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Alexa McDonough dies at age 77

Alexa McDonough, leader of the New Democratic Party of Canada during the fall 2000 Canadian federal election. Photo by Greg Locke © 2000
Alexa McDonough, leader of the New Democratic Party of Canada during the fall 2000 Canadian federal election. Photo by Greg Locke © 2000

By Greg Locke HALIFAX, NS – Alexa McDonough, the trailblazing politician who the the Nova Scotia and then federal NDP parties, died Jan 15, 2022, after a long battle with Alzheimer’s . She was 77. Born Alexa Ann Shaw in Ottawa on August 11, 1944, she married the late Peter McDonough in Halifax in 1966. She began a career in social work as the assistant to the director of Social Planning Department at the City of Halifax in 1969, and later served as a member of the faculty at the Maritime School of Social Work at Dalhousie University. Her passion for social

Remembering War

WWII, Korea and Afghanistan vet at the National War Memorial in St John's, Newfoundland. Photo by Greg Locke© 2019

  by GREG LOCKE Originally published November 11, 2016 ST JOHN’S, Newfoundland – I can’t do Remembrance Day anymore. Just don’t have it in me. I don’t mean it to be disrespectful. In fact, my respect is infinite. I have had relatives serve, live and die in the Canadian, British and American military going back to WWI. I’ve attended the National War Memorial in St John’s, Newfoundland with my father-in-law, a veteran of the Battle of Altona in Italy during WWII, and the rest of the old men many times. I have talked about war far too many times. Today

11:11:11

Children place poppies at a war memorial in Vancouver, BC. Photo by Deborah Jones © 2020

  by Deborah Jones (originally published November 11, 2020) VANCOUVER, BC – Remembrance in COVID Time. Cenotaphs closed. Veterans cloistered. Citizens warned to stay away, safe from the pandemic. It’s a day off work in many places, but with so many now working from home, who would notice any difference? On this day, most years, we’d stand shivering to witness sober parades and ceremonies. Today at 11 a.m., we go outside our front door. We cock our ears for the strains of a bugle or bagpipes. We scan the sky for the old war planes on their annual fly-over. We

What next? …after Canada’s Day of Truth and Reconciliation

Chloe Benuen of the Innu First Nation in traditional costume after a ceremony at the annual Innu First Nations clan gathering at Gull Island, Labrador on the eve of Canada’s Day of Reconciliation and Truth which is meant to honour the lost children and survivors of residential schools. Photo by Greg Locke

VANCOUVER, B.C. – Canada’s first National Day for Truth and Reconciliation saw a national outpouring of grief and anger over indigenous residential schools, and the genocide of Canada’s aboriginal peoples. Now that the day’s drums are stilled, the joined voices of lament silenced, the symbolic orange shirts  doffed, flames of sacred fires become ember, what? What comes next? The answer is deceptively simple: Canadians follow the path mapped by the 2015 final report of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada. The commission was tasked with telling hard “truths” – and the near-impossible goal of “reconciling” Canada’s century-long removal of

Bonavista Biennale beckons

**. Photo by Greg Locke © 2021.

BONAVISTA, Newfoundland – While there are massive music concerts and arts festivals all over the world, usually in urban areas, that attract thousands of people, often those in remote and out-of-the-way places offer a more engaging and immersive experience. The Bonavista Biennale is one of those. As the name says, it’s located in and around Bonavista, Newfoundland. A small town three-hours drive from the capital of St John’s, Bonavista sits on the remote tip of a peninsula in Canada’s easternmost province, face up to the North Atlantic ocean. This biennial exhibition of contemporary visual art attracts local, national, and international

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