Dancers of Mocean gather to study choreography during rehearsals. Photo: Mikkel Frederiksen
Dance in Nova Scotia remains a small presence on the national stage, as arts funding for the Atlantic provinces remain among the lowest in the country. If the dance community is to gain a foothold, changes need to be made in the way the Canada Council for the Arts awards its funds, says Mocean Dance, a Halifax-based dance company.
As they prepare for their fifteenth anniversary performance, they look forward to 2017, as the Canada Council for the Arts has announced changes to their grant programs.
Dancers of Mocean gather to study choreography during rehearsals. Photo: Mikkel Frederiksen
If dance as an art form is to grow in Nova Scotia, more funding and a dedicated performance space is needed, says Sara Coffin, director of Mocean Dance.
Last year, grants from the Canada Council for the Arts to dance organizations in the province were slightly more than $180,000. A drop of $40,000 from the year previous, and testimony to struggle of the dance community to gain steady financial ground in the province.
“As an individual you have to be able to cut it right away if you don’t get the money, because it’s just impossible, and it’s way too much of a risk to put yourself in that much debt,” says Coffin. Even for smaller companies, funding is crucial. “It means shortening the season, or working for free. It means you have to be very adaptable, and look for other ways to raise money.”
Dance in the province, and the Maritimes as a whole, remains a minor figure in the arts landscape. Last year, the sum of awards given to dance organizations in Nova Scotia was the smallest among the major art disciplines.
That isn’t the case elsewhere in Canada. Held up against other provinces, one sees the contrast. Alberta receives more than double of the entire Atlantic region combined.
Applications for grants are evaluated by a jury of peers familiar with the community. A system meant to ensure artistic merit remains the priority. However, this can also mean grants are reserved for a select few.
“The companies that are sucking the money dry are the big ballet companies, so all the money is being funneled into Ontario and Quebec,” says Coffin. “They’re institutions, and they’re important, but then there’s only so much to go around, and then it’s harder for the new surge of energy or blood to come up.”
The numbers reflect the artistic hierarchy. Last year, more than two-thirds of the grant money to organizations went to Ontario and Quebec.
If other provinces are to establish dance communities of their own, more money needs to find its way there, says Coffin.
“They’re definitely propping up city centers instead of helping new areas develop,” she says. A major milestone for the province would be a venue for dance artists to call their own – a dedicated space for rehearsal and performance. “That’s where we need support, because we’re all rehearsing in our living rooms and these weird spaces we can find that are cheap. There is no center here for us to work in.”
But changes are coming.
Starting in 2017, the Council will change its grant programs. Instead of 147 discipline-based programs, the new model will instead have only six, each with its own nationwide mandate, be it nurturing aboriginal artistry or supporting artists abroad.
In an email, Council spokeswoman Meredith Sharpe explained that “so many of the restrictions that have been in place for years will change and the funding model will truly become artist-centered.”
Should the changes mean more money flowing into the province, it would come at an opportune time, says Coffin, because there’s a growing pool of talent in Halifax.
“For the first time we have three generations of dancers working in Halifax,” Coffin says. However, lack of funding will hamper the next generation’s growth. “There’s not enough money being sent here, so they’re usually excluded first, so they have a longer time get their momentum going.”
Once renovations are finished, Fenwick Tower will have a new name: The Vuze. Photo: Mikkel Frederiksen
In late May, Nova Scotia’s Small Claims Court found Joe Metlege, as president and representative of Templeton Properties, to be in violation of the Residential Tenancies Act when the company made a tenant pay three months’ rent up front at the beginning of a lease.
The violation was mentioned as part of a ruling that saw to put an end to a dispute between a tenant and Templeton Properties. In his ruling, adjudicator Michael J. O’Hara, thoroughly explained his reasons for finding Templeton in violation of the Act.
The court documents described how the landlord had defined the sum of money as neither a security deposit, nor a application fee. Instead, it was defined as prepaid rent. A cosmetic distinction that did little to disguise the actual nature of the sum, according to O’Hara, who then went on to explain why, citing the Act’s definition of a security deposit.
With that in mind, O’Hara made clear how the sum exceeds the legal limit of a deposit.
As he summed up his reasoning, O’Hara further commented on the practice of demanding rent upfront under the guise of being “prepaid”, and how the practice, if left unchecked, could leave “unscrupulous” landlords free to circumvent the rules of the Act.
The reminder from the legislature is timely with a new school year on the horizon. As summer begins to cool off, students move back to the city to continue their studies, and many will be taken advantage of as they look for housing.
In 2014, Students Nova Scotia, a student right’s advocacy group, published a report that investigated off-campus housing in the province. They found a pervasive trend of landlords taking advantage of unwitting students, especially those from outside Canada.
They noted “landlords often capitalize on international students’ unfamiliarity with local laws by asking for several months rent in advance.” The report further landlords’ reason for doing so, claiming it to be “assurance against international students leaving the country and breaking their lease.”
At Saint Mary’s University, almost a third of the student body is international. Overseeing them all, as part of Saint Mary’s Board of Governors, is Joe Metlege, here listed as Joseph. He was appointed in 2012, the same year he received his MBA from Saint Mary’s, according to his LinkedIn-page.
Sophie Helpard, Executive Director of Students Nova Scotia, confirms the widespread unlawful practice of demanding rent in advance. She also says more needs to be done to educate students.
“A large part of protecting students from these kinds of, essentially abuse, would be to look at knowledge campaigns and make sure that students understand their rights,” she says. “A lot of partners have the responsibility to educate students, whether it be the universities themselves or the municipal government, specifically. Even landlords, the police, bylaw enforcers and student unions. I think everyone has a role to play.”
Despite the illegality of the practice, there’s nothing in the Residential Tenancies Act that explicitly forbids it. A symptom of a legislative shortcoming in regards to students, says Helpard.
“One thing that’s highlighted throughout the report is looking at the issue that students are rarely legislated for. There is a large gap in things like policy that looks at affordable housing. Student access is not as protected, and so I definitely think that’s prevalent,” she says.
Templeton Properties owns apartment buildings all over Halifax. An overview of the properties can be here.
The HRM says protected bike lanes, like this one Rainnie Drive, are the key to getting more people to bike. Photo: Mikkel Frederiksen
Getting people to favour bicycles for their daily commute remains an uphill struggle for city hall. A report released last year followed up on 2011 census data and found Halifax’s percentage of bicyclist commuters to be three percent. A two-percent growth in that period.
“We’re a highly auto-dependent community compared to other Canadian cities,” says Professor Ahsan Habib of DalTRAC, the research group behind the study. He acknowledges the city’s bicycle numbers are modest. “There are some positive indicators. But it’s a very small portion of the modal split composition. We need to really look at it.”
To compare, on a provincial level, 76 percent commuted by car.
The Active Transportation Priorities Plan was launched in 2014 and sketches the municipality’s goals for increasing bicycle riders in the city until 2019.
“To really make an impact, we need to attract those people who are not comfortable biking on roads,” says David MacIsaac, Active Transportation Supervisor with the municipality. “Everything we hear from the public suggests that we need comfortable, safe-feeling and sometimes protected bicycling facilities that need to be connected.”
However, the plan only calls for one protected bike lane before 2019. A goal it has already met with the bike lane on Rainnie Drive.
“We definitely feel there needs to be more done with that,” says Kelsey Lane of Halifax Cycling Coalition. “Sixty percent of people who are interested in riding a bicycle are hesitant, because they’re a little bit fearful. They will get on a bike if they have those protected bike lanes, but not otherwise.”
She feels the municipality should get into gear.
“I hear a lot from the city that we need to have slow progress and we need to do it step by step, but the reality is that there are tons of ways to actually put in those protected bike lane projects right now, today,” she says.
MacIsaac says the city is moving forward and looking at other possible sites for protected lanes. They’re looking at Hollis Street, University Avenue, as well as South Park Street and Brunswick Street.
For the Halifax Cycling Coalition, it’s essential a network be formed.
“These routes that they’re protecting need to be connected as well. They need be on the corridors people will want to use,” says Lane.
The Coalition is satisfied with the plan overall – now there just needs to be done something about it.
“There’s been some good initiative, but we need to go further. There’s definitely much, much more that we can do,” says Lane. “It is really a pretty good plan, it’s pretty comprehensive, and there’s a lot of work put into it. So now let’s not wait so long that we have to make a new one.”
Provincial cutbacks
At a provincial level, reduced funding has meant cutbacks for Active Transportation work groups.
“One of the positions that was cut was our Active Transportation policy-specific position,” says Julian West of the Ecology Action Centre. Previously five staffers strong, the transportation department now consists only of West.
West says it has meant a lot of programs have ceased, like helping schools develop Active Transportation plans to ensure children may safely ride to school, as well as consulting municipalities on Active Transportation strategies.
One initiative that remains underway, says West, is the Halifax Regional School Board adopting an Active Transportation Charter, to be sent out in September.
“It’s not exactly a policy, but a charter would at least be a set of guidelines that’ll provide schools something to aim for. It’s not an HRM-driven initiative, but it’s definitely something positive happening in the HRM,” says West.
The offices of the Information and Privacy Commissioner of Newfoundland and Labrador. Source: Google Maps
The disclosure of name, position and the exact salary of public employees is not an unreasonable invasion of privacy, says the Newfoundland Privacy Commissioner.
An access to information request was sent to Eastern Health, asking for employment details of all its employees taking home more than $100,000 in yearly earnings. When the notified employees objected to the release of their information, the case went before provincial Privacy Commissioner Ed Ring.
The health workers’ reasons for objecting included fear of identity theft, concerns that the disclosure of their income could harm their therapeutic relationship with patients, as well as “concerns for family members who could become subject to ridicule and scorn and the target of thieves.”
In a written statement, Eastern Health officials’ said the organization was obligated to follow legislation, but “protecting the privacy and confidentiality of our patients, clients and residents, as well as our employees and physicians, is paramount.”
In reaching his recommendation, the Commissioner drew on previous cases from Prince Edward Island, Nova Scotia, as well as Ontario. Ultimately, his decision took its cue from the province’s own Access to Information and Protection of Privacy Act, which finds the release of private information to not be unreasonable when “the information is about a third party’s position, functions or remuneration as an officer, employee or member of a public body or as a member of a minister’s staff.”
Privacy versus transparency
Disclosing the salaries of public employees remains of a topic of national divide. At the federal level, government bodies are only forced to disclose salary ranges, but some provinces like Newfoundland and Labrador go further, and mandate that exact earnings be disclosed, including sources of income outside of salary.
Opinions on whether this extra level of financial scrutiny is fair for public employees differ.
“The more sunshine put on them, the better,” says Ken Rubin, researcher and freedom of information advocate.
So-called “Sunshine laws” decree that governing bodies disclose salaries of public employees earning more than $100,000. A threshold Rubin feels should be done away with.
“In essence, I feel everybody’s salary should be released. I don’t buy into ‘Oh, it’s just for the few higher ones. If you create a system, it’s for everybody,” says Rubin.
However, others feel a better balance between transparency and employee privacy can be struck.
“Doing salary range, I think, is a tried-and-tested method of doing it, and it seems to keep everybody happy,” says Kris Klein, a legal expert dealing with privacy law and access to information.
“I just think everybody’s entitled to a little bit of privacy when it comes to their salary,” says Klein. “It’s definitely a policy choice about being transparent, but at the same time, you’re really telling your public servants they don’t have any privacy in the amount of money that they make.”
Provinces divided
The choice of whether to disclose employees’ income as a range instead of the actual amount differs among provinces.
In 2014, the Office of the Newfoundland and Labrador Privacy Commissioner reviewed the Act following the passing of Bill C-29 in Ottawa. Here, the Act described disclosable income in terms of “salary range”. After review, it was the suggestion of the Commissioner that the wording be changed back to “remuneration” as to include other sources of income for employees.
Policy as to the specificity of disclosure varies from province to province. Below is a map detailing what each province prefers when it comes to “remuneration” versus “salary range”.
Catch a news story from the North, and it’s likely to be a sad one: Forgotten indigenous women, a crisis of teenage suicides…
But in Nunavut, different stories are being told: A Los Angeles photographer saved by an Inuit girl; A sled dog puppy destined for great things; A man and a woman fighting for their love in the cold, cold North. With names like Heaven’s Floor, Qummiruluapik, and Two Lovers and a Bear, these stories are films produced in Nunavut by local filmmakers and crew – and they would have been impossible without funding from the Nunavut Film Development Corporation.
Backed by the Nunavut Government, Nunavut Film offers a financial leg-up to practitioners at every level of the industry, from the curious youngsters just starting out, to the production houses whose films screen at the Cannes film festival.
Funding doesn’t necessarily have to be for a film production. Many programs, such as the Industry Training and Development Fund, gives artists the opportunity to train and hone their skills.
“I wanted to apply because I’m a recording engineer, and being one of the only guys up here doing it full time, I do it in isolation,” says Chris Coleman. “I used it as an opportunity to spend a few days in a real sound mix studio, so I could and learn and observe from real people who do it everyday.”
With a small grant from Nunavut Film, he flew down to Toronto to work with people and equipment he otherwise wouldn’t have access to.
“The assistance I got makes all the difference, because it’s so expensive to fly out of here,” says Coleman.
The Spend Incentive is where the big money is. It gives percentage rebates to productions whose companies are partly Nunavut-owned.
Cash rebates to productions vary in size, with funds awarded from $25,000 to over $350,000. With the growing scene, so has the funding grown. The amount awarded through the program in 2015 was double that of 2011. Two Lovers and a Bear was a recipient last year. It’d later be shown at the Cannes film festival, the most prestigious in the world.
Julia Ain Burns, project manager with Nunavut Film, has noticed the growth as well: the number of applications is up, and so is the level of ambition.
“The trend we’re seeing is that the scope of the projects are getting bigger,” says Burns. “The projects are getting large and there are more requests.”
More than just a helping hand to the arts community in Nunavut, there’s a benefit to the economy’s bottom line. In 2015, for every dollar awarded in grants and rebates, over six were spent by film production companies in the province.
But even at the grassroots level, Coleman says the fund is crucial to keeping the industry alive.
“A lot of the projects are smaller, but the funding they’ve gotten has been critical,” says Coleman. “They could’ve not have been made without Nunavut Film.”
Growing debt doesn’t necessarily mean clouds on Air Canada’s financial horizon, experts say. Photo credit: Mikkel Frederiksen
In addition to driving up operating costs for Air Canada, the weak Canadian dollar also saw the company’s net debt jump close to 27 percent over the last year.
As the loans are in U.S. dollars, the unfavourable exchange saw the debt grow and continue a trend that’s been manifest since 2012. Since then, the net debt of the airline has almost doubled, from $1.9B to $3.7B. A visualization of the five-year trend can be seen below.
But the debt shouldn’t worry stockholders too much. At least not with the interest rate the way it is.
“Borrowing is a really good thing as long as the interest rate stays cheap. Problem is when you get caught,” says Barry Prentice, transportation economist at the University of Manitoba. “When the economy turns on you, or the interest rates suddenly go up and you have a lot of debt.”
The lower the interest rate, the smaller the earnings required to cover the interest.
In 2015, Air Canada reported another year of income growth, continuing a five-year period of overall growth.
But despite a steadily growing bottom line, the airline could still be in trouble, should their earnings not keep up.
“If you start losing money, you can lose all your equity pretty fast. So that’s why people look and watch these numbers with some care, because they present a risk for the company,” says Prentice. The problems that the weak exchange rate causes for Air Canada’s bottom line is discussed at length in their 2015 Annual Report.
A prudent investment
The willingness to take on debt should also be seen in conjunction with Air Canada’s decision to renew their fleet. From a strict business perspective, borrowing money could be the right move.
“That would be not an unreasonable thing to do, because they’re refreshing the fleet, which makes it a more attractive product,” says Karl Moore, professor at McGill University. “That would be something they’re looking at, how do we remain competitive. So it might be seen as a prudent, reasonable investment.”
Any decision to take on more debt should be considered in light of what the money will be going to.
“You may be taking on debt to do that, but debt’s not a bad thing depending on why you’re taking on debt, and whether the business will sustain it over time,” says Moore.
Should the winds of fortune change and repayments suddenly loom large, the nature of Air Canada’s business will also be in their favour, says Prentice.
“For most company, the crisis, if it comes, comes because of cash flow. The airlines have a huge cash flow, because the product they’re selling is four-five hundred dollars a shot – an airline ticket. As long as you can continue to cashflow your debt, you can keep going for a long time,” says Prentice.
A safety net
The necessity of Air Canada’s service will also act as a safety net, especially given the prominent place they occupy in the market.
“The nature of travel is that business travel isn’t going to drop off that much, because people will need to travel,” says Prentice. “They’re obviously in a very dominant position. Right now it’s a pretty cozy duopoly between WestJet and Air Canada.”
Air Canada’s history with the government, however, might even turn into overconfidence from lenders and investors.
“Air Canada’s a very big company and I think there’s always the feeling in the back of the mind of any investor or the bank that the government will never let them go out of business,” says Prentice. “So they can probably have more debt than an equivalent sort of business because of who they are and where they are.”
Keeping people where they’re supposed to be is not easy – just ask the Halifax Regional Police.
In 2014, the rate of escape from lawful custody in the Halifax area was triple that of runner-up London, Ont.
Numbers from Statistics Canada detailing the number of violations from the period 2010-2014 has Halifax at the top of cities in Canada where offenders in custody have escaped. In sheer numbers of actual violations, Halifax is second place only to Montreal, Que. Below are the five cities with the highest number of violations.
Montreal and Halifax have been steady first and second place for the last five years. In 2014, the HRP documented 116 cases of escape to Montreal’s 247, and while Halifax’s number is less than half of that of Montreal, the picture changes drastically when one looks at the crime rate.
A crime rate is found by dividing the number of violations by population size, and then multiplying that number by 100,000, thereby taking the size of the city into account.
With that in mind, Montreal’s rate of offence in 2014 is slightly more than six. For Halifax, that number is 28, meaning an escape from custody happens with more than four times the frequency.And it’s not an isolated statistical blip. While most cities’ rate rarely break double digits, Halifax hasn’t dipped below 25 in the last five years. Below are the five cities with the highest rate.
But ascribing a cause to Halifax’s high numbers isn’t straightforward, as the charge of escaping lawful custody doesn’t necessarily mean tunneling out of prison or leaping from police vans. In Canada’s Criminal Code, Section 145 details the charge of escaping lawful custody, but it has many subsections to it.
“It’s a frequent charge,” says Const. Dianne Woodworth of the Halifax Regional Police. “The majority of the charges are people being on court-imposed conditions and breaching those conditions. If they don’t abide by those conditions and don’t show up to court, they’re charged with 145.”
Another cause of Halifax’s high number may be its proximity to the correctional facility in Dartmouth, and the number of offenders on conditional sentences.
“If people are on conditional sentence, and they’re perhaps doing weekends, and they don’t show up, when those people are arrested, they are charged under Section 145,” says Woodworth. “I was looking at calls from last year from that facility and there are over a thousand, not all for people being AWOL, but a lot of them are for that.”
Of course, there still is the old-fashioned escape attempt.
“It’s applicable when someone tries to run away from us while in custody. We had one the other day where the person was charged. I mean, they ran two feet, but still, they tried to get away from us, so that’s escaping lawful custody,” says Woodworth.
According to Woodworth, a smaller city like Halifax allows police to better acquaint themselves with people on conditional sentences and keep better track. This heightens the frequency by which police officers notices violations of court-ordered conditions.
“If you’re working in certain areas and working with the same people, you almost get to know exactly what their conditions are and you’re like ‘Oh, they’re in breach, because they’re not supposed to be here or be with that person,” says Woodworth.
While most of the violations happen outside of prison walls, the province’s still looking to strengthen the security around the correctional facility in Dartmouth. The 2015/16 Capital Plan has part of this year’s budget set aside for renovating the facility and upgrading its security surveillance.
