Upcoming Lectures
“The Seven Sacred Teachings of the Mi’kmaq” by Matthew Connolly and Corinne Hoebers
Wednesday, 16 September 2026, 7:00 pm (Atlantic), in-person at the Lindsay Children’s Room on the 2nd floor at the Halifax Central Library, 5440 Spring Garden Road, Halifax, Nova Scotia. Click here for the Zoom link.
Matthew Connolly
Matthew Connolly, Speaking Wolf of the Qalipu (pronounced Kal-a-boo) Band, was born in Corner Brook, NL. Upon retiring from the military, he became involved in safety training requirements and program development, working at both land and marine work sites, from construction to cruise ships. A father of two daughters and one son, he has been married to his wife, Dixie Lee, for thirty years. Matthew’s passion is sharing Aboriginal Mi’kmaw ancestry and cultural information.
Corinne Hoebers
As a direct descendant of one of the first 1753 settlers of Lunenburg, Corinne’s passion for history moved her to write her first self-published novel, Call of a Distant Shore, which won the Silver Medal for Canada Past, Best Fiction 2009, from the Independent Publisher Book Awards. Soon after, she began a comprehensive journey that led her to write Tethered Spirits.
Abstract:
We invite you on a journey with Matt Connolly, Speaking Wolf of the Qalipu band for a power point presentation of the Seven Sacred Mi’kmaq Teachings; and Corinne Hoebers, author of Tethered Spirits as she talks about her historical fiction novel of the Mi’kmaq and the settlers in 18th century Nova Scotia. and the deep need for diverse cultures to pause, learn, and listen to utterly understand one another. By looking honestly at our shared past, we can learn the value of cultural awareness.
“‘Maritime Magna Carta’: William H. Dennis, the Duncan Commission and the Sidelining of Maritime Rights” by Paul W. Bennett
Wednesday, 21 October 2026, 7:00 pm (Atlantic), in-person at the Lindsay Children’s Room on the 2nd floor at the Halifax Central Library, 5440 Spring Garden Road, Halifax, Nova Scotia. Click here for the Zoom link.
Paul W. Bennett, EdD, is a Halifax policy researcher, professor and columnist, and the author of 11 books, including Vanishing Schools, Threatened Communities (2011) and The State of the System: A Reality Check on Canada’s Schools (2020). His latest public lecture is based upon research begun during the writing of Turning Points: 15 Pivotal Moments in Nova Scotia History (2019) and commemorates the 100th anniversary of the Duncan Commission on Maritime claims.
Abstract:
A century ago, the Maritime Rights movement reached its peak with the 1926 Duncan Commission, hailed by W. H. Dennis of the Halifax Herald as a “Maritime Magna Carta.” Prime Minister Mackenzie King promised to implement the report, but most recommendations stalled amid federal equivocation. Conventional interpretations portray Maritime Rights as either King’s political sleight of hand or a transient business campaign. We will take up E.R. Forbes’ challenge to uncover the deeper “Maritime progressivism” underlying the movement and challenge Ottawa-centred interpretations of regional protest politics.
“‘I will try & tell you some of our trouble’: Exploring Contested Truths of Violence and Murder Onboard the Selkirk, 1894” by Grace McNutt
Wednesday, 18 November 2026, 7:00 pm (Atlantic), in-person at the Lindsay Children’s Room on the 2nd floor at the Halifax Central Library, 5440 Spring Garden Road, Halifax, Nova Scotia. Click here for the Zoom link.
Dr. Grace McNutt is a Postdoctoral Research Fellow at Cape Breton University, and in 2027, she will be joining the University of Prince Edward Island as an Assistant Professor of History. She has also been a member of the Royal Nova Scotia Historical Society’s council since 2022. Her research investigates the gendering of the shipping trade in Atlantic Canada, using women’s firsthand accounts to explore the interplay among sailing, authorship, and gender identity in the nineteenth century.
Abstract:
In 1894, Patrick Flinn, a sailor employed on the Nova Scotian barque Selkirk, reported to Hong Kong police that the ship’s first mate had thrown a man overboard and that Captain Jim Crowe had abused members of the crew during their passage from New York. What followed was a weeks-long contest of competing stories unfolding in courtrooms, in the Hong Kong press, and in the private letters of Janie Crowe, Jim Crowe’s wife. In this talk, Dr. Grace McNutt traces those surviving records to reconstruct how an alleged murder at sea became a public scandal. Rather than seeking a definitive “truth,” this talk will examine nineteenth-century ideas of “truthfulness”: who did the public in colonial Hong Kong believe at different moments, and why? It will also consider how the central figures in the “Selkirk Scandal” crafted their own credibility, revealing the cultural logics that shaped trust, authority, and reputation in the nineteenth-century British sphere of influence, drawing on notions of gender, sexuality, and nationality.
"The Quest for Saint Aspinquid: Colonial Myth, Indigenous Leader, Modern Enigma" by David Griffiths
Wednesday, 9 December 2026, 7:00 pm (Atlantic), in-person in the BMO room on the 2nd floor at the Halifax Central Library, 5440 Spring Garden Road, Halifax, Nova Scotia. Click here for the Zoom link.
David Griffiths
After two previous careers, first as a naval officer and then as a consulting researcher on international relations, David Griffiths is now a Halifax-based essayist and researcher with a particular interest in history. For more, see his website at davidgriffiths.ca
Abstract:
At this Society's December 1887 meeting, the speaker urged that some member should investigate "the remarkable myth of Saint Aspinquid, the grand sachem of all the Northern Indian tribes" and the feast held in his honour annually in 18th-century Nova Scotia. None did. Since then, most researchers have assumed that the story was imported from New England and speculated whether it was based on a real Indigenous figure or simply a colonial invention. Apparently, no one thought to ask the Mi'kmaq.
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