🗞️ All things 2024 AIFF

Good morning everybody.

We begin today with a programming note. Newsletter Editor Julie Lawrence will not be kicking things off with one of her relentlessly interesting takes on Halifax and the wider world. Instead, there are a couple Coast housekeeping items.

The first item is me—Coast Editor Kyle Shaw. After a summer spent recovering from emergency eye surgery (gory details here), I’m back at work full time. In my absence the team didn’t miss a beat, producing a great newsletter and keeping the city well covered at thecoast.ca, so my goal on returning is to stay out of their way as much as possible. Notwithstanding taking over this introduction.

Which brings me to the second item, the Best of Halifax. The nomination phase for this year’s awards ends Sunday. Like, this Sunday, Sep. 15, less than a week from now! Meaning you don’t have much time left to nominate your favourite people, places and things at bestofhalifax.com. Once nominations close, we tally all the names that readers put forward, and the six names with the most nominations in every category move on to the final BOH ballot, along with last year’s gold winner.

The way to get on the ballot is to get nominated. And nominations are open to everyone to suggest anybody in town for an award. But they’re only open until Sunday. So head to bestofhalifax.com to nominate the restaurants, shops and Haligonians that you love, and spread the love by telling everyone you know to do the same.

With that, let’s get back to the best newsletter in town.

-Kyle

🌡️ Traffic & Weather

Today: 🌦️ 21°

Tomorrow: ☀️ 20°

Next Day: ☀️ 20°

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.

EDUCATION

Upcoming workshop on eviction prevention ‘more urgent than ever’

Renters in Nova Scotia are paying close attention to amendments to the Residential Tenancies Act announced last Friday. So is the Dalhousie Legal Aid Clinic. The last in their Eviction Prevention Summer Workshop Series is happening Sep. 26, is free and open for registration here. 

The workshop series is “a way of engaging tenants, community service providers and other community groups in the process of Residential Tenancies,” says Sydnee Blum, community legal worker and eviction prevention coordinator at the Legal Aid clinic. They say 90% of the issues the clinic hears are about Residential Tenancies—the provincial legislation governing landlords' and tenants' rights and responsibilities—and that much of its work is informed by how people gain access to justice and legal counsel.

The Coast’s education reporter Lauren Phillips spoke with Blum about why eviction education is so important for tenants today.

🤔 Need To Know

🩺 Dr. Lisa Barrett—an infectious disease expert in Halifax—says Nova Scotia is experiencing a spike in the latest variant of COVID-19.

🇫🇷 Interested in learning French this Fall? Check out our Part-time courses at Université Sainte-Anne (online or in person)! Use promo-code FallPromo15 for 15% off.*

🔦 Nova Scotia Power is being fined for the third time in four years for failing to meet annual performance targets for the reliability of its energy grid.

🧑‍🌾 Meet the farmers who grow our food on Open Farm Day, Sunday, September 15th. Check out our participating farms and plan your adventure today!*

🏢 Housing advocates and opposition parties say a loophole in Nova Scotia’s rental housing rules is making the provincial government’s proposed rent cap essentially useless.

⏰ Tick tick boom!! Time is running out for you to get your nominations in for The Coast's 2024 Best Of Halifax Awards. Nominations close Sep. 15!*

*Sponsored Post

SPONSORED BY CANADIAN MUSEUM OF IMMIGRATION AT PIER 21

Was slavery common across Canada?

All the colonies that joined together to form Canada in 1867 had a history of slavery: Upper Canada (ON), Lower Canada (QC), NB and NS, as well as PEI and NFLD, who joined Canada later. Explore A History Exposed, a new myth-busting exhibition that reveals a history many Canadians don’t know about.

ARTS + CULTURE

Eight days of fantastic features at the 2024 Atlantic International Film Festival

The 2024 Atlantic International Film Festival is almost upon us, and with it comes a cavalcade of feature-length movies, documentaries and shorts that Haligonians can sink their teeth into.

Ninety-seven films in total will be shown during the festival, running Sep. 11-18 at the Park Street Cineplex, showcasing the filmmaking talents of homegrown Nova Scotians and creators around the world. 

Four gala presentations make up part of the festival, each featuring a film that will no doubt leave an impact on viewers. The first of these presentations is on opening night, Wednesday, Sep. 11, where the next film from Halifax filmmaker Jason Buxton, known for 2012’s Blackbird, will be screened. Sharp Corner deals with the decline of a family man who watches car after car crash into the sharp corner in front of his house. 

The Atlantic Gala, on Saturday, Sep. 14, will show off St. John’s writer-and-director Melanie Oates’ latest film, Sweet Angel Baby, which deals with the online persona of a small-town Newfoundland woman being revealed. On the following day, Sunday, Sep. 15, the Real East Coast Shorts gala will feature the world premieres of the lyrical An Impression of Everything by Millefiore Clarkes and the animation Hairy Legs by Andrea Dorfman. 

“We’re really proud of the program this year, because it’s highlighting that 30% of the films are representing the Atlantic region this year, and over half of them are Canadian films,” says program director Lisa Haller. 

It’s also worth noting that 61% of the festival’s films are directed and made by women and non-binary filmmakers, while around 36% are from BIPOC creators.

The Coast’s Brendyn Creamer has more on the 2024 Atlantic International Film Festival and its programming

🗞️ In Other News

⚖️ A former Halifax taxi driver who fled the country after being convicted of sexually assaulting a passenger has been extradited from Italy to Canada, where he will serve the remainder of his sexual assault conviction.

🏥 The IWK Foundation has received a $25-million donation for mental health care and additions services—the largest donation the foundation has ever received and the single largest individual donation to health care in Atlantic Canada.

🏘️ The first residents of 32 newly constructed affordable homes for women and their children in Dartmouth have moved in—10 of those are reserved for urban Indigenous families who are without stable housing.

🚨 Garmen Davison Smith—who spent his adult life in prison for killing a Halifax-area taxi driver 19 years ago on Christmas day—has been granted full parole.

📈 Liberal leader Zach Churchill says the premier's plan to double the province’s population is proving too successful—putting too much strain on the housing market and health and education systems—and it’s time to pump the brakes.

🏫 A Halifax parent is disappointed her daughter's junior high wasn't more upfront about a teacher shortage at the school that was so dire it led a retired teacher back into the classroom.

🛩️ Air Canada is finalizing plans to suspend most of its operations as talks with the pilot union are nearing an impasse over "inflexible" wage demands.

🗓️ Things To Do

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

🗓 Festa Italiana Halifax—A Taste of Italy in NS: Don't miss out on this opportunity to experience the best of Italian culture right here in Halifax. Come for the food, stay for the fun, and maybe even take home a prize. | Sep 13-14 | $2

🗓 SHINDIG Music Festival: SHINDIG is a brand-new music festival taking place on the Garrison Grounds, featuring The Chainsmokers, Lil Tecca, Loud Luxury, Nle Choppa and Polo G. Time to turn up the volume and soak in the last bits of summer. | Sep 13-14 | $109

🗓 ZORKA—A Fusion Event: Dive into the captivating realm of ZORKA, the extraordinary 10th creation by FUSION Productions. The show unfolds seamlessly in a captivating sequence of story and dynamic artistic expressions, encompassing dance, singing, gymnastics, live music, acrobatics and various other live performances. | Sep 14 | 8pm | $45

🗓 Level UP! Retro Games Night: Halifax, get down with the classics and Level UP your Saturday night plans at the Discovery Centre. Play retro games, including Nintendo, Genesis, Playstation, Xbox and more, provided by Game Over, Cancer. | Sep 14 | 9pm | $34.50

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

⚓️ What’s In The Harbour

➡️ The NYK Daedalus container ship leaves Halifax for Southampton at 3am.

🛳️➡️ The Atlantic Sky container ship arrives in Halifax from Liverpool at 5:20am and leaves for New York at 4pm.

🛳️ The Augusta Luna general cargo ship arrives in Halifax from Moa at 7:30am.

🛳️➡️ The Jewel of the Seas cruise ship arrives in Halifax at 9am and leaves for Canadian seas at 5pm.

🛳️➡️ The Celebrity Eclipse cruise ship arrives in Halifax at 9:30am and leaves for Canadian seas at 5pm.

🍴 Where To Eat & Drink

🥓 Enjoy a taste of the South with the Alabama Bacon Fried Chicken Sandwich from Wave Foods pop-up in The Local: buttermilk fried chicken, bacon, Alabama white bbq sauce, lettuce, tomatoes, pickles on brioche.

New pizza alert! The September special at Morris East is the Cherry A’more: spicy soppressata, cherries, feta and arugula, topped with cherry chilli honey.

👀 In Case You Missed It

🏫 On Sep. 6—the second day students were back in class—Suzy Hansen introduced a private member’s bill—Bill 468—into the provincial legislature. This bill would see public school boards reinstated by September 2025. The Coast’s education reporter Lauren Phillips has all of the details on Bill 468 and lays out a timeline for the election of members.

👮 Wednesday, September 4’s Board of Police Commissioners agenda was weighty: cops for sale, a report criticizing the police and suicide prevention. The board got a presentation from Nancy Saunders and Heather Spidell, two women who are part of the Nova Scotia Moms. This is an advocacy group made up of women who have lost children to suicide, and they’re asking anyone who will listen for some changes that could prevent the tragedy that befell their families. The Coast’s Matt Stickland has more from last week’s Board of Police commissioners meeting.

⚖️ A NS school teacher—charged earlier this summer with serious sex offences—has been released from jail after being arrested on the weekend for allegedly breaching her release conditions.

That’s it!

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