Mainstreet Halifax

The 50th Annual Nova Scotia Volunteer Awards took place last week. The recognition ceremony took place at the Rath Eastlink Community Centre in Truro. Among those being recognized for their service was Nicole McDonald. She had received an HRM Municipal Award back in April, and had been invited to represent the Central Region at the Provincial Ceremony last week in Truro. In a social media post on September 24th, Nicole wrote that while she was grateful to accept a Provincial Volunteer Award...the feeling of gratitude has been "overshadowed by inaccessibility and the feeling of not being as important as the other award winners." Nicole spoke with Mainstreet host, Jeff Douglas today and we have also reached out to the Provincial Volunteer Awards for comment.

As the conflict between Israel and Hezbollah escalates, and civilian casualties mount, Israeli military officials said they are preparing for a possible ground invasion into Lebanon. Nader Hashemi is an associate professor of Middle East & Islamic Politics at Georgetown University. He explains whether this ground invasion is likely and how the conflict got to this point.

A study published in the journal Science examines 1500 climate policies from more than 40 countries, to see what works. Our oceans guy Boris Worm drops by from Dalhousie University to tell Jeff about some of the findings.

Samuel Beckett wrote the novel 'Watt' in occupied France. It's about fascism and complicity. 

Host Jeff Douglas spoke to Seán Kennedy about how his Irish studies course is reading Beckett's novel as a way to think about liberal colonialism, fascism, and zionism in Ireland, in the Middle East, and right here in Nova Scotia.

A group of activists who have been walking for two weeks - over 200 km from Pugwash to Halifax - think we could do a lot more when it comes to peacekeeping and peacebuilding. Host Jeff Douglas spoke with two of the participants. Rajagopal P.V., who came all the way from India to participate in this walk. He is a former Vice Chairman of the Gandhi Peace Foundation, he trains young people in social action, and he promotes Gandhian philosophies of peace and non-violence.

Lia Holla, a McGill student, youth advocate and the Executive Director of the International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War Canada.

Paul Tynan, the festivals artistic director, give us the scoop on this years lineup.

Elaine Craig is the author of Mainstreaming Porn: Sexual Integrity and the Law Online. She tells host Jeff Douglas what these algorithms are doing and because online pornography has changed, what problems does that could pose.

The East Coast Prison Justice Society dropped its annual report Tuesday, September 17th. It is a composite based on the analysis of 800 phone calls with people incarcerated in this Province, between September 17, 2022 and August 31, 2023. It's findings also come in the wake of the deaths of six people in provincial custody.

To break down the report and what it mean, host Jeff Douglas spoke with three guests today.

Sheila Wildeman is an prof at Schulich School of Law and Co-Chair of the East Coast Prison Justice Society (ECPJS). El Jones is a poet, professor and activist and Board Member at ECPJS.

And the first voice you'll hear is Laura Beach, the coordinator of the ECPJS Visiting Committee Project.

Laura started by explaining what the visiting committee heard about conditions in provincial carceral institutions in that 2022-2023 time period.

It's the first time that one artist has won the prestigious music prize a second time. Mainstreet host, Jeff Douglas gave Jeremy a call to hear about this win, and more about his album Motewolonuwok.

Kristina Fifield is a registered social worker and trauma therapist who specializes in gender-based violence.

She spoke with guest host Preston Mulligan about the series of events being put on in partnership with the campaign 'Can’t Buy My Silence'.