Latest news with #GlaceBay
CTV News
3 days ago
- General
- CTV News
Site selected for new school in Reserve Mines, N.S.
MLA John White and Minister of Public Works Fred Tilly are pictured alongside others at an announcement for a new school location for Tompkins Elementary in Reserve Mines, N.S., on May 30, 2025. The future site of a new school in Reserve Mines, N.S., has been chosen. The new elementary school, which will replace Tompkins Memorial Elementary School, will be built on the property behind the current school. 'This much-anticipated new elementary school will provide the next generation of students in the Glace Bay area communities a modern learning environment,' said Public Works Minister Fred Tilley in a news release from the province. With the land secured, Tilley says the province is now able to begin the design process, which will include a steering team with parents, community members and school staff. 'Tompkins Memorial Elementary is a community hub that brings together students and families living throughout Reserve Mines, Dominion, Gardiner Mines and Tanglewood. With this new elementary school, we are building a bright, modern learning space where this already vibrant school community will thrive,' said John White, MLA for Glace Bay-Dominion, in the release. The new elementary school will accommodate 240 students. The province says five new schools opened in Nova Scotia this year, including the 600-student Breton Education Centre in New Waterford. It also says there are 19 new or replacement schools currently moving through the school capital process, with three expected to open in the 2025-26 school year. For more Nova Scotia news, visit our dedicated provincial page
CTV News
4 days ago
- Business
- CTV News
Cape Breton painter posts art in pursuit of professional boost
Dan Gee, an artist from Glace Bay, N.S., is pictured holding one of his paintings. (Source: Facebook) Dan Gee of Glace Bay, N.S., is following other artists into online spaces, hoping social media exposure will help him build a new career. 'I wish it was a full-time job. That's the dream, right?', the 44-year-old told CTV Atlantic on Wednesday. Though no one is paying him for his work - yet - Gee said he has been painting his whole life. His work hangs proudly from the walls everywhere inside his home. Originally from the Kitchener-Waterloo area in Ontario, a few years ago Gee and his wife - along with their two teenaged children - moved to Cape Breton. 'We were tired of the big city,' Gee said. 'We wanted to slow down a bit.' When they arrived in their new home on the island the artist's eye was struck by the area's natural beauty. 'Cape Breton is a beautiful place,' Gee said. 'I like to capture that as much as I can. The scenery here is like no other, so I like to get that on canvas.' Gee has taken to social media in recent months to try to gain more exposure for his work and catch the eye of potential employers. He has a healthy following on Instagram but his platform of choice is TikTok. Gee said if he were to land a job as an artist he would like to stay in Cape Breton so he could continue to capture the beauty that he says has taken his work to the next level. 'If they were (to hire me), they would get a guy who loves what he's doing and puts his heart into everything', Gee said. Gee said he plans to keep 'living the dream' online - hoping his own dreams of being a professional artist one day come true. Dan Gee art A painting of an eagle by artist Dan Gee from Glace Bay, N.S., is pictured. (Source: Facebook) For more Nova Scotia news, visit our dedicated provincial page
CTV News
6 days ago
- General
- CTV News
Cape Breton man writes book about life without one hand
A Cape Breton man has done it all with one hand…now he's sharing his story. Teddy Morrison of Glace Bay, N.S., has accomplished a lot in his life despite having only one hand. Now, he can add one more thing to the list- writing a book. 'It's called The Adventures Of A Man With One Hand,' Morrison said. Morrison has lived the majority of his life without his right hand after losing it in an accident at the age of five, while trying to help his mother wash clothes using an old wringer washer. 'I reached in, and my hand got caught in my father's shirt cuff and got dragged through the ringers,' Morrison said. 'So, it got crushed.' Morrison's book tells stories about decades of learning how to do things as an amputee, like playing baseball and golf, volunteering for years in the kitchen at the Glace Bay Food Bank, working in his garage and building things from scratch. However, he said it's an everyday task that has proven to be one of the most challenging. 'Tying my laces,' Morrison said. 'You try tying your shoelaces with one hand. It is extremely interesting.' When asked why he wanted to write a book, Morrison's answer was simple. 'I wanted people to understand that if you have a disability and you're willing to try to get things done, you can,' he said. As for how he feels about becoming a first-time author at the age of 78? 'I'm really, really.. I guess the word is, proud of myself to take the time to do that,' Morrison said. Morrison said his book should be available, in bookstores and online, within a few weeks. Teddy Morrison Teddy Morrison, author of The Adventures Of A Man With One Hand. (CTV/Ryan MacDonald) For more Nova Scotia news, visit our dedicated provincial page
CBC
7 days ago
- Entertainment
- CBC
Music partnership brings new sound to Glace Bay youth centre
A new musical collaboration aims to give young people in Glace Bay, N.S., increased access to instruments and technology, with the goal of expanding the program to other communities across Cape Breton. The partnership, between the Cape Breton Music Industry Cooperative and the Undercurrent Youth Centre in Glace Bay, aims to use funds raised through the Cape Breton Music Hall of Fame to bring new instruments and sound equipment to the facility in order to improve access to musical arts. Over the past several weeks, members of the co-operative have been at the youth centre upgrading the dated sound equipment. Staff are beginning the process of refitting the facility with proper new sound gear so they can program concerts for those who attend the centre. "Then Phase 2 will be to help augment the instruments that they have so that anyone interested in, you know, learning a little bit about guitars or drums or fiddles or whatever they happen to be interested in, they'll have access to that type of equipment," said Duane Nardocchio, the co-op's executive director. He said access to equipment is often a barrier for people looking to learn an instrument or other parts of the trade. Funding will also be provided to bring in instruments and offer lessons from members of the musical co-operative. Nardocchio said young people often have a harder time getting involved in music than they do in sports. "And I think it's just a different interest level and probably less people involved with the music side than there certainly would be with sports," he said. "But these are sort of things that we're trying to help sort of, you know, elevate a little bit and sort of give that opportunity on the music side." Undercurrent will be the first group to benefit from the program, but the musical co-operative hopes to bring similar opportunities to other areas of Cape Breton. "We're pretty excited about this and we really hope that it is adaptable and being able to be done again and again whether it's with other Undercurrent sites or other organizations," said Trevor DenHartogh, executive director of Undercurrent. "It'll be a real bonus for youth all over the [Cape Breton Regional Municipality]." He said the sound equipment at the youth centre was very old and was being "held together with duct tape." New speakers and a soundboard will open up opportunities for concerts at the centre, which was not possible with the old gear, he said.
CBC
26-05-2025
- Health
- CBC
Online rehab program for rural lung patients to expand across Maritimes
When Lily MacDonald first signed in to an online workout session for women with COPD, she was sure she wasn't going to like it. She couldn't imagine doing an effective workout at her kitchen table. "At first I thought, 'How can I exercise, what am I going to do?'" said MacDonald, who lives in Glace Bay, N.S. She was one of the first participants in a pilot project to offer virtual physical rehabilitation to lung patients in rural parts of the province. The project went so well it will expand across the Maritimes this fall. "I felt great, I really did," MacDonald said. "As it happens, you live by yourself, you have no motivation, but I started back into exercising." Nova Scotia Health estimates that 86,000 people — or 13 per cent of the population — have chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, which is often caused by exposure to smoke. Those rates are some of the highest in the country. That worried Carley O'Neill, an assistant professor in Acadia University's kinesiology program and a clinical exercise physiologist. She says COPD patients often complain of being out of breath. "Exercise can really help to reduce that symptom," she said. "That's really going to help slow the rate of progression for this condition." Living in Wolfville, O'Neill saw the limitations of rehab programs that were limited to those who could attend in-person. She said a lot of people in rural areas were not getting the support they needed because they couldn't get to class. She worked with one of her students, Amanda Daniels, and the two launched a virtual class. They offered it to about 50 women across the province. The participants ranged in age from 43 to 86. "We wanted to start small before we upscale it to see what we could do," she said. The women were divided into small groups and met online twice a week to work out from home. They were mailed packages that included workout bands and pulse oximeters, small devices that monitor oxygen levels throughout the workout. Then they were encouraged to use small weights. Daniels suggested lifting soup cans or water bottles if they didn't have anything else. The key was that the program needed to be free, so cost wouldn't limit participation. Daniels, who is from Labrador City, N.L., knows all too well how hard it is to get care in rural areas, so she was eager to support the women. "Many of them live alone," she said. "Many of them don't have family members nearby to help care for them. Some of them are scared to go to the grocery store because they feel too breathless to walk around the store or get out for a walk or anything like that. "Being able to sit at home and talk to people, it's life-changing for them." This wasn't MacDonald's first attempt at a rehabilitation program. She participated in Membertou a few years ago, but she could no longer get a drive when the classes moved to Sydney River. MacDonald was self-conscious about going online, but she quickly came to love the Zoom meetings. "If you were late signing in, they would either call you or buzz you … because you knew somebody was out there who was going to care if you were there or not," she said. "It's the accessibility. Just to be able to get up out of bed, get ready and sit in front of the community and you're in class." This was the benefit that Carley O'Neill and Amanda Daniels didn't expect. While the program is intended to help someone's physical health, they loved that it also helped people's mental health. "Oftentimes what they say they've enjoyed the most has been the community and the friendships they build, which … hurts my heart a little bit because I'm an exercise physiologist and the exercise isn't really what's wooing them," said O'Neill. "But it's been a really positive outcome." O'Neill has now received a new grant from the Lung Association of Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island. Classes in the fall will open up to people of all genders and in the three Maritime provinces. She'll do a feasibility study on the project, and she's hoping it will eventually be a permanent option for lung patients across rural Canada.
