Category: Daily News

This past Friday, the Windsor Grand Room on the Mount Allison campus was filled with people enjoying international cuisine and supporting the cause of supporting refugee students. The event was hosted by the Student Refugee Program at Mount Allison, who invited the international community at Mount Allison to prepare a dish from their country or culture, and share it with attendees. About a dozen students, from the United Kingdom, India, Japan, Germany and other countries, brought dishes to share. 

Zuhal Haidari, co-president of the Student Refugee Program, explained that the purpose of the event was to help create awareness of the program, but also give students a way to  “showcase their cultures and traditions, and kind of share that with everyone.”

Jigmet Angmo made pav bhaji, a popular Indian street food, to share. “I feel really happy that I can share it with others and talk about it,” said Angmo.  Meanwhile Rajan Minocha-McKenney explained that he was grateful to have the opportunity to share a dish that his grandmother has always cooked for his family. 

Bridget Powning coordinated the event, and said the funds raised would go towards sponsoring refugee students, helping them continue with their studies and adapt to their life in Canada. “We sponsor a refugee student every two years,” says Powning. “And this past year we’ve had two in two years, so it’s been very exciting.”… Continue

An old play with a new twist is coming to Mount Allison University. It was called Ubu Roi, and was written by Alfred Jarry in the late 1890s. But now, professor emeritus, Alex Fancy is giving it a modern update by turning it into a play within a play and sprinkling in a mix of French and English. It’s called UBU (2024).

Fancy has been presenting bilingual plays for more than fifty years. It started as a way to become a better teacher and to help his students to use their language skills outside of the classroom. All these decades later, it’s still working.

Jacob Graham is a fourth year English major. This is his second time doing a Tintamarre production. 

“I thought it was a really healthy and enthusiastic environment for a new actor,” said Graham.

He was a French immersion student at school, and is happy to have the opportunity to continue using his second language.

“It’s a useful way to use that skill that I haven’t really used much in my post secondary career.”

Ella Crowley is a second year English major who plays two parts in the production. She said she’s drawn to the material because it’s a mix of languages, of old and new eras, and because the actors get a chance to play with genders through the changing of characters.

“All across the board binaries are being broken down and played with and mixed together.… Continue

A Mayor’s Roundtable on Housing has been meeting since August in Tantramar.

Mayor Andrew Black shared the news publicly for the first time on Monday afternoon, at the tail end of council’s monthly committee of the whole meeting. Black said the roundtable was created in August, “to initiate a conversation about housing and the housing crisis and how to address those concerns within Tantramar.”

The new roundtable comes at a time when municipal governments are taking more of an active role in solutions to housing issues in their communities. Across the border, Amherst town council voted in October 2022 to fund a position with the Cumberland Homelessness and Housing Support Association, and also appointed a town representative to the organization’s board. As recently reported by CHMA’s Tori Weldon, that move is bearing fruit as the organization prepares to open a new community hub next month, bringing its shelter and other services under one roof.

And recently both Moncton and Saint John signed direct funding agreements with the federal government to provide development incentives which the cities say will help increase housing supply.

So far, Black’s Roundtable on Housing is not formalized, and Black clarified on Monday that the group is not an actual committee of council, which would fall under the town’s bylaws and be accountable to council and the public.

“It hasn’t been sanctioned by council, so it’s not a committee of council… It’s just a non-formalized group of individuals getting together to talk about this topic,” said Black.… Continue