Mainstreet Halifax

An extended version of Alex Mason's conversation with Kimberly Murray. From 2022 until 2024, she was the federally appointed Independent Special Interlocutor For Missing Children & Unmarked Graves & Burial Sites Associated With Indian Residential Schools. She was previously the executive director of the Truth & Reconciliation Commission. This is a link to her report, Sites Of Truth, Sites Of Conscience: osi-bis.ca/wp-content/uploads/2024/11/1.OSI-Sites-of-Truth-Sites-of-Conscience.pdf

Digging through a dusty attic can uncover forgotten treasures. In Karen Harper's case, it sent her on an adventure exploring her family's history. Karen's adventure is culminating in a visit to Cambridge University next month to see a play her grandfather wrote 70 years ago be performed on stage for the first time.

Michelle Coffin, Chris Lydon, and Barbara Emodi drop into Studio A to talk with guest host Alex Guye.

Today, the East Coast Prison Justice Society released a series of calls to action, including ending police deployment to wellness checks and to launch a civilian crisis response team. This comes after two deaths in HRM where police attended wellness checks and a conducted energy weapon (aka taser) was deployed to subdue the individual. Sheila Wildeman is the chair of the East Coast Prison Justice Society and a professor of law at Dalhousie University. El Jones is one of the authors of the 2022 report, Defunding the Police: Defining the Way Forward for HRM and a professor at MSVU. Jamie Livingston is a criminology prof at SMU. They all spoke with Alex Guye about the calls to action, in particular the civilian crisis team, just before we went to air.

Polluting education: a new study reveals the surprising role the fossil fuel industry has in teaching our children about climate change. CBC's Rose Murphy spoke to report co author Anne Keary about the need to kick big oil out of the classroom and implement comprehensive, science-based climate education across the country.

Ken Hansen is a former naval commander, former chair of the Maritime Studies Program at the Canadian Forces College in Toronto, and an independent defence analyst. He speaks with guest host Alex Guye.

In this extended audio file, guest host Alex Guye speaks with Cheryl Maloney, a member of Sipekne'katik First Nation who used to teach political science at Cape Breton University, and lawyer Bill Gallagher who wrote "Resource Rulers: Fortune and Folly on Canada’s Road to Resources."

She speaks with Mainstreet's producer Alex Mason.

A vigil is happening tomorrow, for Nova Scotians to mourn recent victims of intimate partner violence. It's happening outside Dalhousie University's Schulich School of Law. It's called, "From Grief to Action". There will be guest speakers including survivors and family members of women who recently died as a result of intimate partner violence. The event is being put on by the Elizabeth Fry Society. Kylee Nunn is the abundance program manager at the Society. Robin Cummings is the development coordinator at Elizabeth Fry. They dropped into the Mainstreet living room today.

Barbara Emodi, Chris Lydon and Michelle Coffin speak with guest host Alex Guye. Also included -- Alex Mason's conversation with Asa McKercher, Hudson Research Chair in Canada-US Relations at St. Francis Xavier University, about Canada's options if the US aligns itself even more with Russia and less with NATO.

Rob speaks with Mainstreet's producer, Alex Mason.

A rally on Tuesday was held in support of 12 janitors who are going to their jobs at Alderney Gate on March 1st. This happened after the HRM council selected a new, non-union contractor, Imperial Cleaners. Service Employees International Union Local 2 that represents 20,000 workers around Canada were calling on HRM mayor, council and CAO to require Imperial to hire these janitors. Tina Oh, an organizer and coordinator with the union, spoke with our colleague Meig Campbell. A statement from the city to CBC says: On Feb. 28, 2025, the Halifax Regional Municipality received notice that a judicial review has been filed by the Service Employees International Union (SEIU) Local 2 on the matter of janitorial services for Alderney Gate. As this matter is now before the courts, no additional information or comment is available at this time.

Dalhousie University is holding an event tonight at 7 p.m. to mark the 100th anniversary of the birth of Frantz Fanon. It's called, Liberation Dialogues: Decolonization, Reparations and New Worldmaking and will feature a conversation with Mireille Fanon-Mendès France. She is the daughter of Frantz Fanon, an activist and the chair of the Frantz Fanon Foundation. Mireille spoke with Alex Guye ahead of the event, starting with how relevant Fanon's works still are.

Truro Police Services Constable Brent Bowden has been on medical leave since June 2024, in relation to an incident he says was rooted in racism. A banana peel was thrown on the windshield of his personal vehicle while parked at his workplace, which is Truro Police Services. Since then, the station has also looked into this and organized meetings, including a mediated conversation with the officers responsible. One of them described putting the banana peel on Bowden's truck as a joke. Alex Guye gave Brent a call to hear more. She also reached out to Truro Police Services and the Town of Truro and was given a statement back.

Guest host Alex Guye speaks with Jess Wilton and Meredith J Batt. Find the article they co-wrote here -- activehistory.ca/blog/2025/02/20/a-queer-road-trip-through-atlantic-canada

Elamin speaks with guest host Alex Guye ahead of an event at the Halifax Central Library.

First broadcast on February 29, 2024: Irshad Manji, author of the #1 bestseller "The Trouble With Islam Today: A Muslim's Call for Reform in Her Faith," tells Jeff Douglas about some of the things she's learned since it came out in 2004.

Chris Harvey-Clark, a university veterinarian at Dalhousie University, tells guest host Alex Guye what was involved in preparing a blue whale skeleton for permanent display at Dal's Truro campus.

Duff Conacher speaks with guest host Vernon Ramesar about an application filed in a provincial court in Ottawa on February 19th in an attempt to hold Prime Minister Justin Trudeau accountable for "...pressuring, and directing others to pressure, then-Attorney General Jody Wilson-Raybould to stop the prosecution of SNC-Lavalin in 2018..."

Guest host Alex Guye speaks with Asa Kachan, Chief Librarian & CEO of Halifax Public Libraries, and Kaya Fraser, the Manager of Program Design.