About three years ago, I produced a show for CBC’s Land and Sea on Fairy Culture in Cape Breton. Fairies meaning “little people” or in Mi’kmaq culture “Wiklatmu’j.” It was so well received that I have decided to write a book about the same project. I have several publishers interested.Read More

Follow the Money Have you seen the “Follow the Money” database from Post Media? Do you have three days to spare? Because I promise you, once you start perusing its contents you will not be able to stop. It’s the work of reporter Zane Schwartz, Post Media’s annual Michelle Lang Fellow,Read More

Unlike David Johnson’s March 23rd rhetorical spin-doctoring CB Post article citing me as an ill-founded separatist, I do indeed retort with a bold vision forward for Cape Breton Island (CBI), rooted in sound legal principles and a viable political structure which, to succeed, needs to be shaped and implemented by CapeRead More

Editor’s Note: In light of Senator Dan Christmas’ recent speech re-opening the issue of Cape Breton provincehood, Spectator contributor Kenzie MacNeil re-offers material originally published in The Cape Bretoner in 1993 on the Annexation of 1820. (You can read Part I here and Part II here.)    In this, the thirdRead More

Editor’s Note: In light of Senator Dan Christmas’ recent speech re-opening the issue of Cape Breton provincehood, Spectator contributor Kenzie MacNeil re-offers material originally published in The Cape Bretoner in 1993 on the Annexation of 1820. You can read Part I here.   “[T]he annexation was not legal according to BritishRead More

“Unconstitutional and illegal” So declared 2,000 passionate and angry Cape Bretoners, in their eighth bid to get the British government to reverse its decision to annex Cape Breton to Nova Scotia in 1820. In light of Senator Dan Christmas’ recent speech re-opening the issue of Cape Breton provincehood, I thinkRead More

Dr John Reid will speak at the next meeting of the Old Sydney Society on 23 November 2017, 7:30 PM at the Old Bank Building, 175 Charlotte St., Sydney. The title of the talk is: “The Grand Old Game: The Complex History of Cricket in Cape Breton, to 1914.” ​ThisRead More

Editor’s Note: In a shining example of cooperation between independent news sources, the Spectator is pleased to present a story from this week’s Victoria Standard. If you like what you read, consider subscribing — you can even get a paper version.   With federal legalization of recreational cannabis less thanRead More

If there was one issue that dominated the 2017 provincial election in Cape Breton, it was healthcare. And it’s not like there was any one healthcare issue that stood out — poke the system just about anywhere and you’ll hit a sore spot, whether it’s lack of access to primaryRead...

Inspiration for this column can come from the strangest places. This time, I was deep in the heart of my favorite blackberry patch, high canes arching above my head, hands and mouth stained as purple as my bucket. A flock of sparrows and finches were chirping and scolding me forRead More