Tag: Sackville

Online ‘inventory’ takes stock of natural features in Sackville and its watersheds

Sackville is changing the way it manages its natural features with the creation of a so-called natural assets inventory. Photo: Screenshot/go.greenanalytics.ca/sackville

Sackville and its two main watersheds, Carters Brook and Joe Brook, boast nearly 71,000 “natural assets” covering more than 12,000 hectares, according to a new online dashboard. 

Natural assets include everything from wetlands, lakes and rivers to forests, fields and soil. Over the past year, staff at the Town of Sackville have been working with the not-for-profit Municipal Natural Assets Initiative on the so-called natural assets inventory.

Town councillors saw the results of that work at last week’s public meeting of council, during a presentation by Amy Taylor, CEO of Green Analytics, a company that provides technical support to MNAI. 

Speaking at Sackville Town Council on Tuesday, July 5, Taylor explained that natural assets can help mitigate the effects of climate change.

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Thousands of honey bees removed from Sackville Waterfowl Park

Beekeeper Jeff Allen estimates this swarm of honeybees, pictured on Tuesday, July 5, 2022, numbered approximately 25,000 bees. Photo: facebook.com/tasha.hawkes

Thousands of honey bees descended on the Sackville Waterfowl Park this week, before a local couple with a backyard beekeeping operation removed the swarm.

Jeff Allen and Tasha Hawkes own and operate Izzy’s Bizzys Apiary and Natural Bee Products in the Midgic area.

On Tuesday, they got a call from the Town of Sackville after someone spotted a swarm that appeared to be hanging from the branch of a tree.

“When I went to inspect it, I quickly found there was probably about 25 to 30,000 bees,” said Allen, who obtained a master beekeeper certification in 2020.

“It’s deceiving because it looks like they’re hanging off a branch, but they’re actually hanging off each other on a very small piece of that branch.”

Allen spoke to CHMA on Thursday about honey bees, backyard beekeeping and threats to pollinators posed by climate change.

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‘I wanted to make sure that I wasn’t quiet’: Student plans protest in response to US Supreme Court decision on abortion

Jenna Auguscinski, left, and Tasia Alexopoulos are pictured near the Wallace McCain Student Centre on Thursday, June 30, 2022. Photo by David Gordon Koch

Pro-choice activists plan to march in Sackville on Sunday to protest the US Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Roe versus Wade. 

That ruling means women no longer have a legal right to abortion in the United States. 

Jenna Auguscinski, a student at Mount Allison University who is organizing this weekend’s march, says she fears criminalizing abortion will increase the suicide rate among women. 

“I think it’s a huge issue and I think people are being pretty quiet in Canada about it, so I wanted to make sure that I wasn’t quiet about it,” she said. 

Here in New Brunswick, the provincial government’s policy on abortion has also attracted criticism. 

The province only subsidizes procedural or surgical abortions in three hospitals in New Brunswick, two in Moncton and one in Bathurst. 

The Medical Services Payment Act, a regulation restricts those procedures to approved hospitals. Activists have called on the province to scrap that regulation.

“In New Brunswick, if you need an abortion, and you can’t receive it in a hospital, the province doesn’t pay for it,” said Tasia Alexopoulos, Mount Allison’s Sexual Violence Prevention and Education Coordinator. “That can be $600 to $1,200 out of pocket.”

Listen to the full interview with Auguscinski and Alexopoulos from Jun. 29, 2022:

The federal government previously withheld $140,000 in health transfer funds to penalize the province for violating the Canada Health Act over inadequate access to abortion services.… Continue

Mi’kmaq leaders, top adviser quit N.B. systemic racism commission

Aboriginal Affairs Minister Arlene Dunn speaks to reporters in a virtual media conference on Monday, June 20, 2022. Photo: Screenshot

A top adviser to New Brunswick’s systemic racism commissioner announced his resignation on Tuesday, just as a group of Indigenous leaders withdrew from the controversial commission.

Robert Tay-Burroughs, senior advisor to commissioner Manju Varma, published his resignation letter on Twitter, saying he felt “troubled these last few weeks by the false pretences under which we are expected to do our work.”

He also said “it remains unclear” whether the provincial government can respect the commissioner’s independence or intends to accept her recommendations in good faith.

Indigenous groups have criticized the Tory-appointed commission, calling instead for a public inquiry, which would have the power to compel the government to produce information.

“We were skeptical of the process, we’d asked for an inquiry into the justice system in New Brunswick from the get-go,” said Chief George Ginnish of Natoaganeg, or Eel Ground First Nation.

He’s co-chair of Mi’gmawe’l Tplu’taqnn Inc., or MTI, an organization representing nine Mi’kmaq communities in New Brunswick, who announced this week they would no longer participate in the commission.

Minister of Aboriginal Affairs Arlene Dunn downplayed the level of division between Indigenous communities and the province this week.… Continue

JORKE – CHMA Live Session

JORKE is a Canadian-born independent artist, singer, rapper, DJ, and producer. Stemming from a vast set of influences, his music transcends genre barriers, taking inspiration from Hip Hop, RnB, Afrobeats, Gospel and much more. Revered in the Sackville, NB community for his legendary DJ sets, JORKE took the time to stop by the studio to perform his latest single “MURDA” for CHMA.

Joe Hubley sat down with JORKE after the performance, and the microphones got switched on mid-conversation as JORKE reminisced on his time recording and producing in the CHMA studio when he was a student at Mount Allison.

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