—run by students for the community of students and non-students alike—hosts all of the above and more, including free week-long rentals to students, through their shop at 1 Alumni Crescent. The Coast’s education reporter Lauren Phillips has more on how university students can get cycling this fall.

🚨 A Nova Scotia man was arrested at an airport in Houston—before boarding a flight to Mexico—and charged with murdering a woman who has been reported missing from the Annapolis Valley.

That’s it!

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