This was going to be a story about CBRM council meeting in secret with Albert Barbusci of Sydney Harbour Investment Partners (SHIP) yesterday and then, during the regular meeting last night, approving a three-year extension to Barbusci’s exclusive contract with the municipality. (I’ve removed the SHIP Exclusivity Countdown Clock fromRead More

Editor’s Note: Sydney’s casino turned 25 this summer and to mark its quarter-century, Rob Csernyik has been taking an in-depth look at the promises — and realities — of casino gambling in Cape Breton. In this fourth and final piece, he contrasts the CBRM with a community (within its ownRead More

Status quo Membertou voters are apparently content with the council they have — yesterday’s vote saw Chief Terry Paul and 10 councilors re-elected. And one of the “new” faces on council — Anthony (Ike) Paul —  served as a councilor previously (for 28 years, according to his bio). Electoral OfficerRead More

Membertou First Nation goes to the polls to elect a new chief and council on Thursday, October 22. There are only two candidates for chief — incumbent, Terrance Paul, who has held the office for 36 consecutive years, and challenger Edwin LaPorte — but there are 66 candidates vying forRead More

Tri-Council Meeting Let’s see if I have this straight: once a year, the elected councils of the CBRM, Eskasoni and Membertou meet…in private? These “tri-council meetings” have been going on for a number of years now, and I have never seen a pre-meeting announcement or agenda, just post-meeting reports likeRead More

I’ve been going through old photos from the Cape Breton Highlander and decided to share some of them with you in this last Spectator issue of 2017. Many of them are the work of photographer Ray Doucet. I asked John Campbell, who was the editor of the Highlander (and isRead More

Maureen Googoo’s Ku’ku’kwes News, an “independent indigenous” online news organization, has been providing extensive coverage of the hearings of the National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls (MMIWG) in Membertou, Cape Breton, this week. In addition to live-blogging the sessions, which took place on Monday and Tuesday andRead More

Three days of listening to the wide array of speakers at the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) Call to Action Symposium in Membertou from 12-15 September left me feeling hopeful for continued efforts and commitments to change in this province. As Chief Sidney Peters of Glooscap First Nation said, “WeRead More

Today is Aboriginal Day in Canada so it is quite fitting that we tell the story of a group of happy pilgrims from Membertou First Nation who will be boarding a bus on Friday, June 23, having attended Mass at St. Ann’s Church at 8:30 a.m., to begin their annualRead More

What are your plans for the celebration of Canada’s 150th Birthday? Do you even have any plans? Well, here’s a wonderful idea. Why not attend the Cape Breton Chorale’s Salute to Canada Concert on Sunday, May 28th at Sydney’s Highland Arts Theatre? Directed by Rosemary McGhee with Paula Jane Francis asRead More