Community News Archives » Page 7 of 178 » CHMA, Voice of the Marshes

EOS calls on citizens to collect local waterway samples for August 9 testing blitz

Image of Joe Brook crossing under Mount View Road, from EOS Eco Energy Habitat Assessment 2021.

EOS Eco-Energy is inviting residents from around Sackville, Port Elgin, Baie Verte and Murray Corner to take part in a water testing blitz on Friday, August 9.

At four different locations throughout the day, EOS will hand out water sample bottles to residents who will then go collect samples and return them for same day testing at the government-owned RPC lab in Moncton.

The testing is paid for through a grant from the New Brunswick Environmental Trust Fund, and EOS watershed intern Rachel Francis says the group is hoping to get as many volunteers as possible, collecting samples from a variety of brooks and streams.

Rachel Francis, watershed intern at EOS Eco-Energy. Photo: contributed

Testing for the August 9 blitz is limited to e. coli, a key indicator of water safety for recreation.

“If someone has their own specific fishing place or a little down-low swimming area, we can test that for them so that they know where they’re hanging out and fishing and swimming is safe for them as well,” says Francis.

Francis is also responsible for more extensive water testing at 12 different sites throughout the Tantramar, Memramcook and Cape Tormentine watersheds, as part of the EOS watershed monitoring program.

Francis says water close to pastures or agricultural areas, as well as sewage systems are particularly vulnerable to e. coli.

The town of Tantramar currently tests for e.… Continue

Sappyfest 19 has arrived with a weekend full of art and music, including free, community events

Sappyfest board member Amy Segal (third from left) and OSO planning + design crew at work on their WEAVE installation outside of Struts Gallery on Lorne Street. Photo: Erica Butler

It’s that time of year again. The New Brunswick Day long weekend has arrived, and Sappyfest is setting up on Bridge Street for the 19th annual festival of music and art.

CHMA sat down with Sappyfest board member Amy Segal outside of Struts Gallery on Thursday, as three artists from OSO planning + design started construction of WEAVE, an outdoor installation which they describe as “part woven sculpture, part seating and part performance.”

Segal says that over 100 community volunteers, including a working board of directors, contributes to making the three day music and art festival a reality. There’s also cooperation from local businesses. “Bagtown is lending their space for band food to take place. Ducky’s is going to be hosting a concert,” says Segal. “Of course, there’s music at the Legion, and everyone from young people who are teenagers to older people who are retired are jumping in to make this festival happen.”

The music for Sappy kicks off on Friday evening with some local youth performances (The Drama Queenz + Kids Corner Power Jam) and continues into the night with Absolute Losers, Puberty Well, and Sick Puppy, ending with ‘dance party music’ from Ontario with Slash Need.

Segal says there’s musicians coming “from near and far to participate in the festival,” including Baie Verte’s Jon McKiel and band performing a new album, retro country band Nicolette & The Nobodies from Guelph, Sappyfest veterans Dog Day from Halifax, and Papal Visit from Saint John.… Continue

Climate Imagination Sessions invite residents to ‘dream big’ about the future of Tantramar

Quinn MacAskill wants people in the Tantramar region to dream big and use their imaginations.

“We’re at a time when we really need our imaginations more than ever,” says the student and community organizer, “because if we want a different future than the one that we’re headed towards, which I think most people do, then we need to imagine a different possibility.”

MacAskill is home in Sackville after her first year in the Environment, Sustainability and Society program at Dalhousie University. In cooperation with EOS Eco-Energy, she is hosting two Climate Imagination Sessions this month, in Dorchester on July 31 and Sackville on August 14 (rescheduled from August 10).

CHMA spoke with MacAskill last week to find out more:

The sessions will start off with a brief presentation from MacAskill, “to make sure everyone’s on the same page about the climate emergency, knows what the impacts are going to be globally and locally, [and to] give people some ideas for some frameworks that they could use to think about a sustainable future.”

And then, says MacAskill, “I’m just going to turn it over to people, give them the opportunity to just use their imaginations, dream big, brainstorm.”

MacAskill says that for this session, there are “no real limits or boundaries” to the ideas and vision that people can bring to the table. “At this point, we’re just imagining what the future of Tantramar could be.”

MacAskill acknowledges that the climate crisis is “often framed as kind of an insurmountable problem,” which can lead to anxiety and despair.… Continue

‘It’s time to turn Mr. Higgs out’: John Higham set to become Liberal candidate in Tantramar

The provincial election is just three months away, and so far, there’s been only one candidate for the new riding of Tantramar: incumbent Memramcook-Tantramar MLA and Green Party deputy leader Megan Mitton.

But that will change Monday evening, when former Sackville mayor John Higham joins the race as the New Brunswick Liberal candidate. The newly formed Tantramar Liberal Association is expected to officially endorse Higham at a nominating convention Monday at 7pm at the Tantramar Civic Centre, with party leader Susan Holt expected to attend.

CHMA sat down with Higham to find out about why he decided to run, and what he thinks the issues are for the riding of Tantramar.

Higham acknowledges it will be a tough contest against current MLA Megan Mitton. “This has nothing to do with her,” says Higham, noting that he has worked with the Green MLA in the past, and feels she is well-respected in Tantramar. “The reason I would run, and why I will run, is because it’s time to turn Mr. Higgs out,” says Higham. And he believes the best way to do that is with a Liberal majority government.

Higham says he’s not been happy with the Higgs government’s investments in health care, and has found the premier’s education policies “don’t make a lot of sense.”

When it comes to specific issues like the government’s controversial changes to Policy 713 which now requires teachers to get parental consent before using a child’s preferred name or pronoun, Higham says while as a parent he does want to know “what’s going on with my kids,” he is not a fan of “the way in which they’ve endangered people… It reeks of other reasons that they’ve done it,” says Higham.… Continue

Murphy to enter plea on manslaughter charge on September 3

Tyler Murphy made another brief appearance in Moncton provincial court on Friday morning along with his lawyer Pierrette Allain.

Allain told Judge Suzanne Bernard that Murphy had elected to have a trial by judge and jury, without a preliminary enquiry.

When he returns on September 3, Murphy will coming to the Court of King’s Bench to enter a plea on charges of manslaughter. He temporarily waived the right to a bail hearing and will remain in custody until then.

Murphy is charged in the stabbing death of another Sackville man, 44-year-old Shawn Mitton.

Mitton was found by police on the evening of March 16, lying on the side of Lorne Street in Sackville suffering from apparent stab wounds. The 44-year-old father of four was transported to hospital where he died as a result of his injuries.

Some of Mitton’s family members were in court on Friday. Members of Murphy’s family also attended.

… Continue

Former Irving station and library expansion pitched as permanent market locations by visiting youth

Some SHAD students after making their Farmers Market pitches in Tantramar council chambers. Photo: Erica Butler

Teams of high school students from around Canada and the world competed last week for the best pitch for a new permanent location for the Sackville Farmers’ Market.

Six teams of SHAD program students shared their ideas with a panel of local judges last Thursday evening in Tantramar council chambers. SHAD is a month-long enrichment camp for high school students held at 26 university and college campuses across Canada, including Mount Allison.

The event was hosted by Tantramar director of community and corporate services Kieran Miller, and the judging panel included Tantramar CAO Jennifer Borne, Sackville Business Improvement Area president Sahitya Pendurthi, Tantramar recreation programmer Jessica Wilson, and Sackville Farmers Market manager Danielle Latour.

Six different teams of students made their pitch, tackling not only the question of what a permanent market site should look like, and but also where should it be located.

The night’s winning pitch proposed a new building at 63 Main Street, the site of a former Ivring Gas Station, across the street from the Bill Johnstone Park, the current summer home for the market.

The lot at 63 Main Street is owned by Arcadia Sites Limited, an Irving-owned real estate holdings company.

The proposed building would include a multifunction recreation space with one wall that would open up to the outside, to help maintain the summer market atmosphere. The building would including a rock climbing wall, studios for dance and exercise, and a community kitchen space.… Continue

Political leaders gather to call for urgency on Isthmus fix, and build awareness for bill S-273

Senator Jim Quinn sponsored Bill S-273 in the Senate and is working to build support among MPs as it heads to the House of Commons. Photo: Erica Butler

Two mayors, two MLAs, and representatives from Acadian and Mi’kmaq groups gathered in person and virtually in Amherst on Tuesday afternoon to get an update from Canadian senator Jim Quinn about the future of Bill S-273, “An Act to declare the Chignecto Isthmus Dykeland System and related works to be for the general advantage of Canada.”

Quinn sponsored the bill, which would claim the Isthmus dykeland system under federal jurisdiction, but not commit specific funding to the project. It passed the Canadian senate in June and is expected to make it to the floor of the House of Commons this fall, with Conservative MP Stephen Ellis from Cumberland-Colchester as a sponsor.

Quinn says he believes S-273 has a shot to make it through the House of Commons if enough MPs are aware of it. He’s hoping the bill will at least make it past first and second reading and into committee, where witnesses can be called to talk about the risks.

“Now’s the time to start educating,” says Quinn, “because that’s what it was like in the Senate process. [It] was educating my colleagues on this area. We’re often forgotten, and a lot of people don’t know where the Chignecto Isthmus is.”

Tantramar Mayor Andrew Black says he’s willing to work to help make MPs aware of the situtation on the Chignecto Isthmus.

… Continue

Indefinite closure of Wheaton Covered Bridge brings up fond memories and current concerns

A barricaded Wheaton Covered Bridge on the High Marsh Road in Tantramar, NB. Photo: Percy Best

Hear this story on Tantramar Report:

Phyllis Wheaton can remember driving through the Wheaton Covered Bridge with her parents, always honking the horn. It’s a longstanding tradition in New Brunswick’s covered bridges. “Everybody honks the horn going through the bridge, because you can’t see if there’s somebody on the other side,” says Wheaton.

The Wheaton Covered Bridge on High Marsh Road is one of about 56 historic covered bridges left in the province. According to the Tantramar Heritage Trust, the current bridge was built more than a hundred years ago, around 1916. But now its future is in question.

On July 11, the Department of Transportation and Infrastructure (DTI) closed the Wheaton bridge to all traffic, citing public safety concerns. The department says that during a recent annual inspection, DTI workers discovered “significant structural issues” in the bridge, which caused the immediate closure. DTI says that its bridge staff are still conducting further evaluation of the bridge and there is currently no timeline for its reopening.

Phyllis Wheaton and her family have fond memories of the Wheaton Covered Bridge, and still rely on it as small farmers. Photo: Erica Butler

Phyllis Wheaton and her sister Mary Fawcett not only have nostalgia for the bridge, but they rely on it. Wheaton is one of many farmers who uses the bridge to bring cattle to and from the Tantramar Community Pasture, and Fawcett cuts hay every year on her plot of marsh near the bridge.… Continue

Sackville hospital clinic offers some primary care services to help fill the gap

Nurse practitioner Darla MacPherson and Sackville Memorial Hospital facility manager Sarah Brown, in one of the exam rooms at the hospital’s ambulatory care clinic. Photo: Erica Butler

A new nurse practitioner clinic is offering services out of the Sackville Memorial Hospital’s ambulatory care clinic to those without a family doctor or NP.

What started out as a series of PAP test clinics has morphed into something with a wider range of services, including drivers medicals, handicap parking forms, medication refills (other than narcotics), blood pressure checks, and routine lab testing with follow up. Nurse Practitioner Darla MacPherson says that while she was working in the hospital’s emergency department, she coulld see the need for an “orphan clinic.”

“I could see people, women in particular, coming in who had not had their physicals done for a long time,” says MacPherson, “some who had abnormal PAP smears. And I was like, oh, something has to be done about that. This can’t go on.”

So MacPherson got permission to run a temporary PAP clinic out of the hospital’s ambulatory care section. But it didn’t stop there.

“That very day of starting the PAP clinic, I said to Sarah [Brown, the Sackville Memorial Hospital business manager], in the parking lot, there are people coming to my door all the time looking for med refills, because I’m a Sackville girl, and everybody who knows me knows I’m a nurse practitioner.”

She told Brown, “the need is there.… Continue

How Sussex got $3.2 million in federal funding to support housing growth

Some community leaders are calling on Tantramar council to take steps to access federal and provincial funding that could help build infrastructure needed for new housing growth in the region.

“New housing requires adequate infrastructure,” resident Natalie Donagher told Tantramar council at their July 9 meeting. “However, we understand that infrastructure funding dedicated specifically toward affordable housing, is not being accessed by Tantramar.”

Donagher was reading from a letter signed by Pat Estabrooks and Margaret Tusz-King, the co-chairs of the Tantramar-Strait Shores Community Task Force. The letter refers to provincial funding available through the Regional Development Corporation, and also the federal Housing Accelerator Fund.

“Only the municipality can apply for [this funding],” said Donagher. “If this funding is not applied for by the municipality, the added costs for new infrastructure will have to be paid for by current taxpayers through property taxes and municipal borrowing. Or, the new affordable housing might not happen at all.”

HAF now closed to new applications

Unfortunately, one of the main programs that Donagher referred to is closed to new applications, at least for the time being.

The federal government announced their Housing Accelerator Fund in March 2023, a $4 billion dollar fund to help “build the housing we need, faster” according to the program’s tag line.

Dozens of projects across the country have been approved under the program, including 16 in New Brunswick.… Continue

Category: Community News

HAF now closed to new applications