The Signal - November 30, 2023

The Signal - December 7, 2023

This week marks the 106th anniversary of the Halifax explosion.
And while the story of the disaster has been retold time and again,
recognition of the African Nova Scotian experience has only just begun.
Andie Mollins has more.

Mollins - BookLaunch

Gerald Stanley and the castle narrative, a Policy Options podcast. A complex narrative has emerged in defence of Gerald Stanley, who was recently acquitted of second-degree murder in the fatal shooting of Colten Boushie, a 22 year-old Cree man, in Saskatchewan. According to this narrative, the incident had nothing to do with race, but was rather a matter of a farmer protecting his land and family – defending "his castle."

Gina Starblanket joined the podcast to explain how this perspective is intimately tied to the history of displacement and settlement on the Prairies, and throughout Canada. Starblanket is a professor in the native studies and women’s and gender studies departments at the University of Manitoba. She is Cree/Saulteaux and a member of the Star Blanket Cree Nation in Treaty 4 territory in Saskatchewan.

Download for free. New episodes every second Tuesday. Tweet your questions and comments to @IRPP.

Read Gina Starblanket’s op-ed "How the death of Colten Boushie became recast as the story of a knight protecting his castle. "

Read the Policy Options article “The real ‘justice’ denied to Boushie.“

PO Podcast 51 - Gerald Stanley and the castle narrative

Another track from my November 2018 album, Our Former Selves. Thanks to Cat McCluskey for the wonderful lyrics and fantastic vocal take.

Lyrics:

We met in the spring,
A fling,
With flowers freshly opened.
My feelings bloomed slow,
But toward your beaming sun I opened up to you
Through rain, wind, and melt
I began to root and grow

‘Til the heat took hold.
Sun shining down on both our faces.
Cheeks turning red with blushes and burns,
Sparks setting fire in your heart and mine
In fields with the flies and bangs cross the sky. 

You’re my all season kind of love. 
Through winter, summer, fall, and spring,
The seasons change,
You’re still my favourite. 

Nature turns again. 
I’m falling
Deeper into layers of your love.
Nature may wither,
But inside I’m thriving. 
I’ve never felt so warm and safe.
Though the chill grows bone deep,
You keep my heart’s bonfire burning. 

As our breath forms whispers,
Secrets shared on frigid nights. 
The daylight is distant
But your light is here. 
I’m wrapped up in you,
You’re bundled in me. 
Death’s all around,
But with you I’m free. 

You’re my all season kind of love
Through winter, summer, fall, and spring,
The seasons change,
You’re still my favourite thing. 
You make my dumb heart sing,
And I’ll keep on loving ‘til it turns to spring.

Mollins - BookLaunch

The Signal: A Halifax podcast

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