CHEERS: To Lennox Island band member and P.E.I. poet laureate, Julie Pellissier-Lush, for her new book, Mi’kmaq Campfire Stories of Prince Edward Island. Not only does the book aim to keep the stories of Lush’s culture alive but the subject matter also addresses bullying and teaches children that any one person can change the world. Considering all the negative stories that have been circulating this year, it’s nice to see such positive messaging.
JEERS: To the U.S. presidential debate, which descended to new lows this past week. Incumbent Donald Trump and Democratic hopeful Joe Biden engaged in a 90-minute shouting match, often hurling insults at each other and talking over the moderator. People are already cynical enough when it comes to politics. This behaviour likely didn’t sway voters but it certainly might have turned a lot of them off. Luckily for Canadians, it's just a sideshow.
CHEERS: To the City of Charlottetown for choosing to shuffle the chairs around on its standing committees. These are the committees that meet to discuss issues and make recommendations to the city council. It’s never good to have any single councillor act as chair of a committee for too long. It’s good to get some new voices and perspectives in there. These committees tend to change, on average, during the middle of a council’s four-year term so this is about right on schedule.
CHEERS: To the Island Regulatory and Appeals Commission’s decision to allow the nine-storey student residence at UPEI to continue despite a challenge from a resident. The citizen was appealing Charlottetown council’s decision to grant an exemption from the regulated height variance alleging the public meeting process was flawed back when the decision was made earlier this year. The pandemic changed a lot of things and certainly made it harder to give the public the same avenues of input they traditionally held, but the city did as much as it could under the circumstances. And, it is a well-known fact the city needs more housing for students, not less.
CHEERS: To the folks behind the Treaty Day education program. If Chief Darlene Bernard of Lennox Island First Nation was 54 years old before she started to learn the history of her people, how far behind are her non-Indigenous neighbours in their understanding of First Nations culture and the relationship between it and the rest of Canada? On Treaty Day, Oct. 1, a new collaborative research project between the province and the Mi’kmaq was announced. Aimed at adapting the school curriculum to help all Islanders learn Mi’kmaq history and language, Bernard hopes people will grow to understand more — and fear less — the treaties First Nations are beginning to assert. We say cheers to that because, without mutual understanding, there will be little progress in building better relationships.
