Hundreds showed up at the Hank Snow Museum community park on Tuesday in Liverpool for the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation. (Rick Conrad)
Hundreds turned out to the Hank Snow Museum Community Park in Liverpool on Tuesday to mark the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation.
Survivors of residential schools and their families shared their stories in the morning. In the afternoon, organizers held a mawio’mi, or pow wow, that highlighted Indigenous dancing, drum singing and traditional crafts.
This was the fifth annual event in Liverpool to honour the victims and survivors of residential schools, as well as their families and communities.
The National Indian Residential School Crisis Line is available 24 hours at 1-866-925-4419. It provides support, including emotional and crisis referral, for former residential school students.
Here are some of the stories and sounds from the event in Liverpool.
Michelle Roy organized the event to mark the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation in Liverpool. (Rick Conrad)
A new group wants to hear from you on the need for transition housing services in Queens County for survivors of domestic violence.
Jane’s Place Society is holding two public consultation sessions Monday night at the Liverpool Fire Hall at 6:30 and on Oct. 2 at 6:30 at the North Queens Fire Hall in Caledonia.
The group wants to provide second-stage housing for women and families who are leaving shelters, but still need supportive places to live.
Volunteers with the society want to buy a property and develop it into apartments to provide stable, secure housing.
The sessions on Monday and on Oct. 2 are designed to get as much feedback as possible from residents all over Queens County.
The Region of Queens administration building. (Rick Conrad)
The Region of Queens has hired a deputy chief administrative officer.
Patrick Hirtle will start the job on Oct. 20. He’s currently the manager of community attraction and communications with the Town of Bridgewater.
“I’m thrilled that Patrick will be joining our team as deputy CAO. Patrick brings a unique perspective to this role – he has more than 10 years’ experience in municipal government, and has been a councillor in Town of Bridgewater several years ago,” Willa Thorpe, the region’s CAO, said in a news release.
“When we interviewed Patrick, we were very impressed with his extensive experience in municipal and private sector communications, strong skills and training in emergency management, and strength and proficiency leading a cohesive staff team.”
The deputy CAO new position was created this past year. Hirtle will assist Thorpe with projects and administration and he’ll oversee staff in administration, community economic development, communications, information technology, protective services, and policy and bylaw development.
According to his LinkedIn profile, Hirtle has worked for Bridgewater for almost 11 years. He is also the former communications co-ordinator at Covey Island Boatworks. He served one term as a Bridgewater town councillor. Before that, he worked as a journalist for Lighthouse Publishing, which used to print the Bridgewater Bulletin and Lunenburg Progress Enterprise.
He was born in Bridgewater and raised in Mahone Bay, according to the region’s news release.
“I’m both honoured and excited to have been selected as the Region of Queens’ new deputy CAO,” Hirtle said in the release.
“There are a lot of great things happening here in Queens, and I can’t wait to get to work with the team.”
The annual salary range for the deputy CAO position is $113,339 to $149,885.
Annette Burke is the director of Sadie Flynn Comes to Big Oak, debuting at the Astor Theatre in November. (Rick Conrad)
Some new and familiar faces will be back on the Astor Theatre stage in November when the Winds of Change Dramatic Society presents Sadie Flynn Comes to Big Oak.
Rehearsals began earlier this month in Liverpool with the five-member cast.
Annette Burke is directing, her first time guiding actors since the 2021 comedy Tom, Dick and Harry.
“I enjoy directing, and I do enjoy working with a small cast because it makes it easier to schedule things,” Burke told QCCR in an interview.
“It’s been a treat to work with this crew. I think we’ve put together a really solid team with lots of experience. … We’ve got some very creative and artistic people involved.”
The two-act farce from Canadian playwright Norm Foster centres around what happens when a woman with a colourful past steps off the bus and into smalltown life.
“I don’t want to give too much away but … it takes place in a small community where everybody knows everybody’s business or they think they do, and Sadie arrives, she gets off the bus just by chance, walks into the cafe and things get very interesting very quickly,” Burke says.
“It’s very funny and there’s a lot of humour that comes from just different innuendos and things like that so I think the audience is really going to enjoy it.”
Ashley-Rose Goodwin stars as Sadie Flynn, with Cynthia Walker as Rachel Blessington and Nicole Whynot as Bev Dupuis. Al Steele as Tom Shaw and Joseph Lyndon as Orson Hubble round out the cast. At least 14 other volunteers make up the show’s crew.
It will be a return to acting for Goodwin, who was last seen on the Astor stage in 2013’s Les Miserables. She has founded her own popular Mersey Rose Theatre Company in Liverpool, directing and producing youth in their own productions. She also directed the 2024 musical Follies at the Astor.
“I’m so excited that she agreed to audition,” Burke says. “I think she’s very much enjoying the experience. Sometimes when we don’t do something we love for a long time we forget how much we love it. And she’s very talented. … It’s been fun and I think I can speak for her and say that she’s been enjoying it a great deal.”
Burke says rehearsals of up to 14 hours a week at South Queens Middle School are going well, with the cast almost off-book through Act 1.
“I think one of the biggest challenges with a show like this is the dialogue. There is a lot of dislogue and a lot of the exchanges are short and quick, so that to me is the challenge to make sure things are being said properly, important things aren’t being left out. The chemistry with the five of them is really great, so it makes it easier.”
She says it helps that all five actors have stage experience.
“Some people are just natural performers. I know the five of them have spent quite a bit of time over the summer delving into who their characters are. It’s been very exciting to see these characters develop and we’re not even halfway there.”
Burke is also president of Winds of Change. She says the community theatre troupe was looking for a show to get them back in front of an audience. And this one, with this cast and crew, seemed like a good fit.
“The support for Winds of Change for over 50 years has been incredible in this community. I can guarantee our Winds of Change fans that they will not be disappointed in this show and the people that get involved, it’s just all volunteer time. They’re showing up, everybody’s contributing, everybody’s pitching in, so this is what community theatre is meant to be. ”
Sadie Flynn Comes to Big Oak runs at the Astor Theatre Nov. 14, 15 and 16 at 7:30 p.m. Tickets are on sale at the Astor box office or through Ticketpro.
Nicole Whynot, Cynthia Walker, Ashley-Rose Goodwin, Al Steele and Joseph Lyndon star in Sadie Flynn Comes to Big Oak at the Astor Theatre in November. (Winds of Change Dramatic Society)
CAST OF SADIE FLYNN COMES TO BIG OAK Ashley-Rose Goodwin – Sadie Flynn
Al Steele – Tom Shaw
Joseph Lyndon – Orson Hubble
Cynthia Walker – Rachel Blessington
Nicole Whynot – Bev Dupuis
CREW
Director – Annette Burke
Assistant director – Jackie Leonard
Producer – Sue Beaumont-Rudderham
Costumes – Crystal Doggett and Kylie Doggett
Set design – Craig Doggett and Alex Doggett
Stage managing/props – Sheree Chandler, Jane Mullen, Sue Higgins and Jane Stevenson
Lighting/sound – Kevin Colwell
Posters/graphic design – Greg Tutty
Cast photography – Brenda Deveau
Videography – Dan Williams
The emergency department at Queens General Hospital in Liverpool will close early on Friday. (Communications Nova Scotia)
The emergency department at Queens General Hospital in Liverpool will be closed on Friday at 5 a.m. and reopen on Monday at 8 a.m.
The ER at Queens General is usually open 24 hours daily from 8 a.m. Monday to 1:30 p.m. Friday and closed on Saturday and Sunday.
Nova Scotia’s Department of Health advises people experiencing a medical emergency to dial 911. The ER at South Shore Regional Hospital in Bridgewater will also be open.
Virtual urgent care is available for limited services at Queens General daily from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m.
Patients of Queens Family Health can access the same-day access clinic for new, emerging health problems that require urgent treatment by calling 902-354-3322.
Region of Queens Deputy Mayor Maddie Charlton and Mayor Scott Christian at Tuesday’s regular council meeting. (Region of Queens YouTube channel)
The Region of Queens is sitting on a $1.385-million surplus from last year, but Mayor Scott Christian says the news isn’t as great as it may sound.
“I think a lot of the surplus is on the back of major capital projects that were intended, not getting complete,” he told QCCR.
“So I certainly applaud our finance department and their approach in managing our organization’s finances. But we have this challenge where we’re budgeting money for projects that are really important for the community and we’re just not delivering in a timely way. We need to take a hard look at that and make sure that we are spending the money in the budget that’s going to lead to important projects and progress for residents and for visitors in Queens County.”
The region’s finance director Joanne Veinotte presented the audited financial statements for 2024/25 at Tuesday evening’s council meeting.
She said the region ended the fiscal year with a surplus of $1,385,705, helped along by higher-than-expected tax revenue and returns on the region’s investments. Expenses were lower because of unfilled positions and capital projects not yet finished.
Veinotte also said the Region of Queens Water Utility recorded a lower-than-expected deficit – some 42 per cent less than budgeted, for a saving of almost $185,000.
Even with a higher-than-expected budget surplus and a lower water utility deficit, Christian said he’s not sure how that will affect the region’s upcoming water rate hearing.
“The numbers that are driving the proposed increase to the water rate are modeling sort of well into the future,” he said.
“I can’t answer if there is good reason to go back and challenge any of the assumptions that were used in generating those projected operating expenditures on the water utility. I’m not sure yet.”
The municipality has requested a 106 per cent increase for most of the 1,200 customers in Liverpool and Brooklyn who are on the municipal water supply.
Nova Scotia Regulatory and Appeals Board hearings are scheduled for Wed., Nov. 19 at 10:30 a.m. in council chambers at the region’s office.
The region hired consultants G.A. Isenor and Blaine Rooney to prepare its water rate study as part of its application to the regulatory board.
Some are about whether the region knows if people will be able to afford the expected $348-a-year increase for most residential customers.
It also asked the region to submit a revised rate study lowering the financial impact on customers and spreading it out over three years instead of imposing most of the increase in the first year.
So far, there is one registered intervenor in the rate hearing. The Queens Community Health Board is concerned how the increased water expenses will affect the broader health and well-being of residents.
Christian said the proposed increases are important to put the water utility back on sound financial footing.
“We want to get our costs in order and run the water utility in a solvent way that’s aligned to our obligations as a water utility operator, and so the sooner that we can get our costs in order the better.”
Even so, Veinotte told councillors on Tuesday evening that by the time the hearing happens and the regulator makes its decision, any rate increases likely won’t take effect until 2026.
To look at all the documents filed so far as part of the region’s water rate application, use this link and enter M12363 in the field.
Steph Peaks is hosting a drag show at the Astor Theatre in Liverpool on Saturday. (Photo courtesy of Chase Hudson)
Liverpool’s Astor Theatre has welcomed a wide array of performers to its stage over its 120-year history, from Rita MacNeil to the Royal Shakespeare Company to Mr. Dressup.
But this coming Saturday, a different kind of artist will sashay onto the Astor stage.
Out of drag, Steph Peaks is Chase Hudson, a 27-year-old pastry chef in Halifax. Hudson says they plan to deliver a show like no other.
“I like to say expect the unexpected,” he said in a recent interview.
“We have 22 performances in the entire show. We have solos, we have duets, we have high-energy dance numbers, we have a couple of emotional slower ballads. We have a couple of live singers coming to the show.
“(A 19+ show) and a drag queen with a microphone? It can only go one way. I think going in with no expectations is probably the safest bet, but be prepared to leave wanting so much more.”
Hudson got his start in drag on Halloween four years ago. Living in his hometown of Annapolis Royal, he says doing drag was his way of coming out to friends and family.
“Instead of saying that I personally was gay, I decided drag was an easier pipeline to trickle that in. And then after that, I started doing solo shows in Annapolis,” he says. “I like to think that this was a shock to everybody around me. I’ve been told that not a single person has been surprised. … My mom wasn’t surprised, my grandparents weren’t surprised. I just sort of said, ‘OK, I’m gonna do a show.’
“My daycare teacher, she came to my first show, and she still says to this day that it makes the most sense to her because I would boss everybody around at daycare in the dressup closet and get everybody dressed up and choreograph numbers. Apparently, it’s been a long time coming.”
Hudson says he knows how lucky he is.
“Not everybody has their Mom coming to shows with shirts that say Mama Peaks on it. Doing this and having the reaction from family and friends and people I grew up with with open arms, it’s made it a lot more special than I ever thought it could have been.”
Those first shows to about a dozen people in his hometown quickly gained a larger following. And soon, Hudson as Steph Peaks was touring to Toronto, Ottawa, New Brunswick and P.E.I. Peaks has also played to thousands at Halifax Pride.
“Drag has gotten me out of my shell so much,” he says. “Chase isn’t the most confident person. And I know it sounds crazy because you think you put on a lot of makeup and a wig. Chase is still there, but there’s something about it for me that lets me escape the day-to-day stresses. It’s such an escape from being me that it makes me feel so me.”
Hudson says watching Drag Race, getting ideas online and “a lot of trial and error” helped him develop his character and her name, a play on what he does as a pastry chef, whipping cream to stiff peaks. He asked a friend in Calgary to help him with the name. They sent him six to eight bakery-themed options.
“When I was coming up with my character, I always said I didn’t want to be a carbon copy of somebody or something else.”
Steph Peaks will be hosting the show in Liverpool and performing, with seven other artists — Randi E. Rogenous, Brooke Rivers, Mike Hunt, Katanna Skin, Andrew Guinness, X and Halifax drag icon Elle Noir.
“Listen, listen, when you get a good show, you have to bring the top-tier performers down.”
While drag has become more mainstream in the past few years, it’s also come with some considerable backlash. When the Astor announced the show on Facebook, some comments were so bad that the theatre had to issue a statement confirming their support for the LGBTQ+ community, performers and audience.
“It’s scary because at the end of the day, the eight of us who are coming to do the show, we’re coming to do one thing only and that is to entertain and get a little attention for ourselves. And if that is threatening or makes some people uncomfortable, … the best thing I can say is if you don’t want to go, don’t buy a ticket.
“That night, there are going to be so many people in that theatre that are there to have fun and are there to show love, and support the queer community and support drag as an art form.”
And Hudson says there will be lots to love on the Astor stage on Saturday night, with lip-syncing and live-singing divas, and some real show stoppers. He’s had a preview of what awaits the audience, and he says he’s “gotten goosebumps, I have cried.
“There are some seriously emotional numbers that these people have dedicated to some important people in their lives. And then we have Mike, who is top-tier vocals – they could be on that stage the entire 22 performances and I would still enjoy the entire show. And then we have the chaos of Randi, chaos embodied in human form, and everybody else is bringing such different drag that I think no matter who’s on that stage, (the audience’s) eyes will be glued.
“I think people should look forward to a show that Liverpool has never seen yet. There are so many things cooking behind the scenes for this show that I think if you don’t come to the show, you’ll hear from a friend that it was otherworldly. There’s something about a drag show in a theatre setting where these artists can truly do whatever they want because they’re not limited to the venue size that make this show next level.”
The Steph Peaks and Friends Drag Show is at 7:30 p.m. on Sat., Sept. 27 at the Astor Theatre. Tickets are available through Ticketpro or at the Astor box office at 902-354-5250.
RCMP were called to a residence in Beach Meadows on Sept. 13. (Vlad Vasnetsov via Pixabay)
Two people were found dead in a home in Beach Meadows on Sat., Sept. 13, according to Nova Scotia RCMP.
Queens District RCMP officers responded as part of a well-being check, a spokeswoman told QCCR in an email on Monday.
Officers found the two residents already deceased. The Nova Scotia Medical Examiner Service was contacted, and “criminality is not believed to be a factor in the deaths,” according to the email.
Fire, police and other emergency vehicles could be seen at the property for much of the morning on Sun., Sept. 14, with officers in white forensic identification suits entering the home.
Because of privacy concerns, the RCMP won’t be releasing any further details, though it’s believed an elderly man and his daughter were living in the home.
“Our thoughts are with their loved ones at this difficult time,” the RCMP statement said.
Parks like Pine Grove Park in Milton will reopen after the Nova Scotia government lifted its woods ban in most counties on Thursday. (Tourism Nova Scotia)
The ban on travel in the woods has been lifted for most counties in Nova Scotia except for Annapolis County.
The Nova Scotia government allowed travel and activities in the woods to resume as of 4 p.m. on Thursday, according to a news release from the Department of Natural Resources. That includes hunting.
The change applies to Queens, Cumberland, Hants, Lunenburg, Kings, Shelburne, Digby and Yarmouth counties. Restrictions were previously lifted in the other nine counties.
Restrictions will remain for Annapolis County until Oct. 15, the end of wildfire season.
“We’ve looked at improving conditions and also at the impact these necessary restrictions have had on businesses, which we’ve tried to minimize all along,” said Natural Resources Minister Tory Rushton. “We’re at a point where, for both reasons, it’s time to lift these restrictions everywhere except Annapolis County, where crews are continuing to fight the Long Lake wildfire.”
The ban on open fires remains for the entire province until Oct. 15 or until conditions improve.
The fine for violating the burn ban is $25,000.
The woods ban was introduced on Aug. 5, while the burn ban began July 30.
Marcus Tufts of Barrington Passage with one of his oxen team at the Queens County Fair in Caledonia. (Rick Conrad)
Organizers of this year’s Queens County Fair say the annual agricultural exhibition is growing, but staying true to its roots.
Secretary-manager Doreen Holdright says more people are volunteering, and events like the horse and ox pulls are attracting even more participants.
“It’s getting bigger, we’re providing more entertainment. We do a lot of things that people just coming in off the grounds can take part in. Like Saturday, our corn cob contest. See who can eat the most corn. More like the old country fair. That’s what we’re trying to stay with and stay clear of the commercialism. ”
This is the 149th year for the fair in Caledonia, though the exhibition is more than 150 years old, and runs until Saturday. It features other livestock competitions like barrel racing, an artisans market, competitions for arts, crafts, vegetables and horticulture and lots of activities for kids. And popular events like the ladies’ toilet seat toss and the men’s frying pan toss are back for another year.
“Everybody’s interested,” Holdright says. “They all want to get involved. We’re all volunteers and three-quarters of the community volunteers.”
Despite an incident in which a horse and buggy overturned during Tuesday’s parade, Holdright says opening day was a success.
A man and his daughter were on the cart when their horse got tangled in its harness. The man suffered undisclosed injuries and is still in hospital, while his daughter hurt her leg, but was sent home after being checked out in hospital.
Holdright says the two people on the cart will be OK, and the horse was uninjured.
She says the fair is so popular this year that organizers will have to expand their camping area next year. A large part of the draw are the horse and ox pulls, with a record number of light horses at the fair this year.
“Ox pulling is growing. There’s new people coming into it. There’s new people coming into it. We have to limit because we only have 61 stalls for oxen. But at our spring pulls, we’ve had up to 80 pairs.”
Marcus Tufts of Barrington Passage brought his two teams of oxen. One of his pairs was already racking up the ribbons, winning best matched team, best gear and best exhibit of oxen in the parade.
“Queens County is where I grew up but moved away 20 years aog and it’s still my favourite exhibition to come back to. Just a hometown fair to see the people and friendly and just love the fair and to compete with the ox pulling.”
Tufts doesn’t use his oxen for much farm work anymore. But he still puts them through their paces to prepare for the ox-pulling competitions.
“It’s like bodybuilding,” he says.
“You have to work them every night to make them strong. We exercise my oxen for near an hour a night every evening at home. Just dragging a lightweight to build the muscle in their legs and their neck. And every once in a while, once a week, we put them on a heavier load just to test them to see how we’re doing.”
He bought Toby and Dan when they were three years old.
“No Bright and Lion. That’s a traditional name but we tried to stay away from that. They were actually that when we bought them.”
The six-year-old pair can haul up to 9,600 pounds, about three times their body weight. Oxen are judged by how much they can pull divided by their weight. He says the crowds love it.
“It’s a big draw. I think it’s just to see the pure strength of the animal and how well they listen to being trained. It’s an old tradition. Years ago, they used to use them in the woods and the old guys would bring them to the fair just for bragging rights of who had the strongest team. It’s kind of still the same thing today, except not many work them in the woods anymore.”
Tufts says this is the last fair of the year for his oxen. After this, they’ll head home for a rest in the pasture.
“My father always had a team. Now my kids, they come with us to all the fairs. My kids pull in the junior ox hauls and this is just my hobby. This is my four-wheelers.”
Kari-Lynne Drummond and Kevin Charlton of East Torbrook in the Annapolis Valley have been to four other exhibitions this year, in Lawrencetown, Bear River, Bridgewater and Windsor.
They said they were impressed with Caledonia.
“The barns are in excellent shape and the number of livestock is high,” Charlton said. “For the number of fairs we’ve gone to this summer, it’s probably the fair we’ve seen the largest amount of animals.”
“They’ve done a great job here as far as keeping it down home,” Drummond says.
The fair’s Holdright says the rest of the week features lots for people of all ages.
“It goes until Saturday, come check it out. Our rates to get in are the lowest and we’ve got lots for you to do and see.”
The Region of Queens is going to make Cameron’s Corner in Liverpool an all-way stop. (Rick Conrad)
Drivers in downtown Liverpool will soon encounter another three-way stop on Main Street.
The changes are being made at the intersection of Main and Old Port Mouton Road, commonly known as Cameron’s Corner.
In response to concerns from residents and councillors about safety in the area, the region’s traffic authority plans to turn it into an all-way stop.
Another busy intersection, the three-way stop at Main and Market streets, has been the scene of many close calls between pedestrians and motorists over the years.
A report prepared by consultants CBCL in June 2024 suggested a different option at Cameron’s Corner. It recommended that Main Street be turned into a throughfare, with a stop sign on Old Port Mouton Road. They also suggested narrowing the east Main Street approach and realigning parts of the intersection.
The intersection is a busy one. It has one stop sign on Main Street at the eastbound approach, but the traffic coming from Old Port Mouton Road has the right-of-way.
The consultants said that it’s more intuitive for drivers on Main Street to have the right of way, with motorists on the minor road approach of Old Port Mouton required to stop.
Adam Grant is the Region of Queens director of infrastructure. He’s also the municipality’s traffic authority.
He told councillors at their regular meeting last week that the changes suggested by CBCL would cost about $120,000, an expense not included in this year’s operating budget.
Grant said that that part of Main Street is going to be turned into a three-way stop anyway with the planned work on the $21-million Mount Pleasant services extension and housing development at the other end of Main. And CBCL’s other recommendations for realigning the intersection will be included.
“So the intention is, once it’s converted to an all-way stop, it would stay an all-way stop in perpetuity, unless it was determined through further analysis that it wasn’t necessary and that it could be reverted to a one-way stop control,” Grant said. “The geometry realignment would be incorporated into next year’s capital work, the all-way stop would stay in that mannerism.”
Councillors can make suggestions to the traffic authority, but traffic changes are an administrative matter.
Mayor Scott Christian told QCCR that with the water and sewer upgrades planned with the Mount Pleasant work next year, some of the consultants’ changes will happen anyway.
“I think it’s a good piece of decision making, not to rip up and change that sidewalk to then next year, rip it up when we’re replacing the water and sewer through there. So with the recommendations from the CBCL report, we’ll make those alterations to the curb when we do the water-sewer work.”
Grant told councillors that Cameron’s Corner will be turned into an all-way stop this fall, with the appropriate signage to give drivers advance notice of an upcoming stop. He said the region will also let people know through social media in the next few weeks.
Summerville artist and retired diplomat Scot Slessor is in Arusha, Tanzania, working with a group of artisans to expand their markets. (Rick Conrad)
A Queens County artist is in Tanzania for the next two weeks, helping artisans there develop ways to get their products to more people.
Scott Slessor is a retired Canadian diplomat who lives in Summerville. He’s also the owner of SAS Glass, a stained glass studio in Liverpool. As a Canadian foreign affairs officer and consul general, he led strategic planning and training in places like India, Afghanistan and Thailand.
Since he retired, he’s done a couple of stints in places like Mongolia and Cambodia with Catalyste Plus, a Canadian NGO focused on economic development in Indigenous communities and emerging economies. This will be his first trip with Catalyste Plus working with artists in another country, as part of a project to improve economic and social well-being for women and girls.
“This one is very unlike the other stuff I’ve done,” he says.
“This is about arts and crafts. So this tacks onto a whole other part of my life. I’ve never been to Tanzania. I’ve never been to East Africa. This is all new, which is going to be really cool. … And so they wanted to, in this institute, look into, as part of their tourism program, working with craftspeople, with artisans, and sort of up their game a bit.”
He’ll be working with about 20 artists in Arusha, a city of more than 600,000, near Mount Kilimanjaro and the Serengeti. In an interview before he left for Tanzania, Slessor said he’ll be helping local artists develop ways to get their goods into the hands of more tourists and hikers.
“We’ll be talking about the market there. Who are they actually trying to sell to? Because I don’t think they’ve necessarily done a full assessment. And I have. The government of Tanzania has done some. So we have some starting points of the ages of people coming there, where they’re coming from, a lot from the U.S., Canada, Europe. … And these are people who are going to climb Kilimanjaro. These are guys who are going to have a carry-on (bag) with their hiking boots on. So how do you put something in their pocket? So we’re going to generate a whole whack of ideas. And then they’ll have to decide how they’re going to implement that.”
Slessor has been doing glass art for more than 25 years. And he’s lived in Queens County with his wife, also a retired diplomat, since 2022.
He’s one of the organizers of the Queens Coast Art Tour studio rally. He says he hopes to be able to connect some artists from his trip in Tanzania with Queens County artisans who have offered to be occasional mentors.
“You know, it’d be fun if a couple folks from here, even just an hour a month for three or four months, hook up with somebody in Tanzania just to talk about, ‘What are you making today?'”
Slessor says he hopes his two weeks with the artisans in Arusha can help set them up for success.
“If a couple of these people develop habits that help them design more appropriate stuff for the folks that are coming in, then I think that’s a real win. So I’m going to spend a bit of time with them on, who are these Westerners that are coming here with their money? And then how do you sort of represent your culture, the local techniques, and all of that in a way that satisfies you as an artisan, but also allows you to make a few bucks?”
Slessor says meeting new people and experiencing different cultures are part of why he enjoys taking on these projects.
“So for me, it’s a lot of fun. I mean, I’m going to get to meet 20 people, but then I get to see a new part of the world, which is really fun. Yeah, I think that’s a fair amount of win for me.”
Slessor says Catalyste Plus is always looking for people with experience in varied backgrounds, from marketing and finance to factory production and information technology. More information can be found on their website.
Willa Thorpe is the chief administrative officer of the Region of Queens Municipality. (Rick Conrad)
Employees facing layoff when the Region of Queens closes its recycling depot may still have a job with the municipality.
The region announced this week that it would close its materials recovery facility on Dec. 1 in response to new regulations from the Nova Scotia government.
The province is shifting the responsibility for sorting plastics and other packaging to the companies that produce it. That means municipalities won’t need their own sorting facilities anymore.
In Queens, that will affect eight unionized employees.
Willa Thorpe, the region’s chief administrative officer, told QCCR on Thursday that the municipality will try to find other jobs for those workers.
So if there’s an opportunity through current vacancies here in the organization where we have the opportunity to train folks and have them shift to a different position, we’ll do that.
“So if there’s an opportunity through current vacancies here in the organization where we have the opportunity to train folks and have them shift to a different position, we’ll do that.”
She said they’re also going to hook workers up with provincial and federal supports from Nova Scotia Works and Service Canada.
Unionized employees at the Region of Queens Waste Management Facility are represented by Local 1928 of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers.
The local signed a new contract with the region after a week-long strike in January.
Thorpe said the agreement requires five days’ notice of any ceasing of operation or service that will affect jobs. She said managers wanted to give the affected employees more notice, so they met with workers and their local union representative as soon as council decided to close the facility.
“We think it’s important that our employees know exactly what’s going on, that their livelihood may be impacted, and so rather than follow the (basic language) of the collective agreement, we think we hold ourselves to a higher standard. So we actually met with staff a few hours after meeting with council, so the same day as opposed to waiting, so that those employees can be confident they know exactly what’s going on.”
Some workers will continue to be employed until at least Dec. 1, depending on how long it takes to wind down the facility, Thorpe said.
She said the collective agreement does not provide for severance pay. But she said “the region is actually actively working on providing some severance to those employees.”
She didn’t have details yet on what that package might be.
Jim Sponagle, the business manager for IBEW, told QCCR earlier this week that relations between the union and the region have not improved since the strike.
Thorpe, who started as CAO in June, said that’s incorrect.
“I would disagree with that statement based on the conversations I’ve heard since the labour action, the relations have improved.”
Nothing will change for residents in how garbage and recyclables are collected, and the municipality’s solid waste facility will remain open.
A company called Circular Materials will be taking over the sorting of recyclables from the region. That’s an organization formed by large corporations like MacDonald’s, Nestle Canada and Pepsico.
Thorpe said municipalities are still working out details of the agreement with Circular Materials, so she’s not sure yet how much money the region might save.
“What the specific impacts are to municipalities we’re still determining where the dust will settle. But the idea is that the producer would bear the lion’s share of the cost.”
Thorpe said officials with the region plan to meet with affected employees again next week.
Laura Methot is president of the Greater Molega Lake Lot Owners Association. (Rick Conrad)
Region of Queens councillors dumped proposed changes to garbage collection on Tuesday after residents packed the public gallery to protest the proposals.
More than 40 property owners from the region’s cottage country showed up at council’s regular meeting on Tuesday, concerned that the municipality was trying to download responsibility for illegal dumping onto volunteer-run residents’ groups.
More than 5,700 properties in Queens County are connected to roads that aren’t maintained by the municipality or the province. Most of these roads are in the areas of Molega, Ponhook and Annis lakes. Private lot owner groups collect fees from residents to maintain those roads.
People who live on public roads in Queens County usually get regular roadside garbage collection. Those on private roads, however, have to take their waste to a central location, known as grey box sites. From there, the municipality picks it up.
But under proposed changes discussed at Tuesday’s council meeting, responsibility for the maintenance and cleanup of those grey box sites would shift from the municipality to non-profit property owner groups.
Laura Methot, president of the Greater Molega Lake Lot Owners Association, which represents more than 1,200 property owners, told councillors on Tuesday that the proposed changes won’t address the longstanding problems of people dumping their trash illegally at the grey box sites.
“It is absolutely absurd to think that private road associations, managed by volunteer boards, would be able to solve the illegal dumping problem and unsightly premises that the region has not been able to tackle for years,” Laura Methot, president of the Greater Molega Lake Lot Owners Association, told councillors.
“Worse still, this bylaw update, if passed, would result in diverting resources, both time and money, away from our primary mandate, which is keeping our roads safe and passable in good condition.”
The Molega Lake area alone covers more than 1,200 hectares and 52 kilometres of roadway. It’s the largest recreational development in Atlantic Canada, though many people live in the area year-round.
Residents say they contribute disproportionately to the region’s tax base, while getting far fewer services than most other areas.
“The proposed amendments entrench this imbalance rather than resolving it,” Methot said.
Former regional councillor David Brown, who lives in Labelle, said that nobody would volunteer for lot owner groups if they were also now expected to clean up the grey box sites.
He said that at the lot owners annual general meeting in June, Mayor Scott Christian promised more collaboration and consultation.
“That didn’t happen,” Brown told councillors.
“ What we find is this is not a discussion, it’s not presented to us as options, but it’s a downloading of responsibility. It’s over 40 private law owners associations, and they’re volunteer associations.
“This bylaw, if passed, will be the end of all residential landowners associations. Nobody’s going to go out there and volunteer for a board and pick up garbage. It’s not going to happen. So as those lawowners associations disband because they can’t get volunteers, the roads won’t be maintained, Property values are going to go down.”
About 40 property owners showed up at Tuesday’s regional council meeting to protest proposed changes to garbage collection. (Rick Conrad)
After hearing from residents, councillors voted unanimously against the proposed amendments. And they voted instead to have councillors and staff consult with the lot owners groups about potential changes in garbage collection.
Christian said after the meeting that council heard the community loud and clear.
“There was a real, strong reaction from the community. Emails came flying in. Telephone messages came flying in to all members of council,” Christian said after the meeting.
“We’re trying to get to a place, though, where we’re as transparent and open in the way that we do business as possible. … So I think we got it right and I think that it’s a tricky issue, though. It continues to be this persistent issue, but I’m hopeful that we can find good, creative solutions through broad-based engagement with everybody who’s impacted out there. Sit down, do some creative brainstorming, and figure out maybe we can pilot this solution, pilot that solution, see what works, you know, and then go from there.”
Methot of the Molega Lake lot owners group said after the meeting that she believes Christian and the rest of council are committed to working with residents.
“I am very pleased with how it turned out, and particularly with the confirmation and recommitment of the mayor and council to working collaboratively with our association and with the broader community. It was a very positive outcome for us.”
Christian said the engagement sessions are already in the works. He said he hopes that the community consultations will result in a solution to the garbage problem that residents can live with.
The Region of Queens is closing its recycling facility, which will result in job losses. (Nick Fewings via Unsplash)
UPDATED AT 3 p.m. Wednesday
Employees at the Region of Queens materials recovery facility will be laid off when the depot closes on Dec. 1.
The region said in a news release late Tuesday afternoon that the layoffs and closure are because of provincial changes to how recyclables are handled. The region’s solid waste facility employs 13 people, but the release did not say how many employees are affected.
Mayor Scott Christian told QCCR on Wednesday that eight employees work at the recycling facility. But he said the municipality will try to move them or retrain them for other available positions with the region.
“The first step is to try to retain staff if that’s possible to keep people in the organization and if they can’t be kept then to lay them off. And then whatever is contained legally in the bargaining agreement, we’d go from there,” he said.
“It sucks, it sucks. It’s challenging times, life is tricky to afford and there’s not a lot of good paying jobs in the community. It’s certainly not a decision that we made lightly.”
Christian said waste collection won’t change in the municipality. Collection dates or methods won’t be affected. The solid waste management facility will remain open. This change affects only who sorts the recyclable material.
In August 2023, the Nova Scotia government amended the Environmental Act to make recycling packaging and paper the responsibility of the producer, otherwise known as extended producer responsibility.
“No impact to the resident experience, it’s just that now with the extended producer responsibility … the producers of the packaging waste are responsible for figuring out what’s happening to that waste,” Christian said.
“It’s now the responsibility of the Jeff Bezos and the Walmarts of the world to deal with their own packaging.”
Circular Materials is a company formed by corporations that produce packaging waste, such as Loblaw, Coca-Cola, McDonald’s and others.
Christian said that company also offered to collect the recyclables, but the region opted out of that.
Jim Sponagle, business manager for Local 1928 of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, told QCCR on Tuesday that he found out about the job losses from a member of the local who works at the facility.
“The Region of Queens at no point contacted the union to advise the union what their intention was. Very disappointing,” he said in an interview.
“(We’ve) completely been blindsided by it. No discussion with the union, no conversation, we were completely in the dark.”
He said relations between the region and the union have not improved since a week-long strike in January, when almost 40 engineering and public works employees walked off the job for higher wages and improved overtime benefits.
Sponagle said Tuesday that some workplace issues are still outstanding from before the strike. He said he’d be contacting the union’s legal adviser to see how it can respond to the layoffs.
“I’m sympathetic to the members who will be losing their jobs. It’s disappointing for sure. We went through tough negotiation and we landed on a strike and I hope that wasn’t a determining factor as to why they chose to contract that work out that’s been done there for years. I can only sympathize with the members affected by the decision of the region.”
CAO Willa Thorpe said in the release that the municipality is “working directly with impacted employees at the MRF site to help them transition at this difficult time.”
Deborah Herman-Spartinelli is the chair of Jane’s Place Society, a group working to bring second-stage housing to Queens County for survivors of domestic abuse. (Rick Conrad)
A new group is in the early stages of trying to create safe and secure housing for Queens County residents fleeing domestic violence.
Jane’s Place Society wants to provide second stage housing for women and families who are leaving shelters, but still need supportive places to live.
Group chair Deborah Herman-Spartinelli says Queens County needs more supports for victims of intimate partner violence.
“The plan is to buy a property and develop it into second-stage housing, which means making apartments. When you leave a transition house you go into this second-stage housing for a limited time. It gives women and their families a step in the right direction to get their finances in order and get back into the regular (housing) market eventually.”
She says a small group of Queens County residents got together about two years ago to talk about forming the society. They’ve recently been meeting with officials from all levels of government, including Queens MLA Kim Masland and South Shore-St. Margarets MP Jessica Fancy-Landry. They’ve also met with representatives from Harbour House, a transition house in Bridgewater that provides services in Queens County.
“This is new. Even though the idea was brought together two years ago it didn’t really get any feet under it till this spring,” Herman-Spartinelli says.
“I think Queens County is underserved and we felt like we needed to do something. And we have the seed money from some donors and we felt like this was the best way to (do it). After talking to Harbour House and various levels of government and so on. We’re still meeting with different levels of government again to go over this second-stage housing and how to go about it.”
The Nova Scotia government declared intimate partner violence an epidemic last September and increased funding to transition houses across the province.
The Transition House Association of Nova Scotia says its member organizations supported about 4,500 women and children in abusive situations in 2024. It says the problem is only getting worse.
Kelly Ann Hamshaw, the executive director of the South Shore Transition House Association which operates Harbour House, says there’s a critical need for second-stage housing on the South Shore.
“We desperately need access to second-stage housing,” she told QCCR earlier this year. “For women to be able to access our shelter environment, they need to be able to transition to safe and secure housing. So there’s a critical shortage of that across the entire province.”
Herman-Spartinelli, who has a background in construction, says the group will have up to nine members on its board. And it will be looking for volunteers to help in other ways.
She says they’re also planning public consultation sessions around Queens County, likely to begin in the next month.
“We’re trying to get enough people on the board from all parts of Queens County, trying to get their opinion and their thoughts because it’s a big community. It can’t just be focused on Liverpool. It might have the secondary housing in Liverpool, but it is for the whole community, and it could even house people from other communities too if there was room.”
Jane’s Place is named after Jane Hurshman, the Queens County woman convicted of killing her abusive ex-husband in 1982.
Herman-Spartinelli was a friend of Hurshman’s. She says the problem of intimate partner violence is just as prevalent more than 40 years later.
She says the group’s members know there’s a lot of work ahead of them. But they’re committed to creating safe and secure second-stage housing for women and their families in Queens County.
“We’re going to work very hard and we have positive support from the people we’ve met so far, so I think it’s not going to be quick because nothing ever is. So it’s not going to happen tomorrow, but it’s going to happen.”
If you’re interested in volunteering with Jane’s Place Society, you can email Deborah Herman-Spartinelli at dahsnseb@gmail.com.
The old Stedman’s building in downtown Liverpool may still be developed into apartments. (Rick Conrad)
There may be a second life for the old Stedman’s building on Main Street in Liverpool after all.
Region of Queens councillors in July rejected developer Eric Fry’s attempt to turn 194 Main St. into 16 apartments.
The region’s land use bylaw limits the amount of residential space on the ground floor of of buildings in the downtown commercial zone to a maximum of 50 per cent.
Fry applied to amend the bylaw so that he could have only apartments in the building, but council rejected it.
He listed the building for sale shortly after council’s decision.
But he has since returned with a new proposal that would include two commercial units on the ground floor, with the rest of the 30,000-square-foot building devoted to 14 apartments, parking and storage space.
That would still require council’s approval and a public hearing.
On Wednesday, Fry said he wasn’t ready to comment on his amended proposal to the region’s planning advisory committee.
The committee had a look at the new plan at their August meeting.
But Mayor Scott Christian said in a recent interview that the committee wasn’t comfortable making any new recommendations to council.
“And so I think just the devils in the detail from a bylaw, from a policy perspective of how do you get to a place where you land in a spot where you’re making sure that you have the right language to facilitate those policy objectives that we want to see, which is again, maintaining the commercial storefronts in the protected commercial zone while allowing flexibility for developers to repurpose other parts of those buildings for residential purposes.”
Fry said Wednesday that he’s still working with the region on options for the building. He said there may be something new to report in the next few weeks.
Stephanie MacKenzie is the co-chair of the 2025 Queens General Hospital Hustle. (Rick Conrad)
A popular fundraiser for Queens General Hospital in Liverpool is back and organizers hope it will be bigger than ever.
People will be able to go to the hospital hustle in person for the first time since before the pandemic.
Stephanie MacKenzie, the co-chair of the 2025 Queens General Hospital Hustle, says the last time the fundraiser was held was an online version in 2021.
“The hospital hustle is just the community getting together to raise funds for extra equipment at our hospital. It was an annual event for 40 years until 2019,” MacKenzie explains.
“This is really important. It’s been a labour of love for us to try to bring it back and we want to make sure everybody knows it’s back, because it’s something that people really look forward to.”
The hustle this year will be held at the Liverpool Curling Club on Sept. 13 from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. It’s organized by the Queens General Hospital Auxiliary, which also runs the hospital’s gift shop.
MacKenzie says the popular yard sale-style setup will return, along with food served by local Kiwanis Club members and doctors from the hospital. And nurses will be on hand to perform checkups on the little ones’ dolls or teddy bears.
“And we’ll have baked goods for people to buy and take home as well, and preserves, all the normal tables we have with jewelry, books, the big white elephant table, tools and we’re having a craft table as well.
“It’s hoped to be a family event and a lot of fun for the communtiy but an important fundraising event for the hospital. It’s important to show support for our hospital because it’s so very important to our community.”
Organizers are also planning a silent and live auction on the day of the hustle at the curling club. And for the first time, there will be an online Facebook auction, which will begin on Sept. 2, with items donated by local businesses.
All money raised this year will go toward buying a special cardiac monitor and a linear probe for the hospital’s new echocardiogram machine.
“This is an additional probe that will allow it to do more things. So people won’t have to go to Bridgewater to get these more specialized tests.”
MacKenzie says they hope to raise at least $20,000.
“But we think that we can raise more. In most of the recent years, we’ve raised $20,000 or more.”
They have about 30 volunteers helping out this year. But MacKenzie says they could always use more.
“Where we really need volunteers is on Sept. 7, we are moving all of the treasures that have been donated and stored at Milton Hall to the curling club. We have rented a moving truck to do that and we’re hoping to have enough people that we can stand there and pass the boxes along and just make it happen fairly quickly.”
Anyone who wants to volunteer at this year’s hospital hustle or donate any auction or sale items can email organizers at queenshospitalhustle@gmail.com.
You’ll also be able to buy raffle tickets to help. Volunteers will be selling them on Saturday at the Sobeys in Liverpool from 10 to 4.
The members of Crafternoon get together every Tuesday at the Seaside Centre in Beach Meadows. (Rick Conrad)
A group of artisans gathers at the Seaside Centre in Beach Meadows every Tuesday afternoon at 1 p.m. to work on projects, chat and make new friends.
The group began in 2021 with three women from the neighbouring community of Eagle Head. Craft novice Karen Costello got together with rug hooker Cathie Mourre and knitter Donna Sampson Dowling.
The group welcomes everyone who wants to work on their craft or learn a new one. It now counts as many as 25 people, mostly from Queens County, but some also travel from Lunenburg County.
Members say they enjoy getting together for four hours each week to bond around a shared love of creation. And they say they’re always looking for new people to drop in.
QCCR stopped in on a recent Tuesday to talk to some of the members.
Listen below
Bruno is one of the regulars at Crafternoon at the Seaside Centre in Beach Meadows. (Rick Conrad)
Rug hooking and a variety of other crafts are worked on Crafternoon at the Seaside Centre. (Rick Conrad)
The artisans group at Seaside Centre in Beach Meadows has about 25 members in total. (Rick Conrad)
The South Shore District Labour Council is holding a Labour Day event in Privateer Park on the Liverpool waterfront on Monday.
The local federation of labour unions is planning live music, kids’ games and free hot dogs and beverages. It runs Sept. 1 from 11:30 a.m. to 2 p.m. The theme this year is A Canada for Workers: Made Here! Paid Here.
More than 300 people attended last year’s Labour Day event. Barring a major storm, this is a rain or shine event. The council advises people to come prepared for the weather.
Members of the Lunenburg-Queens Special Olympics will be hosting the food booth.
Two Bluenose deckhands meet. Kate Smith of Sydney, N.S., is currently part of the Bluenose II crew. Craig Harding of Liverpool was a deckhand on the ship in the 1960s. (Rick Conrad)
The Brooklyn Marina rolled out the red carpet for Nova Scotia’s sailing ambassador on Tuesday evening.
A few dozen people turned out to meet the crew of Bluenose II at the small clubhouse as it visited the Liverpool area in its first stop on a tour of southwestern Nova Scotia.
Others drove down the small wharf in Brooklyn or towards the breakwater to get a look across Liverpool Bay to where the schooner was anchored near Port Mersey Commercial Park.
Volunteers at the marina had food and drinks ready for the crew and fans of the Bluenose.
Capt. Phil Watson was one of the dozen or so crewmembers who shuttled from the sailing icon to the marina.
“We haven’t been here in a long time and we were developing a a cruise along Southwest Nova and so Liverpool it is. There’s great alumni support here and community support and the club has always been good to us so it’s pretty easy to put Liverpool on the list.. … It’s good to come back to this side of the province again.”
The tour of southwestern Nova Scotia was hatched after the Bluenose crew cancelled an early September trip to Gloucester, Mass. Instead, they said they’d do what so many other Canadians are doing this year, stay closer to home and support local tourism.
Kate Smith, a deckhand from Sydney, N.S., is spending her third summer on the Bluenose. It was her first visit to Liverpool.
“I love it. It’s great. People are sweet. It’s super awesome,” she said of the Liverpool welcome. “We really like going around this area and we figured we’d go on a little staycation basically around the south coast.”
Liverpool’s Craig Harding sailed on the schooner as a 20-year-old from 1968 to 1969.
“I’d been on fishing boats on draggers and so on but I’d never been on a sailboat until that year and I learned to sail on it,” he said. “I’ve been connected to the Bluenose ever since. Hard not to be. Really, really happy to see the support. It was beautiful to see her come in.”
The last time the Bluenose II was in Liverpool was in 2021 when the ship celebrated 100 years of Bluenose history.
Jamie Frankel of Massachusetts just happened to be at the marina when he heard about the Bluenose’s visit. He and some others arrived on his boat The Sea Quester a couple of days before to wait for a weather window to continue their journey through the Gulf of Maine.
“None of us knew she was going to be coming at the time, so this is an incredibly welcome surprise. … As the sailing ambassador for Nova Scotia I think everyone loves her but in addition, she has beautiful lines as a ship and as a tall ship of that size I’d say that it’s always a wonderful event to be someplace where she comes in and it’s the splendor of old sailing ships and old-style sailing ships.”
Capt. Watson says the Bluenose always draws a crowd.
“It’s bringing a fishing schooner back to a fishing community. You know all these communities have shipbuilding, fishing heritage and these schooners, whether it was a fishing schooner or a cargo schooner, they all have that history there, so to be able to put a thing in place in the harbour where you can then talk about it and you can talk about, ‘oh those schooners used to be here all the time’ or ‘they used to build them over there’, it’s a chance for the community to talk about the history of their communities and share it with them themselves and hopefully they’ll come and share it with us as well.”
The Bluenose II left Liverpool on Wednesday afternoon, sailing around Port Mouton to its next stops in Clarks Harbour, Yarmouth, Digby and Lower West Pubnico.
Department of Emergency Management staff stand on top of their communications truck to view the wildfires in Annapolis County on Sun., Aug. 24. (Province of Nova Scotia)
The Nova Scotia government has announced emergency financial support for people who have been evacuated by the wildfires in Annapolis County.
The maximum amount people are eligible for is $3,000 per adult 18 and older, and $1,750 per minor.
The support is available for people who have been forced to leave their primary residence, based on the number of days they’re gone:
four to seven days – $500 per adult (18 and older), $200 per minor
eight to 14 days – an additional $500 per adult (18 and older), an additional $200 per minor
15 or more days – an additional $250 per week per adult (18 and older), an additional $200 per minor.
People evacuated from secondary homes like cottages or cabins do not qualify.
The funding will be available until the evacuation order is lifted or until the end of the wildfire season on Oct. 15, whichever comes first.
The help was announced on the same day the province confirmed that some homes have been damaged in the Long Lake wildfires. The blaze has grown to an estimated 7,780 hectares.
Premier Tim Houston told reporters at a briefing on Monday afternoon that on Sunday, five new fires broke out around the province. He said one of those fires in Cumberland County is still listed as out of control.
“The Long Lake fire in Annapolis County took a real turn over the weekend and it’s had devastating impacts,” Houston said.
“It’s now over 7,500 (hectares) in size, maybe closer to 8,000. Over 230 homes have been evacuated and there has been some loss of homes. This is a crushing feeling. We really can’t imagine what it must like, what it must feel like and also with the added anxiety of not knowing what’s happening to your home, it’s an awful time.”
In total, 330 properties have been affected by the evacuation order. The funding is in addition to other help through the County of Annapolis, the Canadian Red Cross, the Salvation Army and the Nova Scotia Guard.
Mainland Nova Scotia finally saw some rain on Monday afternoon, but officials told reporters that much more rain is needed to make a dent in the Long Lake wildfires.
Jim Rudderham, the director of fleet and forest protection with the Department of Natural Resources, said the fire grew so large and hot on Sunday that crews had to be pulled out.
“At peak burn time, … any amount of resources couldn’t have touched that fire yesterday,” he told reporters. “We certainly tried as much as we could, but at a certain point it’s not safe for anyone to be in there and we had to leave. … If you were to put water on it, there was no effect. It was just too powerful, too strong. Couldn’t get near enough to it regardless, but even if you had the biggest water bombers in the world yesterday when it was at its biggest point, dropping water on that fire, you couldn’t touch it. It just wouldn’t affect putting that fire out.”
The premier said the province hasn’t considered asking for federal help yet. He said they’re getting good support from fire departments from other communities and provinces. Firefighters from around Queens County have been helping out almost since the wildfire began.
Houston said the province will wait until after the fires are under control to consider any further compensation for residents whose houses are damaged or destroyed.
The Nova Scotia government is posting the latest information on the Long Lake wildfire on its various social media channels and at novascotia.ca/alerts.
Region of Queens councillors want more traffic enforcement in places like Liverpool and Summerville. (Rick Conrad)
Region of Queens councillors want the RCMP to crack down on traffic violations and drug crime and they say they’re willing to put up the money to hire extra officers.
Staff Sgt. Dan Archibald is the commander of the Queens District RCMP detachment. He recently provided a quarterly police report to council.
He said that having a dedicated street crime enforcement team of two officers to investigate drug complaints would free up other officers to address longstanding irritants like traffic.
“I feel that it’s too easy for individuals to sell illicit drugs from their residences with the lack of enforcement or capability in doing enforcement on our behalf. A designated street crime team or general investigations team would not only give us the resource power to do it, but it would come with the knowledge and experience that would be required to do it.
“To me, it would make (Queens County) that much better of a place to live to be able to enforce those on a routine.”
There was one charge under the controlled drugs and substances act from April to June this year. Last year, there were four in the same period.
The detachment is currently staffed with 10 constables, which includes one community policing officer. Two corporals act as shift supervisors and operations manager, in addition to Archibald himself. There are also two civilian employees.
The Region of Queens spends just under $3 million a year on policing.
District 4 Coun. Vicki Amirault said council decided more than 10 years ago to pull funding for an extra officer. And she said another officer left the area soon after that and wasn’t replaced.
“I’ve been getting a lot of complaints lately of drugs, needles, within Pine Grove Park,” she said.
“I think council has to tackle that right away. … I think now we do have the need to support that extra officer without a doubt, with what’s going on now in today’s world. And I really hope that council will support this initiative. ”
Overall, Archibald said there was no big spike in crime in Queens County over the same period last year.
But calls for assaults, extortion, harassment or threats were up to 48 from 32. There 42 calls related to intimate partner violence. Twelve people, nine male and three female, were charged in those incidents.
RCMP also dealt with 388 traffic violations, up from 250 the year before.
Archibald said the increase in traffic-related charges is the result of targeted enforcement.
“We’ve been doing some proactive traffic enforcement throughout Queens County,” he said.
“ For the two months of that first quarter, we’ve focused on North Queens, Caledonia area, and rural roads off of Caledonia, which has been great. And what that looks like is a day designated with some extra members coming in, doing strictly traffic enforcement, road safety things. People are happy to see us in places where they haven’t seen us previously. We’re looking at keeping that up every month at the very least focusing one day in various areas throughout the community.”
Some councillors want more of it.
Coun. Courtney Wentzell said he regularly gets complaints from residents in his downtown Liverpool district that they never see police.
“The lack of police presence in this community, I find quite appalling. I never see a cop. Privateer Days, I think I’ve seen five of them in the tent, but I don’t see them. And I live on the west side of Main Street, which is a drag strip. They start around around the fire hall or Cameron’s Corner, and it is a drag strip, and you can talk to anybody on that street, and they’ll tell you. And we never see a cop. We never see a radar set up.”
Archibald said that covering a large area like Queens County can be challenging.
“Policing has changed over the last however many years, (and) the demand for police presence has grown. Every time someone calls the police, whether it’s North Queens, West Queens, East Queens, wherever it is, if we have two members on during a day shift or two on night shift, a call in North Queens drags two members, whether it’s mental health, whether it’s a mischief, whether it’s a domestic, whether it’s a traffic complaint, that drags the only police officers out of Liverpool to a different area which takes them away from town for two hours. So it’s harder to designate police to the town of Liverpool when there’s other needs.”
But Archibald said they’re trying to address those kinds of concerns with their monthly traffic initiative. And he said installing more digital speed signs in some areas would also help, especially during tourist season.
Archibald told councillors that residents should report traffic violations to the detachment as soon as they see them.
“If they call us in real time, and we’ve got some new recruits here … who are gung ho on getting out there and if someone gives information as to who these people are, what they’re driving, like, they are out of the office to go look for them. So now’s a good time to report those people as well. You don’t always get that in certain detachments, but we have some young folks who who are enjoying traffic enforcement.”
Debris from the fish farm near Coffin Island on Beach Meadows Beach in 2021. (Rick Conrad file photo)
Supporters and opponents of a fish farm expansion in Liverpool Bay will get a chance to make their case in front of Nova Scotia’s aquaculture regulator after all.
The province’s aquaculture review board will hear an application in October from Kelly Cove Salmon to expand its current operation at Coffin Island, just off Beach Meadows Beach in Queens County.
Kelly Cove Salmon is owned by seafood giant Cooke Aquaculture. It applied in 2019 to expand its salmon farming operation off Coffin Island near Liverpool, and to add two new farms off Brooklyn and Mersey Point.
All three applications would have increased Cooke’s operation to 60 pens from 14 and include trout as well as salmon. It would have meant up to 1.8 million farmed salmon in Liverpool Bay, compared to about 400,000 now.
The board had scheduled hearings for those proposals for March 2024. But it indefinitely adjourned the matter that month with no explanation.
According to groups involved in the hearing, Cooke applied to the board this June for a hearing on only the Coffin Island expansion.
The review board held a conference call with Kelly Cove and some intervenors last week. Hearing dates were set for Oct. 7, 8, 9 and 10 in Liverpool.
Originally, the board had set aside only two days. But after lawyers for community group Protect Liverpool Bay objected, the board added two more hearing dates. The group is represented by environmental law charity Ecojustice.
“So there was no consultation at all in picking the dates,” said Brian Muldoon, spokesman for the group which has been fighting fish farms in the area since 2018.
“So our lawyers wrote to the ARB and said this is not reasonable and the ARB added two more dates.”
A board spokesman would not confirm the dates or comment on any upcoming hearings. He said any new information on hearings in Liverpool would be posted online.
A few days after this story was posted, the review board updated its website with the hearing notice.
The Region of Queens was one of the intervenors in the original hearings. Mayor Scott Christian told QCCR this week that the municipality still opposes the expansion at Coffin Island.
“We’re staying the course,” he said.
“Beach Meadows Beach is the beach where we have municipal amenities. That’s where we have our infrastructure, and we want to make sure that that beach continues to be a really attractive and great place for locals and for visitors to use, and so that’s certainly one element of the opposition to the expansion at that site. ”
Muldoon said he’s worried about the hearings in October.
“I believe they are not listening to the people or residents of Queens County. They’re moving forward with their agenda. They are going to put these fish farms over the areas where our local lobster fishermen lay their spring traps. This is taking income and disrupting our lobster industry. Right there, they should say, OK, we’re dismissing this application based on the data that we received that this is where lobster fishermen have been fishing for decades. And they’re going to turn around and ignore this information? It’s absurd, totally absurd.
“I have no confidence in the board listening to us.”
In the leadup to the originally scheduled hearings, more than 150 residents, businesses and community groups filed written submissions with the board. Most opposed the expansion and the new farms.
Five groups were granted intervenor status at the hearings: Protect Liverpool Bay, the Region of Queens, the Brooklyn Marina, 22 Lobster Fishermen of Liverpool Bay, and Kwilmu’kw Maw-Klusuaqn, which is representing the Acadia First Nation.
Jamie Simpson of Juniper Law in Halifax represents the lobster fishermen.
He said his clients are still concerned about how the expansion will affect their fishing grounds and how new pens will affect their ability to set and reach their traps.
“Ever since the original hearing was postponed without a date, I think everyone was hopeful that maybe the entire application would be withdrawn but that’s not the case so we’ll deal with the revised application.”
Joel Richardson, spokesman for Cooke Aquaculture, said he didn’t have time for an interview. But in an emailed statement, he wrote that the company “welcomes the opportunity to appear before the aquaculture review board to seek approval of our applications which have been in the provincial system for many years.
“At every step of the way, Kelly Cove has complied with the application process. At the aquaculture review board hearings our representatives will present how the company meets all the regulatory criteria.”
Nova Scotia Premier Tim Houston told a business luncheon in Liverpool in February 2024 that he personally opposed new fish farms in Liverpool Bay, though he said he supports the aquaculture industry.
It was shortly after that that the board postponed and then indefinitely adjourned the hearings.
The Nova Scotia government appointed a new board chair, and some other new members, in February 2024.
Architects will spend the next six weeks assessing what kinds of upgrades are needed at the Town Hall Arts and Cultural Centre, which houses the Astor Theatre. File photo by Ed Halverson
The Region of Queens has hired architects to come up with a plan to modernize the historic Astor Theatre in downtown Liverpool.
DSRA Architecture of Halifax has experience working on heritage buildings such as the Lunenburg Academy, Province House in Halifax and Halifax City Hall. Councillors approved spending $17,500 from the accumulated budget surplus.
The region owns the Town Hall Arts and Cultural Centre, which houses the Astor. The Astor Theatre Society leases it from the region.
The Astor is limited in what kinds of events it can hold, especially in summer and fall, because it does not have a modern climate control system.
It relies on an oil-fired hot water furnace for heat and windows for ventilation.
The building also needs many upgrades to meet provincial accessibility requirements.
Elise Johnston, who is the region’s former accessibility coordinator and now its manager of capital projects, says hiring the architects will kickstart the process to assess the building’s needs.
“As we know it can be quite stifling hot, especially in the summer,” she told councillors at a recent meeting.
“It’s very uncomfortable. So it affects their operations. It’s a big project. We have looked at a few independent reviews and designs, but then that didn’t take into consideration the accessibility (concerns). So if we’re going to do this, we need to do it in a holistic way.”
Johnston told councillors that the region and the Astor have discussed installing a modern HVAC system before, as well as an accessible lift to get to the second floor and a universal washroom. But those projects were discussed in isolation and not part of one overall plan.
She said hiring the architects will help get the necessary work started, “which would be to look at all the applicable codes, all the top priority needs, get some community engagement, and plan the steps forward. The main question is, what is priority, what can come first? How do we phase this over a period of time?”
Eric Goulden, chairman of the Astor Theatre Society, told QCCR that the much-needed upgrades could potentially be a multimillion-dollar project.
“All in all, they’re going about it in the right way,” he said.
“It needs an architect. It’s an old building. It requires a significant amount of work to protect its heritage. All good, all very, very good. And great support from the council.”
District 6 Coun. Stewart Jenkins asked whether the region gets any revenue from ticket sales at the Astor.
Joanne Veinotte, the region’s director of finance, said a portion of each ticket sold goes into a special capital projects fund for the building.
Jenkins said that because the Astor is such a big part of downtown Liverpool, he’d like the region to develop a five-year plan.
“I think we need to do more to preserve this building and make it a viable building moving forward.”
Johnston said this project is meant to do that and to make it “a more revenue-generating building”.
She told councillors the architects plan to begin work immediately with a report back to council in about six weeks.
