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Bridging Islands
Editor: Godfrey BaldacchinoPublisher: Acorn Press$29.95An island is a piece of land surrounded by water. But: what happens when bridges, causeways, tunnels- “fixed links”- irrevocably connect islands to mainlands? Is insularity, and its way of life, threatened? Or is it saved by virtue of a stronger integration with the world at large?Bridging Islands is a critical, interdisciplinary scoreboard of the pros and cons of bridging islands to mainlands. Internationally recognized scholars review the assorted socio-cultural, economic and political impacts of fixed links on small island communities. Included are chapters on Prince Edward Island’s Confederation Bridge (celebrating its 10th anniversary in 2007), Cape Breton’s Canso Causeway, islands in Quebec and Newfoundland, the Florida Keys, Ireland, France, Scotland, Sweden, and Singapore.
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The Sniger and the Floose
Artist: Katie BrosnanPublisher: Running the Goat$13.99On a very Random Island
in the North Atlantic Sea,
some very Randomanimals
are hiding in the trees…
So begins Ashley Fayth’s delightful nonsense poem in which readers meet a range of “wild and wondrous” beasts—like the sniger, the floose, the squiffin, and the butterflabbit. With its playful rhymes and rollicking rhythm, this book is a perfect read-aloud. Yet even in its silliest moments, The Sniger and the Floose is a gentle reminder to respect and preserve the beauty of the natural world around us, and a joyous celebration of imagination.
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Still Fighting for Change: Black Social Workers in Canada
Editor: Wanda BernardPublisher: Pottersfield Press$22.95In their own words, the twenty authors create a conversation with the reader about the Black social workers in Canada who have struggled to bring change not for themselves, but for their communities. This volume contains stories of social workers breaking barriers as they fight for changes to improve the system and enhance the lives of those they serve. There are also stories by members of the Association of Black Social Workers speaking frankly about the struggles they have encountered to become who they are.
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Fighting for Change
Publisher: Pottersfield Press$19.95This book is about Black social workers breaking barriers and fighting for change, not only for themselves as professionals, but also for their clients and communities. These workers tell their own unique stories in this volume, from gaining entry to social work education to their experiences in social work. They also write about the strategies that made a difference in their lives and the lives of the people they work with.
The first section tells the story of Black Social Workers’ entry into the profession and chronicles the poignant story of the life, and eventual death, of the Association of Black Social Workers in Montreal from where it spread to Halifax. In the second section, seasoned Black social workers, each trailblazers in their own right, tell their narratives of studying social work and beginning practice in Halifax in the late 1970s to early 1990s.
The third section spotlights current students who relate stories of their reasons for entering the social work profession and the barriers they face as they pursue their future career goals. The fourth section focuses on Africentric perspectives and puts forward some findings from exploratory research in this area. The final section explores experiences in a social work program which uses the media to expose students to cultures different from their own as well as some of the students’ experiences in interrogating the media itself. -
Refugees & Forced Migration: The Canadian Perspective An A-Z Guide
Publisher: Nimbus Publishing$15.95Although refugees have been pushed into the spotlight over the past few years, particularly as a result of the Syrian crisis, they are never far from public consciousness or policy debates. Based on years of close community and academic involvement in local, national, and international refugee affairs, Drs. Catherine Baillie Abidi and Shiva Nourpanah have created an accessible A-to-Z reference book focused on raising awareness on refugee and forced migration issues in Canada, with a specific focus on Atlantic Canada. Defining key concepts, from “asylum seeker” to “Generation Z,” this accessible guide is situated within a critical framework, acknowledging Canada’s complex immigration history.
This one-of-a-kind guide will be an extremely useful tool for refugee aid and settlement practitioners and advocacy groups, as well as for all Canadians eager to better understand the realities of refugees and forced migrants. Includes over 40 photographs by local refugee and settlement artists.
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The Last Canadian Knight
$24.95From a small-town law office in Nova Scotia to the boardrooms of London, England, where he was Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher’s “privatization ace,” lawyer and businessman Sir Graham Day has established a sterling international reputation as a tough-minded but charming negotiator. In The Last Canadian Knight, award-winning business journalist Gordon Pitts chronicles Day’s meteoric rise and explores the valuable lessons Day has gleaned from a lifetime of global business experience.
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Deux Pays Le Canada à l’ère du Grand Déséquilibre démographique
Publisher: Nimbus Publishing$22.95Ce que l’auteur Richard Saillant appelle le Grand Déséquilibre démographique canadien– « le rythme très inégal auquel vieillit la population des diverses régions du Canada » — est, selon l’expert des politiques publiques Donald J. Savoie, « l’un des défis les plus exigeants du pays pendant les deux prochaines décennies ».
L’ouvrage Deux pays, dont l’orientation générale est profondément ancrée dans la démographie, développe la thèse de Saillant selon laquelle « les forces jumelées de la gravité économique et démographique » causeront de graves difficultés dans l’Est du Canada et l’ensemble du pays si nous n’agissons pas dès maintenant. Nous devons d’abord faire face à la dure réalité : « on observe entre les provinces les mieux et les moins bien nanties un contraste marqué qui est appelé à s’accentuer ». Résultat? Deux Canadas distincts, l’un âgé et peu nanti, l’autre jeune et dynamique. Sans un important changement de cap, affirme Saillant, le Canada sera un pays déchiré.
Deux pays est un incontournable pour ceux qui cherchent une analyse stratégique et basée sur des données probantes de l’avenir incertain du Canada, ainsi que des recommandations visant à remédier aux répercussions du Grand déséquilibre démographique sur toute la population canadienne.
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The Effective Citizen How to Make Politicians Work for You
Publisher: Nimbus Publishing$29.95Effective citizens–engaged, knowledgeable, and persistent, and united in common cause–are the most powerful force that ever was, or ever will be. I hope this book will help citizens to be more effective.
In his uniquely straightforward and accessible style, Political insider Graham Steele pulls back the curtain on our political system and gives readers a look inside. A lawyer, analyst, former Nova Scotia cabinet minister, and author of the Globe & Mail bestselling memoir What I Learned About Politics, Steele answers the burning questions of Canadians: Who really runs the parties? What does a backbencher do? How does a citizen effectively navigate the system, and achieve change through a politician? What is “truthiness?”
A primer for anyone who wants to become a politician or influence one, The Effective Citizen explains how politicians think and what factors influence that thinking; how to interpret the “non-answer” in political speech; and acknowledges that in politics, “bland is safe.” Ideal for political neophytes and junkees all the same, Steele’s newest book will have the whole country talking.
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What I Learned About Politics Inside the Rise-and Collapse-of Nova Scotia’s NDP Government
Publisher: Nimbus Publishing$21.95On October 8, 2013, Nova Scotia’s NDP government went down to a devastating election defeat. Premier Darrell Dexter lost his own seat, and the party held the dubious distinction of being the first one-term majority government in over 100 years.
In this new memoir, former NDP finance minister and MLA Graham Steele tries to make sense of the election result and shares what he’s learned from a fifteen-year career in provincial politics. In his trademark candid style, Steele pulls no punches in assessing what’s right—and what’s often wrong—with our current political system. Includes an insert of colour photographs and a foreword from CBC Information Morning host Don Connolly.
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Duffy Stardom to Senate to Scandal
Publisher: Nimbus Publishing$29.95Mike Duffy made his name as a political reporter, and in the process became one of Prince Edward Island’s most famous exports. He cast himself as the ultimate insider, Parliament Hill’s man in the know. It made him a household name and one of the Canada’s best-paid journalists. But Duffy wanted to get even closer and lobbied his way into the Canadian Senate, with dire results. Veteran journalist Dan Leger tells the story of Duffy’s rise to the top in Canadian media, his entanglement with the Harper Conservatives, and the scandal that made him one of the most controversial figures in contemporary politics. Includes a foreword by CBC’s Peter Mansbridge and an eight-page colour photo insert.
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Twenty-First Century Irvings (Revised)
Publisher: Nimbus Publishing$16.95Three generations after the Irving family arrived in Canada from Scotland, the name K. C. Irving hit the Forbes top billionaires list, making K. C. one of the richest men in the world and the most powerful businessperson in Canada.
But there is much more to the Irving story than the fascinating and brilliant K. C. and his immediate legacy. Twenty-first Century Irvings takes a careful look at both the family foundations upon which this empire was built and the dozen or more individuals who, in the twenty-first century, constitute the future of this important business family.
A business story, a family story, and a Maritime story, Twenty-first Century Irvings is a book for anyone interested in or affected by the legendary Irvings of New Brunswick.
This new edition includes an afterword from the author about recent developments in the Irving family business.
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Eco-Innovators: Sustainability in Atlantic Canada
Publisher: Nimbus Publishing$22.95Eco-Innovators profiles some of the region’s most innovative and forward-thinking leaders in sustainability. These entrepreneurs and educators, activists and agitators, farmers and fishers have all made measurable contributions both in their respective fields of interest and in motivating others to make change.
In the book, we meet Kim Thompson, a strawbale builder and consultant, who has recently brought her building experience to a renovation of an older house in downtown Halifax. Then there’s Edwin Theriault, who bought a bale of clothing back in 1971 and launched Frenchy’s, a chain of seventy-six used-clothing stores that has become an East Coast institution. Edwin doesn’t consider himself an environmentalist at all, but over the years his business has kept countless tonnes of material out of landfills. Also profiled are Speerville Flour Mill and Olivier Soaps in New Brunswick, Sean Gallagher of Local Source in Halifax, David and Edith Ling of Fair Acre Farm on PEI, and Jim Meaney of Cansolair solar heat air exchangers in Newfoundland, among many others.
With ten chapters on matters like reducing consumption, greening the home, sustainable eating, dressing, transportation, and vacationing, the book is an important look into the lives of Atlantic Canadians committed to creating viable green options in our region.
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An Introduction to Island Studies
Publisher: Island Studies Press$39.95An Introduction to Island Studies examines the key issues concerning islands today: tourism, economic change and development, geopolitics, climate change, epidemiology, and migration. This introductory textbook will help students and instructors develop a more comprehensive understanding and appreciation of island issues and the lessons they provide for our global society.
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Crossing Troubled Waters Abortion In Ireland, Northern Ireland, and Prince Edward Island
Editor: Colleen MacQuarrie, Shannon StettnerPublisher: Island Studies Press$29.95Accessing abortion services is challenging in many countries around the world; women living on islands face additional challenges caused by geographic isolation. This collection of scholarly papers discusses two islands–Ireland (north and south) and Prince Edward Island, Canada–and considers for each why and how abortion was historically restricted, the impact of those restrictions, the ongoing efforts to improve access, and recent activist successes.
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From Black Horses to White Steeds Building Community Resilience
Editor: Laurie Brinklow, Ryan GibsonPublisher: Island Studies Press$29.95This book discusses how small communities can survive and flourish. Edited by Laurie Brinklow and Ryan Gibson, it celebrates and critiques the dynamics of innovation, governance, and culture in place. Case studies from both sides of the North Atlantic illustrate episodes of “turning around”: the evolution, transformation, and visionary strategy that breathe new life into the term “think global, act local.”
The book’s chapters focus on the strength of local initiatives, the impacts of collective power, and re-envisioning local assets. They explore how various “black horses”–including minorities, small towns, peripheries, Aboriginal communities, those with little money, status, voice, or political leverage–can rise to the occasion and chart livable futures.
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Indigenous Business in Canada: Principles and Practices
Editor: Janice Esther Tulk, Keith G. BrownPublisher: Cape Breton University Press$27.95Indigenous Business in Canada addresses contemporary concerns and issues in the doing of Indigenous business in Canada, reveals some of the challenges and diverse approaches to business in Aboriginal contexts from coast to coast to coast, and demonstrates the direct impact that history and policy, past and present, have on business and business education.
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Talk About Sex
Editor: Robert StewartPublisher: Cape Breton University Press$27.95Yeats once wrote that “only two topics can be of the least interest to a serious and studious mood–sex and the dead.” While Talk About Sex foregoes any discussion of death, it explores sex from myriad angles from a wide array of disciplines, including philosophy, psychology, political science, women’s studies, literature and social work.
Included are discussions ranging from sexual classification –about sexual orientation, gender and sexual desires –to the ways in which sex, love and relationships are connected. Talk About Sex also ponders the extent to which technology has had an impact on sex and considers whether this impact is positive or negative and asks questions about various aspects of sexual activities. Can commercial sex ever be non-exploitative? What does transsexualism tell us about gender identity and authenticity?
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Social Economy : Communities, Economics and Solidarity in Atlantic Canada
Publisher: Cape Breton University Press$27.95THIS BOOK CONTRIBUTES to the growing literature on the social economy from the particular perspectives of Atlantic Canadians who have been part of the Social Economy and Sustainability Research Network. It illustrates the importance of the sector to the region’s social, economic and public life while exploring its potential for positive change. Prefiguring an economy based on principles of human values and principles of solidarity, the social economy offers a space for people to exercise democracy in realms thought to be “economic” and thus exempt from such priorities. The social economy has the aim of development in a double sense-development of the individual and local or community development. What is at stake is no less than democratizing the economy, creating a space for dialogue and debate, building partnerships, networks and capacity for innovation, sustainability, democracy and justice-in other words, developing the potentials for a social economy. Considerable innovation and significant contributions to quality of life thrive within the social economy in the Atlantic region. Organizations vary tremendously, not least in terms of how successful they are in meeting the immediate and longer term objectives to which they and their supporters aspire. This volume marks one step in furthering such understanding.
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Cultures of Militarization
Publisher: Cape Breton University Press$39.95Special Edition of TOPIA Canadian Journal of Cultural Studies
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Failure of Global Capitalism
Publisher: Cape Breton University Press$19.95What do Cape Breton and Colombia have in common? Coal, for one thing. Coal mining was the backbone of Cape Breton’s industrial economy for more than one hundred years, but the last mine was closed in 2001 when the province’s utility company took advantage of neoliberal globalization by importing coal—from Colombia. There’s more. Colombia and Cape Breton represent the loss of well-paid, unionized industrial jobs as a result of neoliberal globalization—the economic hegemony that allows multinational corporations in the global North—primarily North America and Europe—to exploit the natural resources and cheap labour of the global South—Latin America, Africa and Asia. But the commonalities between Cape Breton and Colombia do not end with coal, there are numerous connections directly related to the capitalist system: militant labour struggles, repression, economic insecurity, population displacement, social inequality and environmental devastation. Activists and scholars Gibbs and Leech use the examples of Cape Breton and Colombia to illustrate the harsh realities suffered by people throughout the global North and the global South under neoliberal globalization, particularly with regard to socio-economic and environmental issues. Ultimately, they expose the failure of industrial capitalism, and look toward more sustainable and egalitarian alternatives.
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Community Economic Development
Editor: Eric Shragge, Michael ToyePublisher: Cape Breton University Press$27.95Communities have long been ahead of governments in responding to changes in the economy, forging ahead with innovative grassroots projects that now make up a substantial portion of economic development initiatives.
Having made major gains in practice and having built local capacities through innovation, Community Economic Development now stands at a crossroads. In Building for Social Change, Eric Shragge, Michael Toye and colleagues from across the country offer a timely critical examination of CED practices and debates.
This book is designed for CED practitioners, for others working in community-based organizations and those being trained. There are a growing number of post-secondary programs in English Canada that educate students in CED and related fields such as regional development, yet there are not many publications that provide analytical perspectives and debate.
The goal of this book is to describe and analyze CED practice, primarily in Canada, through a wide range of subjects—the evolution of its definitions, economic dimensions and the key elements that form its context.
Building for Social Change situates CED in wide political, economic and social contexts: rich examples of the scope and practices, and some of the limits—in Aboriginal communities, as a tool to support women, psychiatric survivor enterprises, housing and worker ownerships—are explored to help spur further critical discussion and debate.
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SpecialLink Book
Publisher: Breton Books$14.95The Mainstream is nothing more than life in the real world. SpeciaLink is devoted to seeing every child wit special needs a full participant in the mainstream. Evidence supports the value of full mainstream childcare for all children, regardless of the challenges. This means that from now on, the work of childcare includes Advocacy –promoting what we already know to be right.
The SpecaiLink Book is the story of the road to the principles of full mainstream childcare, and of the SpeciaLink Symposium which made those principles the national agenda for mainstream advocates. “The Mainstream is the right stream” is the battle cry. Achieving full mainstream childcare for every child is the goal.
The Book Also Includes a Canadian Directory of Mainstream Childcare Advocates, Further Readings, information about joining SpeciaLink, and other forms for the SpecaiLink Newsletter and videos.
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A Wholesome Horror Poor Houses in Nova Scotia
Publisher: SSP Publications$15.95Brenda Thompson’s poignant treatise on the treatment of the poor in Nova Scotia and the evolution of private and government-subsidized poor houses. None of these 32 buildings remain. This is a very important book that makes us pause and ask serious questions.
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Little Black Lies
Publisher: Heritage Group Distribution$16.95Beginning in 1967 and for just over 30 years, the oil industry toiled in the relative obscurity of Northern Alberta as machines peeled away earth and boreal forest to exhume what has now become one of humanity’s most precious and contentious resources: bitumen. As the years passed, the bitumen mines sprawled, poisonous tailings ponds spread, toxins polluted the environment, cancer reared its head downstream and the price of petroleum soared beyond all expectations.
As plans continue to build the Keystone and Northern Gateway pipelines, a growing number of scientists, journalists, First Nations and environmentalists are fighting to raise the alarm about the implications and propaganda surrounding the world’s largest energy project.
In his second RMB Manifesto, Jeff Gailus dissects the global war on truth that has come to define the battle for oil. It is a battle fought not with bullets and bombs but with a dark web of Little Black Lies that poses a threat not only to environmental and human health, but to our moral and social well-being.
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Grumbling Hive Revisited Private Greed, Public Need
Publisher: Bunim & Bannigan$8.99In the original Grumbling Hive, dishonesty and vice created employment and wealth, inspiring Adam Smith, whose idealization of markets is a template for today’s unbridled capitalism. In Mandeville Sr.’s fable, a turn to honesty by his bees ( miniature Europeans) ruins the economy. In Mandeville Jr.’s fable, bees as they are, a community based on mutual support and selfless care, are ruined by the adoption of unbridled capitalism.
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A Future for the Fishery
$22.95Canadian fisheries industries face rapid change. With key stocks stable or rebuilding and most commercial fisheries managed sustainably, a younger workforce must be attracted and retained for this industry to thrive. Industry professional and author Rick Williams examines fisheries in rural-coastal Canada and explores strategies to develop new labour supply. This timely read for decision-makers features illustrative charts, data tables and crucial perspective from fish harvesters themselves.
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The Last Canadian Knight
Publisher: Nimbus Publishing$24.95From a small-town law office in Nova Scotia to the boardrooms of London, England, where he was Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher’s “privatization ace,” lawyer and businessman Sir Graham Day has established a sterling international reputation as a tough-minded but charming negotiator. In The Last Canadian Knight, award-winning business journalist Gordon Pitts chronicles Day’s meteoric rise and explores the valuable lessons Day has gleaned from a lifetime of global business experience.
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Money : The Canadian Story
$19.95Money: The Canadian Story will tell you everything you want to know about money, but were just too darn timid to ask. From how big is the middle class to the one percenters to the average CEO salary to exactly how much does the public sector cost, it is all here.
Where are Canadians working and what are the highest paid professions. What is Sidney Crosby’s hourly rate? From gold plated pensions to what prime minister has added the most to the national debt to the gender pay gap, there is no more complete book about money in Canada. We let the numbers do the talking.
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Sustainable People
$19.95This book deals with a new role that has emerged as communities all over the world struggle to gain more control over their destinies as globalization accelerates.Community entrepreneurs create organizations that encourage people to learn their way out of poverty, dependency and marginalization. By participating in such innovative ventures, individuals become more self-sustaining and able to create good lives for themselves and others in their own communities or wherever the choose to settle.Sustainable People moves discussion about social and economic change from abstract terms such as “community” and “development” by focusing on what individuals and groups are actually doing to encourage personal and community development, it documents the background of the role of the entrepreneur, the kinds of organizations they create, their learning process and the moral basis of their initiatives.
