Activism in Halifax: An Overview

Halifax, like many cities across the country, has seen a rise in the significance of activism over the past year. Movements in Halifax, whether they are part of bigger nationwide movements or independent to the province, have been gaining more attention from the public, politicians and the media since the beginning of 2011.

Protests have changed in nature.They have blatantly demonstrated the need for change since the beginning of time, but new resources now allow people all over the world to pick and choose how and where they participate.

Dr. Bob Huish is a professor of International Development Studies at Dalhousie University, with one of his courses focused specifically on activism. According to Dr. Huish, the world has reached a point in time where people need to speak; this is clear from the Occupy movements that recently surfaced all over the world.

“ These occupations of public space were somehow tied to greater processes within the political economy,” says Huish. “Especially during the Iraq war, there seemed to be a fear that any sort of public expression that really challenged global capitalism would be looked at negatively. Occupy says, ‘it’s ok to express yourself,’ and that’s going to influence other movements down the road.”

Canadian Activism in History

As Dr. Huish mentions, history shows post-war eras as  the peak times for social activism. In 1945 when Igor Gouzenko was defected for presenting evidence of a Soviet-led spy ring operating in Canada, Prime Minister MacKenzie King responded by organizing a Royal Commission to investigate espionage in Canada. Under the War Measures Act, government officials had the power to arrest, detain and deport any Canadian citizen.

The espionage commission saw some of the most serious abuses of individual human rights in Canadian history, which eventually sparked a wave of public outcry against the War Measures Act. By 1970, the Act had been implemented again on account of what is now known as The October Crisis. The October Crisis unfolded as a series of events after two government officials were kidnapped by the Front de Liberation du Quebec. The October Crisis was directly linked to Quebec’s Quiet Revolution, and in the midst of widespread socio-political change, social movements became an ever-occurring force across the entire country. Prior to these events, individual human rights and rights-based movements simply did not exist.

While social activism (particularly rights-based activism) didn’t really reach Nova Scotia until the early 1960’s, the emergence of second-wave feminism, leftism, the births of gay rights and environmentalist movements all characterized this period and led to the shaping of a new era of identifying global conflict.

A New Era

As Dr. Huish implies, a shift in global conflict may be shaping the direction of modern social movements. This kind of conclusion can be drawn from looking at the modern example of the Occupy movement in Halifax in particular.

It was mid-October by the time the Occupy movement reached the east coast of Canada,  with Haligonians bringing their own interests and flavour to the movement. Particular to the Halifax chapter of the movement was the ongoing battle between protesters and locals over the use of Halifax’s Grand Parade Square.

The municipal government was concerned about protesters taking over the popular public space, especially with a Remembrance Day ceremony approaching in mid-November. Despite the protesters’ promises to leave the area peacefully on Remembrance Day, members of the Halifax Regional Municipality City Council eventually had the protesters arrested and evicted from the area, after several in-camera council meetings.

The municipal government received a lot of criticism over its conduct of the Occupy movement, and a lot of the aftermath of the eviction has not yet been resolved.

As 2012 arrived, it became clear that social media would have inevitable effects on social activism. In early March, a whirlwind initiative known as Kony 2012 spread like rapid fire across the internet, with rallies being organized in cities all across Canada, including Halifax. The Kony 2012 movement is an example of a initiative that was poorly organized, yet managed to excel through the cyber world of social media, briefly capturing the attention of millions along the way.

Kony 2012 featured a video created by the charity Invisible Childen’s Inc. The purpose of the Kony movement was to raise awareness about international war criminal Joseph Kony, in order to have him arrested by December 2, 2012.

Soon after the rallies were organized, the Kony 2012 movement received large amounts of criticism for oversimplification of events, and for providing a more or less black-and white version of the story as opposed to just encouraging people to learn about it for themselves. The momentum for the rallies had subsided by the time the actually took place, and many cities only saw support in smaller amounts. This type of sentiment was evident in the city of Halifax, where graffiti messages were displayed and posters were torn down.

“The (Kony 2012) video was very well constructed to go viral,” says Huish. “People only realized afterwards that the key ingredients that went into that video were based on getting the message out. Technology (such as social media) is a tool of activism but it really needs to be used by people who are well organized.”

Social Movements on the Rise

From just looking at these examples of larger social movements in Halifax, it’s difficult to determine which direction social activism is headed for in the small port city. One major development to watch will be the actions of students as decisions are made in regards to tuition fees.

While student demonstrations have overtaken the province of Quebec after the cabinet’s proposal to raise tuition fees in February, Nova Scotians have remained relatively quiet, despite the fact that they may face similar problems.

Mass demonstrations in Quebec consisting of over 100,000 students have created the need to revisit the concept of the protest. Quebec’s passing of the emergency Bill 78, which prevents students from protesting anywhere in the province without prior police approval, will undoubtedly have an impact on the way activism touches future generations.

“I find it quite surprising,” says Huish. “With the large number of students and the province (of Nova Scotia) charging enormous tuition, there should be more critical discussion about this on the parts of students.”

With similar tuition frustrations being expressed in Nova Scotia, it could only be a matter of time before larger scale protests reach the east coast once again.