This weekend, Heather and I were in New Glasgow and Pictou. We stopped in Stellarton to look at an exhibit at the Museum of Industry. It was Colour with a ‘U’, a juried exhibition of quilts on the theme of diversity and inclusion.
In the gift shop, I purchased Lesley Choyce (ed.) Nova Scotia: Visions of the Future, published in 2009. Choyce invited Nova Scotians to contribute their vision of the future.
”The voices you are about to read are from Nova Scotians who care deeply about the future. There is a passion here for a place and a people.”p.11
”I can’t even begin to imagine what a reader in the year, say, 2029 would make of the ideas here.” p.14.
Here we are, it’s 2021 in a COVID pandemic. We can read the Visions of the Future from over forty voices (from 2009). Many of the voices have passed on.
Later in the weekend, back in Pictou, I found Choyce’s Nova Scotia: Shaped by the Sea, A Living History and, in the same store, Dave Gunning’s Two-bit World recorded at Riverside Studios in New Glasgow.
Over the weekend, from Brian Arnott, a question: ‘Did I know of a map of farms in Annapolis County?’
At that point, I tried to ‘join the dots’. What will Annapolis County look like in 2040?
Certainly, I am noticing changes in agriculture, forestry and the fisheries.
Lesley Choyce had his wish list in 2009.
- Clean, renewable, non-nuclear energy for all our needs.
- Enlightened, long-term management of all our resources.
- Public and institutional enthusiasm for all of our unique cultural endeavours.
- An enlightened and generous policy towards immigrants including refugees.
- Preservation of our natural wonders.
- A cultivated openness to new ideas, alternatives, beliefs and enriching technologies.
- Access to education for everyone in the province, and
- The fostering of the spirit of cooperation as professed by Father Moses Coady and the Antigonish movement.
It is a moving target. I expect Choyce would have to update his list today.
Acknowledgements
Brian Arnott for his question. Edward, Paul, Frank and others at COGS on the answer. Heather shared family time with the grandchildren at Pictou Lodge. It is their future that is under discussion.
References
Lesley Choyce.(Ed.) 2009, Nova Scotia: Visions of the Future, Pottersfield Press.
Lesley Choyce, 2007, Nova Scotia: Shaped by the Sea, A Living History, New Revised Edition. Pottersfield Press.
Dave Gunning, 2004, Two-bit World, CD.
Ernest Blair Experiment 