Latest news with #Haligonians
a day ago
- Sport
Canada's team? Canadians from coast to coast jumping on the Oilers bandwagon
For the second time in a row the Edmonton Oilers are taking on the Florida Panthers in the Stanley Cup final, but are Canadians rallying behind the last remaining team from Canada? While there are plenty of people across the country who won't be supporting the Oilers, you can find fans — both diehard and casual — hoping for Edmonton to bring home the Cup. In Halifax, more than 4,800 kilometres away from Edmonton, it's rare to find an Oilers fan. But during Game 7 of the 2024 Stanley Cup final, the Oasis Pub in Halifax was packed with fans. Last year when [the Stanley Cup final] went to Game 7, we had about 150 people, said Brian Atkinson, manager of Oasis. Typically, hockey fans at Oasis cheer for the Toronto Maple Leafs, or Atkinson's favourite team, the Montreal Canadiens, he said, and Oilers fans are rare in the regular season. WATCH | Join our live pregame show from the Edmonton arena and fan zone from 4:30 p.m. MT: Début du widget Widget. Passer le widget ? Fin du widget Widget. Retourner au début du widget ? Live pregame from the Edmonton arena and fan zone Join host Mark Connolly as he takes you behind the scenes inside Rogers Place and shares the excitement in Edmonton's Ice District before the Edmonton Oilers take on the Florida Panthers. All of the Stanley Cup games are being broadcast in Canada on CBC TV. That's a West Coast team … so you can imagine if Montreal or Toronto had gone to the final … we would have reached capacity had one of those two teams been at the final. The bar is showing its support for the Oilers with a custom-made logo inspired by the classic oil drop Oilers logo. In terms of those logos, that's sort of done in jest, we did that for the Leafs when they were also contending, and they're probably the most popular team in the area, said Atkinson. Now, he says, more Haligonians are jumping onto the Oilers bandwagon. There is a contingency of Oilers fans here … at the end of the day, whoever is last team standing who happens to be Canadian, tends to be the one who gets all the support in this area. Nova Scotia might not have its own NHL team, but hockey runs deep in the east coast, with some of the biggest names in the game coming from the province, like Sidney Crosby, Nathan MacKinnon or Panthers forward Brad Marchand. But Atkinson said he's pulling for McDavid to win the cup. If you have someone who's probably considered the best player in the league right now … with Connor McDavid, he needs a Cup, so I think [there is] a lot of support behind that. Cape Breton Oilers logo makes comeback (new window) Despite the long distance, Nova Scotia does have some connections to the Oilers, including hosting the franchise's AHL team in the 1980s and 1990s: the Nova Scotia Oilers and Cape Breton Oilers. West Coast hockey pride Last year, the rivalry between the Oilers and the Canucks heated up, with Edmonton eliminating Vancouver in the second round. Colin Cryderman, a Vancouver bartender, says he became an Oilers fan after working at the Black Frog, the unofficial Oilers bar in Vancouver, which was inspired by Edmonton's Black Dog Freehouse. The Oilers are kind of the first team that I've adopted and made me the biggest fan, said Colin Cryderman. After the 4 Nations Face-Off, which saw Canada win the gold, Cryderman says that some of his friends became Oilers converts. A couple of buddies of mine here that are diehard Canucks fans, they said, 'Oh, now I know how you feel, you get McDavid on your team every night,' said Cryderman. WATCH | Are Habs fans cheering for the Edmonton Oilers in the Stanley Cup final? Début du widget Widget. Passer le widget ? Fin du widget Widget. Retourner au début du widget ? Are Habs fans cheering for the Edmonton Oilers in the Stanley Cup final? As the Edmonton Oilers face off against the Florida Panthers for the second year in a row, we asked Montreal Canadiens fans if they're putting aside their loyalty to the bleu, blanc, rouge for the chance to have the Stanley Cup back on Canadian soil. He says that Edmonton has a good chance of bringing the Cup home. Remember, Florida went to the Cup final and lost before they beat us last year, so I think that's one of the advantages that the Oilers have this year, said Cryderman. To show his support for the team, Cryderman has custom-made shirts made for each of the playoff series. They usually get a good point and laugh when I walk around the street with them, he said. Oilers fans in the Prairies Winnipeg Jets fan Constance Menzies says she'll be cheering for Edmonton, because she wants to see the Cup return to Canada. It's a little bit hard to want to show favour for any other team, but the Oilers are the only ones left in the playoffs and … we're massively thirsty for a Canadian win, said Menzies. She's the owner of Chocolatier Constance Popp, and last weekend debuted an Oilers-theme chocolate puck — but initially, it didn't go over well with all her customers. I had a woman say, 'tsk, tsk' to me, so she didn't seem happy, said Menzies. She told the customer, it's about Canada now, it's not about Winnipeg or Manitoba anymore. Stephanie Cram (new window) · CBC News ·
Yahoo
a day ago
- Sport
- Yahoo
Canada's team? Canadians from coast to coast to coast jumping on the Oilers bandwagon
For the second time in a row the Edmonton Oilers are taking on the Florida Panthers in the Stanley Cup final, but are Canadians rallying behind the last remaining team from Canada? While there are plenty of people across the country who won't be supporting the Oilers, you can find fans — both diehard and casual — hoping for Edmonton to bring home the Cup. In Halifax, more than 4,800 kilometres away from Edmonton, it's rare to find an Oilers fan. But during Game 7 of the 2024 Stanley Cup final, the Oasis Pub in Halifax was packed with fans. "Last year when [the Stanley Cup final] went to Game 7, we had about 150 people," said Brian Atkinson, manager of Oasis. Typically, hockey fans at Oasis cheer for the Toronto Maple Leafs, or Atkinson's favourite team, the Montreal Canadiens, he said, and Oilers fans are rare in the regular season. WATCH | Join our live pregame show from the Edmonton arena and fan zone from 4:30 p.m. MT: "That's a West Coast team … so you can imagine if Montreal or Toronto had gone to the final … we would have reached capacity had one of those two teams been at the final." The bar is showing its support for the Oilers with a custom-made logo inspired by the classic oil drop Oilers logo. "In terms of those logos, that's sort of done in jest, we did that for the Leafs when they were also contending, and they're probably the most popular team in the area," said Atkinson. Now, he says, more Haligonians are jumping onto the Oilers bandwagon. "There is a contingency of Oilers fans here … at the end of the day, whoever is last team standing who happens to be Canadian, tends to be the one who gets all the support in this area." Nova Scotia might not have its own NHL team, but hockey runs deep in the east coast, with some of the biggest names in the game coming from the province, like Sidney Crosby, Nathan MacKinnon or Panthers forward Brad Marchand. But Atkinson said he's pulling for McDavid to win the cup. "If you have someone who's probably considered the best player in the league right now … with Connor McDavid, he needs a Cup, so I think [there is] a lot of support behind that." Despite the long distance, Nova Scotia does have some connections to the Oilers, including hosting the franchise's AHL team in the 1980s and 1990s: the Nova Scotia Oilers and Cape Breton Oilers. Last year, the rivalry between the Oilers and the Canucks heated up, with Edmonton eliminating Vancouver in the second round. Colin Cryderman, a Vancouver bartender, says he became an Oilers fan after working at the Black Frog, the unofficial Oilers bar in Vancouver, which was inspired by Edmonton's Black Dog Freehouse. "The Oilers are kind of the first team that I've adopted and made me the biggest fan," said Colin Cryderman. After the 4 Nations Face-Off, which saw Canada win the gold, Cryderman says that some of his friends became Oilers converts. "A couple of buddies of mine here that are diehard Canucks fans, they said, 'Oh, now I know how you feel, you get McDavid on your team every night,'" said Cryderman. WATCH | Are Habs fans cheering for the Edmonton Oilers in the Stanley Cup final? He says that Edmonton has a good chance of bringing the Cup home. "Remember, Florida went to the Cup final and lost before they beat us last year, so I think that's one of the advantages that the Oilers have this year," said Cryderman. To show his support for the team, Cryderman has custom-made shirts made for each of the playoff series. "They usually get a good point and laugh when I walk around the street with them," he said. Winnipeg Jets fan Constance Menzies says she'll be cheering for Edmonton, because she wants to see the Cup return to Canada. "It's a little bit hard to want to show favour for any other team, but the Oilers are the only ones left in the playoffs and … we're massively thirsty for a Canadian win," said Menzies. She's the owner of Chocolatier Constance Popp, and last weekend debuted an Oilers-theme chocolate puck — but initially, it didn't go over well with all her customers. "I had a woman say, 'tsk, tsk' to me, so she didn't seem happy," said Menzies. She told the customer, "it's about Canada now, it's not about Winnipeg or Manitoba anymore."
CBC
03-05-2025
- Entertainment
- CBC
Piggy reunion show to steal Haligonians' hearts all over again
You'd be hard-pressed to find a group of local music lovers more enthusiastic and nostalgic than those who will undoubtedly be lining the sidewalk of Gottingen Street in Halifax next week. They also might be a little more grizzled than your average audience for a local gig — though, in fairness, the musicians may be, too. On May 8, a tiny slice of Halifax music history will be revived, as Piggy the Calypso Orchestra of the Maritimes plays a one-night-only reunion show. The beloved Halifax band won the hearts of many Haligonians through the eclectic, energetic shows they played from 1994 to late 2000. Up to 10 musicians would crowd the stage, including the usual guitar, drums, bass and keyboards, but also horns, flute, clarinet, banjo, accordion and the occasional kazoo, and the result was a joyful raucousness driven by ideals of social justice and infused with kindness. "It was kind of like if there was an outlaw hippie Sesame Street," says Maggie Rahr, who attended Piggy shows as an early teenager. "They were just so sweet and open, but also unpacking some human complexity and just kind of showing us a way of being that is peaceful and loving." Piggy songs frequently touched on themes of inequality, poverty, capitalism and other serious subjects, but almost always with a playful sound. The Person Behind the Counter encouraged people to be nice to those in the service industry, The Thin Man examined the issues of hunger and poverty, She's Stepping Out is about coming out as queer, and Emma Goldman is a true banger of a tribute to the famous anarchist. Lead singer Paul Gailiunas says Piggy's political bent was intentional. "That was a main motivating factor for me personally in a band was to try to address, you know, things that were important issues," he says. The other motive, he says, was to make it "as fun and wacky as possible." Musicians often dressed up in costumes and shows frequently featured dance contests — which Rahr once won, and was treated to a special prize of going to see the movie Babe: Pig in the City with the entire band. In an era when Halifax was dubbed the "next Seattle" and bands like Sloan, Thrush Hermit, Jale and The Super Friendz were making it big, Piggy wasn't angling for record deals or fame. "It was more of a labour of love and a fun art project, a communal art project," Gailiunas says. Drummer Graham MacDougall will be performing with the band at the reunion show, and says it's been fun revisiting the songs after a quarter century — even if he can't quite remember some of them because they're only on cassette tapes and he doesn't have a player anymore. With some members of the band — like Gailiunas, who now lives in California — coming from out of town, MacDougall says group rehearsals will be limited, so the reunion show will likely be "pretty scrappy and pretty much in spirit with the original band." Although many of the performers were very accomplished musicians, that "ad hoc, ad libbed" sound is simply "part of the charm" of Piggy, MacDougall says. Stephen Kelly, who played banjo with the band, says the performances were sometimes on the brink of devolving into chaos — especially when Gailiunas would shout "everybody solo!" and all the members would do a solo at the same time. "You just went with it and tried to stay in tune … but grounded by the structure of these awesome songs," Kelly says. Rooted in community At the heart of Piggy's music was always the community — particularly the North End, where many band members lived and where Gailiunas, a doctor, practised medicine at the community health clinic on Gottingen Street. Kelly says he remembers running into Gailiunas one May Day in Halifax when Gailiunas was wandering the streets with his guitar, singing. "One of the ways he wrote songs was to walk around the neighborhood with his acoustic guitar and think about Halifax and think about what was going on as inspiration for the melodies and the lyrics that he came up with," Kelly says. Gailiunas left Halifax in 2001, moving to New Orleans with his wife, Helen Hill, an artist, animator and filmmaker who was part of the creative genius behind Piggy, wrote some of the songs with Gailiunas and directed several music videos for the band. Hill died in 2007 when an intruder entered the couple's New Orleans home and shot them, killing her and injuring Gailiunas. The couple's son Francis, who was a toddler at the time, was uninjured. Although Gailiunas's time in Halifax was steeped in his life with Hill, and those memories are sure to surface when he visits, Gailiunas says he's feeling "really positive and excited" about returning. "I loved being there so much. That was a great time in my life," he says. Gailiunas will be visiting Halifax this time with his son Francis and his wife Lecie, and he plans to make sure they try authentic Nova Scotia oatcakes, see Peggys Cove and walk around the North End. Francis will perform some songs with the band, which will also debut a new Piggy song. Gailiunas says Piggy songs tend to be very simple, so he's not too worried about forgetting the chords or words. "Most of them we just sang them so much that they're always going to be there," he says. One challenge with the show, Gailiunas says, is that the Gottingen Street venue, Radstorm, is small, with a capacity of about 50 people. But for fans who are worried that they won't get in, just remember Piggy's immortal words: "Down on Gottingen Street there's always room for you!"
CBC
17-04-2025
- General
- CBC
Halifax starting plan for Memorial Library site that will honour forgotten burial ground
More than a decade after the old Halifax library closed, the city has begun to explore options for the site's future that could include demolition of the municipal heritage building. The municipality recently passed $100,000 in this year's budget to hire a consultant to make a plan for the Memorial Library property. A Halifax spokesperson said that work will include public input and other research. Municipal staff have said removing the building, which would see the site become a park with "historical interpretation," is the best option for an area with a burial ground that has never been properly acknowledged. "It is just one of those classic cases, this [burial] site that illustrates how a whole part of our history can just be jettisoned and forgotten," said Jonathan Fowler, anthropology professor at Saint Mary's University. "There are many parts like that in this city, in this province, in this country. And I welcome the opportunity to engage in the work of remembering." The Spring Garden Road library opened in 1951 as a living cenotaph in honour of those who died in the First World War and the Second World War. It became a fixture of public life over the decades, with generations of Haligonians finding favourite books in the shelves, or enjoying fries from Bud the Spud food truck on the grassy area near the street. The library closed in 2014 when the Central Library opened, and has been vacant ever since. Although there was no mention of it in newspapers when it opened, or in council minutes about the location, the library was built on top of the Poor House Burying Ground. It's estimated 4,500 people from the neighbouring Poor House (located where the Doyle building is now) were buried there between the 1760s and mid-1800s. Poor House residents would have been those on the margins of society at the time, including orphans, people with disabilities, those who were homeless, or unwed mothers. People from all backgrounds were buried there, including Mi'kmaq, Black Nova Scotians, and victims of epidemics like smallpox. Records also show people new to Halifax, from around the province or the world, were buried at the site. "All of their lives have simply been forgotten. And it just doesn't seem right, does it?" said Fowler. Local historian William Breckenridge has formed Friends of the Halifax Memorial Library, and is working with the Halifax Military Heritage Preservation Society to urge the city to repurpose the building. "It leaves me very concerned, because demolition is not an option that I think will respect the burials that are underneath, and also all the other history that goes along with it," Breckenridge said. Breckenridge and Emma Lang, executive director of the Heritage Trust of Nova Scotia, said the library is architecturally important and should be turned into a museum or community space to tell the entire story of the site. "The fact that they chose to build a memorial to people who died in the wars on a cemetery, without acknowledging the people who are under here, is a really important story in itself," Lang said. "To tear it down seems to be … making it worse when you have the ability to at least talk about why this building was there, and what does that say about Halifax at the time — good and bad." After the Poor House on Spring Garden closed in the 1860s, the burial site was grassed over and trees were planted for it to become Grafton Park. The green space housed a fire station before the library was built. Although there are no reports that human remains were found during the library's construction, Fowler said it's "highly unlikely, bordering on impossible" that graves weren't disturbed. An archeological report on the 2016-17 relocation of graves from the adjacent St. David's Presbyterian Church land shows the remains of 244 people were recovered and moved to the church crypt. Three mass graves were found, including one of "likely former residents of the Poor House Cemetery on the neighbouring property." A Halifax staff report from July 2024 said Mi'kmaw ancestral remains were discovered during that excavation work ahead of the creation of the Grafton Park apartment building. Given the cultural sensitivity of the Poor House burial site, and strict protocol around land with Mi'kmaw remains, the report recommends against ground-disturbing activities on the property. Municipal staff said it would take $15 million to $20 million to renovate the library with new water and sewer lines, replace the roof, elevator, and rebuild the interior. These updates, especially new pipes, would require digging. Pam Glode-Desrochers, executive director of the Mi'kmaw Native Friendship Society, said it will be up to elders and other experts to weigh in on what the protocols should be around any changes to the site. While digging should not be a "first resort," Glode-Desrochers said it should be up to the wider Mi'kmaw community, and people of all backgrounds in Halifax, to decide together the best option. "It's almost a little emotional because these are our ancestors. These were somebody's auntie and uncles and mothers and brothers, and like they belonged to community," said Glode-Desrochers. "But it's also exciting on the possibilities of what can be done, and how do we do that together." Although the burial ground is a piece of lost local history for many Halifax residents today, Glode-Desrochers said it's "always been known" by many in the Mi'kmaw community. "There'll be some tough conversations, but I also think it's part of the healing journey and what that looks like," said Glode-Desrochers. If the city wanted to explore repurposing the building, legal changes would need to be made because of a covenant on the land. The staff report said the province granted the land to Halifax in 1882 "for the use and enjoyment of the citizens of Halifax, as a public square or gardens forever and for no other purposes whatsoever." In 1949, the province amended the covenant to allow a public library only. Various groups have considered taking the building over the years, staff said, but determined it would be "uneconomical and thus inviable." Halifax eventually asked the province to take the site back, but it officially declined to do so in 2023. The consultant's final report is expected to go before regional council summer 2026.
CBC
03-04-2025
- Politics
- CBC
In Halifax riding, NDP hopes to fend off Liberals, Conservatives to reclaim familiar seat
Social Sharing The federal riding of Halifax, where a byelection was called weeks before Parliament was dissolved, may stand out as being the longest campaign in this election. But the riding left vacant last year by Liberal MP Andy Fillmore is following a trend happening across the country: issues around housing, affordability and health care are being overshadowed by a trade war with the United States and questions over Canadian sovereignty. It's a shift that has reshaped voting intentions dramatically over the past two months, according to pundits, and much of it at the expense of the NDP. Just ask Lisa Roberts. The NDP candidate is making her second run at the seat and says there's a role for an NDP parliamentarian from Atlantic Canada "even if we don't form government." The former NDP MLA for Halifax Needham jumped into the federal fray in 2021, running against Fillmore in his third election. Roberts came closer to victory than the previous two NDP contenders who lost to Fillmore, who was first elected in 2015 when Justin Trudeau's Liberals swept every seat in Atlantic Canada. Today the Halifax riding is a different race. There is no incumbent, the Liberal Party is being led by a largely untested politician, and south of the border, an American president is threatening annexation and imposing tariffs. "I mean, polls are a really funny thing," Roberts said in an interview. "In the fall [of 2024], when they showed me 80 per cent likely to win Halifax, that wasn't real. In the same way that now when they're projecting that the NDP is going to lose opposition status, that's also not real. "It's not as real as what we know by knocking on doors." A voice outside of government Regardless of her faith in the polls, Roberts acknowledges the tide has turned dramatically in a matter of weeks. While she may not be feeling that front-runner energy, she's hoping some tradition is still at play here. It's a riding that for many years was synonymous with the name Alexa McDonough. And after her, Megan Leslie. Both are New Democrats who sat in the third-party backbenches, but enjoyed big support back here at home. No Conservative has held Halifax since the Mulroney wave in the mid-1980s. "I also have a very strong personal memory of how I felt when I was represented, particularly by Megan Leslie. And she wasn't part of the government," said Roberts. "But I felt like somebody spoke about my concerns that I have in the world and that I have for this country and that I have for this community, and that meant a lot to me. So that's what I'm offering to people." Roberts's Liberal contender jumped into the race just as voting intentions began to shift. Shannon Miedema won the nomination just one day before then prime minister Justin Trudeau called the byelection for Halifax. In the ensuing weeks, Mark Carney was named Liberal leader and a general election was called, effectively cancelling the byelection. On the doorstep, Miedema said Haligonians who've voted NDP in the past are promising support for the Liberals this time around. Fighting for 'shared values' "I think some people that are traditionally in the NDP camp are kind of looking at the national picture right now and agree that both NDP and Liberal Party members don't want [Conservative Leader Pierre] Poilievre in power," Miedema told CBC News. "And so what do we need to think about to ensure that that doesn't happen? Because we don't want the great progress that we have made — our shared values — taken away." Miedema is originally from Ottawa. She moved to Nova Scotia in 2003 and now lives in Dartmouth. She left her post as the director of environment and climate change for the Halifax Regional Municipality where she helped create HalifACT, the city's climate action plan. She was a champion of the consumer carbon tax — until she wasn't. "It was a smart piece of policy," she said. "But I think that the Liberal Party of Canada had to listen to Canadians that it wasn't working for them for a variety of reasons and I respect that. The important thing is to figure out a path forward to still meet our international commitments." Alex Marland, a politics professor at Acadia University, doesn't see the carbon tax — or any other traditional election issue — as a priority for voters right now. Of greater importance is determining who best can protect Canadian interests and the Maple Leaf. "And frankly, the NDP is not in the game when they're talking about things that involve the Canadian flag," said Marland. "The NDP is seen as a bit player in all of that and it's really a dynamic between the Liberals and Conservatives. So I just see the NDP very much getting squeezed out." Mark Boudreau, a communications professional and longtime community volunteer, is carrying the Conservative flag in the riding of Halifax. His staff declined a request from CBC News for an interview, saying Boudreau is "focused on connecting with residents at their doorsteps" instead. Two other candidates are running in the riding: Amethyste Hamel-Gregory for the Greens and Maricar Aliasut for the People's Party of Canada.
