Day 177 of a 365-Day Portrait of Canada: Around Halifax.

THIS IS HALIFAX

Shipping is down 30% in the Halifax harbour, but we we would still see cargo ships coming into port each day.

Fishing season started today in Nova Scotia.

 

Pier 21

Pier 21 is a former ocean liner terminal and is now an immigration museum and National Historic Site in Halifax. It operated as an ocean liner terminal and immigration shed from 1928 to 1971 and became an immigration museum in 1999. Pier 21 is Canada's last remaining ocean immigration shed. The facility is often compared to Ellis Island, although this term is also used to describe the immigration station at Grosse Isle, Quebec.

Welcome to Canada! These benches are the first thing immigrants saw after passing through one of two sets of doors at Pier 21. Nervous immigrants would then wait to see an immigration officer to review their paperwork and Canadian sponorship status or contract. In some cases immigrants arrived in Canada to find out their Canadian sponsors had found a different immigrant soul to fill the job. This left them in a desperate situation, and they would take any position available just to stay in Canada. Our tour guide explained his first-hand experience arriving in Canada, " They woke you up at 4 and worked you until 11 at night."

 

The Canada Propagana Machine - Posters promising people from around the world huge farms and an ideal country lifestyle.

Suitcase that traveled from countries across the sea. Often an entire family's earthly belongings would be in just two suitcases.

Women's Promotional Display Pier 21

George Zwaagstra walked through this set of doors at Pier 21 in 1951 as a immigrant from Holland. 58 years later George volunteers twice a week as a tour guide at Pier 21.

People We Met Today

Betty and Shirley Church have lived in their Halifax home for 36 years. "God has blessed us with a very nice home" expressed Shirley. The two sisters moved from Chester, Nova Scotia to Halifax in 1973 to be closer to Shirley's son. Shirley and Betty are active in the church as well as feed and care for the stray cats from the neighboring grain elevator.

We met Mary and Angus McDonald when Mary approached our van to see what was going on with this crazy van with the Canadian flags all over it. We take these encounters as a hint that we're destined to meet, share and photograph these folks. They were so pleased to be photographed and be included with our cross Canada photo essay and we were delighted to meet such a cute, loving couple. Thanks Mary and Angus!

 

Daniel Girard is the brew master at the Garrison Brewing Company and has been brewing beer for 7 years.

Peter's Pizza is a family run business here in Halifax, est. in 1973. Peter (on the right) is the grandson of Peter Sepsakos who came to Canada in 1973 and started the business. On the left is Peter's (Seniors) daughter, Cathy.

Proud to be Canadian - I met this couple at the park, if you notice the back window is full of small Canadian flags. They got out in the middle of a major wind storm to pose for this photo.

Flag Of The Day

Via Rail Trains

It doesn't matter where you have your Canadian flag, you just have to have one somewhere in the house.

Two Canadian Flags reflect in mirrored port holes of a full sized passenger ship display at Pier 21.

Reporting From Somewhere In The Field

Night number 12 in the same vacant lot beside the inland terminal in Halifax. A big thanks to everyone in the neighbourhood!

Smiley was a friendly dog we met downtown on a walk.

Day 176 of a 365-Day Portrait of Canada: Art and Architecture in downtown Halifax.

Halifax’s skyline is testimony to the fix of century old landmarks and condo projects going on in the inner city.

Edward Cornwallis played an important part in the formation of Nova Scotia. Although he lived in a time when norms of behavior were different and Nova Scotia was a battleground, he has been criticized for his treatment of aboriginal people.

Cornwallis is infamous for ordering a bounty on the heads of Mi’kmaq warriors following the October 1749 Sawmill attack in Dartmouth. The Mi’kmaq were allied with the French, which resulted in the deaths of four civilians, of whom two were scalped and two were beheaded. This action led to further escalation of hostilities between the Mi’kmaq and the English Crown that included atrocities by both sides that did not end until the 1761 Treaty of Peace and Friendship.

A statue of Edward Cornwallis stands at the center of Cornwallis Park in downtown City of Halifax. Cornwallis Junior High School in Halifax is named for him.

The War Memorial is a centerpiece in front of the Halifax City Hall. The female figure has a haunting feeling with a blank, lifeless face. Perhaps this represents the sorrow surrounding the massive death toll of the Canadian soldiers at war.

The Old Town Clock on Citadel Hill.

Clock Tower on water front.

Halifax City Hall

The building fronts Duke Street and is located at the north end of Grand Parade, which is an historic military parade square dating back to the founding of Halifax in 1749. Dalhousie University was situated on the present-day site of the building during the nineteenth century, and for many years, the town and later the city council argued for the public use of the site. A compromise was engineered by the premier, Sir William Young to facilitate a new use for the site.

The provincial government provided funding for the university to relocate its facilities and the City of Halifax granted the university a 5-acre (20,000 m²) parcel of land elsewhere in the city to permit the university to expand. The university building was demolished to make way for the new structure and timbers from the old academic building were reportedly incorporated into the municipal building. It was designed by Edward Elliot and constructed for the City of Halifax between 1887 and 1890. It is one of the oldest and largest public buildings in Nova Scotia and it is a designated National Historic Site of Canada.

Halifax has gone through a number of changes as you can see by the missing building on the left, with just the outline of the roof.

On the right an alcove on this building is evidence that a once-present statue has been removed.

Halifax’s waterfront has retained an old city charm and history, despite being totally rebuilt after the Halifax Explosion in 1917.

There are many reliefs on the grand building in downtown Halifax. Some have not weathered so well, having been built out of sandstone, which does not stand up well to water.

John Greer’s “Origins” is in front of the Art Gallery of Nova Scotia .

In memory of the 2200 known Canadian Merchant Seamen lost by enemy action.

A Canadian Flag Proudly Displayed on the Bank Of Nova Scotia Building

Day 176 of a 365-Day Portrait of Canada: A Sunday afternoon walk in downtown Halifax.

Flag of the day, Joseph Howe looks over the Bank Of Nova Scotia.

St. Paul’s Church is an evangelical Anglican church in downtown Halifax Nova Scotia within the Diocese of Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island of the Anglican Church of Canada. It is located at the south end of the Grand Parade, an open square in downtown Halifax with Halifax City Hall at the northern end. Founded in 1749 (the same year as the Halifax colony), it is the oldest Anglican church in Canada. The building was begun in 1750 (making it the oldest surviving structure in the city of Halifax) and is based on the ground plan of the Gibbs church of St. Peter’s, Vere Street in London, with later additions such as a larger tower.

The Halifax Explosion and
St Paul’s

The terrible explosion of  December 6, 1917, is memorialized in the “explosion window” (upper level, third from the back of the church) and the wooden sill embedded in the wall over the memorial doors in the entryway. The apparent profile in the broken glass of the window is said to resemble that of the Rev. Jean-Baptiste Moreau, an assistant at St. Paul’s from 1750 to 1753. Following the explosion, the vestry was used as an emergency hospital and the bodies of hundreds of victims were laid in tiers around the walls.

The Narthex

The Narthex is outside the original north wall of the building. It contains a display case with the retired colours of the Princess Louise Fusiliers, a Halifax militia regiment with a history dating into the early 19th century. It also contains a memorial to a crewman killed in the capture of the Chesapeake by the HMS Shannon in the War of 1812. The Shannon sailed into Halifax harbour with the Chesapeake on a Sunday morning. When word reached the church, the service was concluded and the church emptied in record time!

Memorial Tablets

St. Paul’s is said to have more memorial tablets on its walls than any other church building in North America. They form a fascinating record of the men and women who have occupied its pews over the centuries, many of whom also occupy significant places in the history of Halifax and Nova Scotia. The earliest of them are to be found on the side wall of the chapel.

Jill Alexander’s great grandfather name appears first on the list of names on the arched doorway, William James Armitage was the first Rector ant Archeacon of Halifax.

Historic St. Paul’s Church on the Grand Parade presents “Voices of Spring” featuring the Chester Brass Band together with St. Paul’s Choir and organist Andrew Killaweek.  The Chester Brass Band was founded in 1873, and incorporated in 1906, the Chester Brass Band is an internationally renowned brass ensemble, based in Chester, Nova Scotia. It is a non-profit, volunteer organization funded wholly by its membership, concert series, and local patrons.
Its repertoire includes classical works, marches, hymns, popular melodies, and original works written or arranged specifically for brass bands. The band has fronted its own Dixieland band, stage band and small brass ensembles. They have performed with many guest choirs, vocalists and instrumental soloists of distinction.
The band has performed in concert halls, theatres, schools, churches, parks, restaurants, and even in people’s back yards. It has played concerts, for parties, weddings, convocations, or just for listening pleasure. The band has competed in festivals and competitions. On five occasions, it traveled to the International Brass Band Championships where it placed as one of the top three bands, every time.
The Chester Brass Band has been a part of the Chester Community since the turn of the last century, and is proud of the level of musical achievement that it has attained. It draws great strength from British Brass Band tradition and its own unique Nova Scotia heritage.

A small crowd of 70 people filled St. Paul’s to listen to afternoon classical music. The high ceilings made for great acoustics and any seat was a good seat.

Old friends chat and catch up on what’s been going on since they last saw one another.

Conductor

Guest Conductor

Folks I Met On The Streets Of Halifax.

Look at the different 24 hours makes on a walls where graffiti is painted. The Wall on the right is getting painted over at 3pm on a Saturday, that same wall was being repainted by a different artists just 23 hours later.