Category: Community News

Mount Allison launched its screen studies program during the pandemic, but this year, it broadened its scope when graduating student Darcy Worth pitched an independent study project to write and produce a short film. And this weekend, that short film, “The Yellow Wallpaper”, will premiere at the Motyer-Fancy Theatre.

Worth dropped by CHMA to talk about the project:

About two dozen fellow students worked on the film, says Worth, including actors, production designers, hair and makeup artists, costume designers and set builders. Before coming to Mount Allison, Worth studied and worked in film. “So when I heard about screen studies and what they were doing, I thought, wouldn’t it be cool to do a sort of independent study and actually make something and give the other students the experience of working on a film?”

Worth’s film is based on the 1892 short story by Charlotte Perkins Gilman, “The Yellow Wallpaper”, a story of a woman with misunderstood postpartum depression who is trapped by her physician husband for a rest cure treatment, which eventually causes her to lose her grip on reality.

“It’s terrifying and creepy,” says Worth, “and sadly, still very relevant in terms of how we treat a lot of conditions today.”

Worth says he fell in love with the story immediately, and saw its potential for a visual medium.… Continue

April is Poetry Month, and to celebrate CHMA sat down with Tantramar’s Poet Laureate Laura Watson in the kitchen of her Sackville home.

… Continue

Tantramar councillor Bruce Phinney had his day in court Thursday, as he brought his request for the public release of 20 recommendations about the Sackville Fire Department to a judge in New Brunswick’s Court of King’s Bench.

But Judge Jean-Paul Ouellette didn’t see fit to order the release of the recommendations, saying that he felt that New Brunswick’s Right to Information and Protection of Privacy Act (RTIPPA) was very clear in requiring town clerk Donna Beal not to disclose the information because it would reveal “the substance of records made by an investigator… in relation to a harassment investigation or a personnel investigation.”

The report in question was a workplace assessment of the Sackville Fire Department conducted by Montana consultants in the summer of 2021, after a series of allegations by volunteer firefighters of harassment and bullying were reported by local journalist Bruce Wark.

Phinney’s brief on the matter argued that the report was in fact not a personnel investigation, but an assessment of the management of the department.

Although he has yet to publish his decision on the matter, Judge Ouellette indicated on Thursday that he planned to uphold the town’s position, that the full Montana report as well as all of its 20 recommendations were fully protected under New Brunswick’s RTIPPA law.… Continue

A number of Tantramar councillors are throwing their support behind the possible expansion the town’s new rink fee subsidy program to include high school hockey, at a cost of between $3,200 and $11,000.

Staff are recommending against expanding the program, which in its current form is expected to cost the municipality about $43,000 in discounted fees to Sackville Minor Hockey and the Sackville Skating Club.

Director of Active Living Matt Pryde told council that the new discount program replaces the Recreation and Sports Subsidy Pilot Program, which provided registration fee rebates directly to parents, in an effort to increase access and enrolment in high-cost sports.

Pryde told council that due to the competitive nature of high school hockey, where kids have to try out to make the teams, the program wouldn’t have the effect of expanding the number of kids able to register, which is why high school teams were not included in the original subsidy program. The two high school hockey teams have about 18 players each, said Pryde.

Pryde recommended against including the high school teams in the program, but his report presented two other options for council: to either give the teams discounted fees for their practice times, which would cost the town about $3200, or extend the discount to both games and practices, which would cost the town about $11,000.

Councillor Josh Goguen said he was torn over the options, and pointed out that high school hockey teams, unlike Sackville Minor Hockey, were bringing in revenue from ticket sales at games.… Continue

Tantramar Council had its first ever open discussion on Monday about a longstanding request from local group, Sackville Ceasefire Now.

The discussion came about after a petition signed by 226 people was presented by assistant clerk Becky Goodwin, requesting, “that Tantramar Council write a letter to the Right Honourable Justin Trudeau, Prime Minister of Canada, to request that the federal government call for an immediate and permanent ceasefire in Gaza, the release of all hostages, and an increased flow of humanitarian aid.”

A report on the petition listed two options for council: either write the letter or don’t. There was no staff recommendation, because as Goodwin told councillors, the issue is one of governance, and it was up to Mayor and council how to proceed.

In the end, councillors spent about ten minutes discussing the Sackville Ceasefire Now request and then moved on without a resolution either way.

According to explanations from staff at the end of the meeting, there was no option available to councillors on Monday to start a formal response to the request. The only response possible can only happen at council’s April 9 meeting, or at any future regular meeting of council, when any councillor can submit a notice of motion. That motion would then appear on council’s agenda the following month for discussion and a vote.… Continue

Two small local businesses are interested in setting up shop on municipal property this summer.

The Ice Cream Coop, which moved to Lorne Street in 2022 and changed owners in 2023, is looking to make a move back to Main Street, in the Bill Johnstone Memorial Park between the Sackville Public Library and the bandstand. Before 2022 the Coop was located on the other side of the library building, in the parking lot of the Kookie Kutter.

A proposed agreement presented to council on Monday would see The Ice Cream Coop owners responsible for electrical upgrades and liability insurance, as well as paying $200 per month to rent the space for their summer season.

On the other side of town on Mallard Drive, Sackville Farmers’ Market coffee purveyors Deus Ex Macina are looking to set up a seasonal cafe inside the Visitor Information Centre (VIC). Pete Stephenson and Alice Cotton have proposed to do about $5000 in plumbing and electrical work to carve out a 200 square foot space inside the VIC, alongside The Craft Gallery, Robert Lyons Graphics, and the town’s summer tourism staff.

Tantramar staff are calling the first year of the VIC agreement a pilot, with a token rent of $1 per month in consideration of the necessary renovations. The agreement specifies that rent in future years would be on par with the other tenants in the building.… Continue