Concept Album:
'A Netherworld'

The change project behind my first single 'Cold Moon' is a little more personal. The project is dedicated to all the caregivers, nurses, and health care professionals.  I see the need to care for care providers now more than ever. For this project, I worked with some amazing change-maker nurses, The Tall and Small Cafe, and the BBA leadership class at St. Francis Xavier University to organize a 'Nursing Cafe' for nurses, nursing students, and nurse educators in the Antigonish community. The event was aimed at spreading a culture of compassion and care within the nursing school and the profession of nursing. Coffee, tea, a raffle for gift cards from local businesses, coloring, and live music were featured during the event. The care and support has to begin with ourselves and each other first. 

The project tied to this track is to the waters. For this project I asked listeners to make a donation to the 2022 Mi’kma’ki Water Walk which was led by a group called the Grassroots Grandmothers’ Circle. 

The Grassroots Grandmothers’ Circle is a community grassroots action group of immensely strong and dedicated indigenous women, grandmothers, and mothers. One of the amazing things that this group achieved this past year was stopping Alton Gas from polluting the Sipekne’katik (Shubenacadie) River in Nova Scotia… an example of the strength that women and community can hold. The Sipekne’katik (Shubenacadie) River extends and flows into the Bay of Fundy which is an important body of water lying between Nova Scotia and New Brunswick. The Grassroots Grandmothers’ Circle raises money annually for a walk of prayer that will circles the Bay of Fundy from May to July. An important journey of healing and care for the water. If the bays, lakes, waters and rivers swell, reach out, connect and extend towards each other… why don’t we challenge ourselves to do the same? We stand in the great extensions of one another.

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Link to the fundraiser:

https://www.gofundme.com/f/mikmaki-water-walk-2022-retreat?utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=p_cp%20share-sheet&fbclid=IwAR1TG8hYRl9FKnKZYIpS2sNde9TBdFlXRviLNQOtjf676TJ0kkgSypB9ruQ 

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Information on the Grassroots Grandmothers' Circle: https://www.facebook.com/groups/48379011872/ 

This summer I found myself planting, growing, and harvesting vegetables in several community gardens where chicory grew along the edges. Chicory perseveres and finds a way to establish itself even among the urban environs of vacant lots and cracked sidewalks, that is part of its resilience.

My newest single “Chicory” is tied to the Mutual Aid Gardens Network based in and around Katarokwi/Kingston, Ontario. The Mutual Aid Garden Network seeks to take direct community action to address food insecurity. People collectively grow and harvest food in shared gardening spaces. All the veggies are given out in a biweekly Really Really Free Veggie Market that operates from June-October.

If you live in Kingston you can attend one of the Really, Really, Free Veggie markets, be a part of the harvesting crew or donate funds. If you live in another province, city or country, check out what community garden initiatives you might be able to be a part of to grow access to food.

I hope that this song and project inspires you to cultivate direct action about issues that concern you and experience the power of community in the process. Like chicory, we humans can find ways to establish collective action even among the cracks in the systems, that is part of our resilence!

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Information on the Mutual Aid Garden Network: https://mutualaidkatarokwi.wordpress.com/makk-garden-network/#:~:text=The%20purpose%20of%20the%20MAKK,labour%20(gardening%20or%20at%20markets) 

The final action-based single released is called “A Part of It”. This song displays snapshots of community members in the various towns and cities I’ve lived in. My fellow neighbours have felt the effects of gentrification, rising rents and lack of adequate, affordable housing. Across the country, we’ve seen housing treated as an investment opportunity and luxury commodity, rather than as a social good or as a human right. Immediate solutions to the housing crisis are generally temporary, such as the use of emergency shelters. However, there are more sustainable long-term solutions that consider rent control or repurposing abandoned buildings within cities to provide more affordable housing solutions.

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According to Halifax Mutual Aid “empty properties such as St. Pat’s Alexandra, the Bloomfield Centre, and the Old Central Library could provide more than enough housing to all those who are currently unhoused in Halifax”. Since 2019, consultants working with Providence Commons in Kingston, ON have conducted initial assessments to determine if the space from a soon-to-be-vacant, 243-bed long-term care home in the downtown area could be used to create a community hub focused on affordable and market rental housing and complementary community services. Providence Common's preliminary feasibility report suggests 184 units of different sizes accommodating 230 individuals could be supported.

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I encourage you all to work within your cities and towns to join community groups that challenge government officials to incentivize affordable and non-market housing. Join a tenant union to know your rights, and to empower your neighbours to learn theirs. Countries all over the world have enacted successful, compassionate, and smart solutions to the issue of housing. Let us make our communities more liveable and equitable places where housing is a basic human right. We are all a part of it.

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