I moved to Nova Scotia in 2019 from the west coast of Vancouver Island. I thought it would be a great change, as Vancouver Island was getting too built up. I had visited Nova Scotia in 2016 and loved the city of Halifax, the striking landscape and the quaint little town of Digby. However, the terrifyingly hostile taxi driver I experienced with four other cowering women on our way back to Halifax should have been a warning to me that things were not so wonderful beneath the surface.
I heard that the people of Nova Scotia were friendly, open and fun, that Celtic music was played everywhere and that life was cheaper than living on the west coast. I looked forward to all these things. I had partied and played Celtic music with friends on Vancouver Island, so I looked forward to getting together with Nova Scotians in the same fashion.
Alas, in spite of the welcoming landscape, the people aren't very welcoming outside of the usual "hello, nice day" that you hear while walking. People will always say hello. But that's it. Outside of first introductions, Nova Scotians are closed down and insular. They have their extended families and social circles and they're not interested in 'outsiders.' Doesn't matter who you are or where you're from or what you can add. They distrust outsiders. Of course if you're famous, that's different. A famous person is welcome everywhere. This is in contrast to the Americans I met while travelling throughout the States. Here's an example of what I mean. A neighbour of mine took care of my house when I went on vacation to Portugal recently. I didn't know her but to see her around and chat occasionally and she OFFERED to do it. I thought that was wonderful, but when I went to give her money and a gift upon my return, she answered the door with "I don't have time for anything! I've got my mother to take care of and I have a lot of friends..." Her arms flapped around her face. She was so worried I was going to waste her time with trying to be friends. Or something. I just said "Whoa, no problem," handed her the bag and left. No hello. So. Weird. Not even a "How was your trip?" Seriously. After living in Nova Scotia for five years, I perceive a dark energy here, with suspicion behind the friendly smiles. You can meet some of the loveliest people here, but still, don't get too close.
For all the exterior beauty of Nova Scotia, there's an underbelly of incest. It's rural. Isolated. I live 15 miles from one of the biggest incest/rape cases in Canadian history, perhaps the world. The Golers were a poor family who lived just outside Wolfville on South Mountain and for over 100 years the men in the family, and most of the adult women, were sleeping with their children, both boys and girls. "Their hideous existence involved young girls bearing their brothers' babies in a house crammed with 20 family members...away from the general public." They lived in filthy, impoverished shacks with no running water or toilets with retardation and physical handicaps often the result of inbreeding. The case was finally taken seriously when a 14-year-old girl complained to her teacher that her father raped her up to fourteen times each month to get her pregnant. She had been considered her father's wife from the age of nine. The criminal element in this story is that the social workers, police and doctors knew for years that the children were being abused, but still returned them to their parents. Remnants of these degenerates are still around, but from the story told to me by another rural girl whose parents used her not only for sex, but for kiddie porn, it's more prevalent than imagined.
But it's not just the people. It's the amount of money you spend on terrible social services.Taxes are high, the highest in Canada and it's not worth it. The roads are in terrible condition with many people having to replace tires and other parts of their cars for the huge potholes that are not marked. The irony is that cars have to be inspected every two years to make sure they're safe enough for the roads, yet the roads are not safe enough for the cars. Snow removal in winter is terrible with some areas in town receiving none. When the plows come by, they leave three foot high strips at the end of every driveway that also need to be shovelled out.
The hospital emergency rooms are terrible. People don't go to them anymore because of the wait. In some cases, people have died either in the waiting room or laying on the pavement waiting for an ambulance. And over one hundred thousand people are on a waiting list to get a family doctor. One day I received a call from a specialist's secretary telling me I had an appointment for the following week. I didn't know who was calling or what it was for because it had been over a year from the time I'd seen a doctor who made the referral. If you have cancer and need a specialist, you're better off in Germany or Taiwan. Doctors are also leaving because of the poor pay and exhausting hours.
As far as playing music with others, I now play mostly by myself and do the odd single gig after I attempted to play in some social circles. I went into a bar where people were supposedly welcome to bring their instruments and play. The fellow who moderated it shouted at me, stood up and pointed down and reached for the registers of my accordion. "You're playing too loud!" he barked. I barked back. "Don't touch it or I'll break your fingers!" The old woman across the table looked at me and said "We don't play that fast" when I didn't think I was playing fast. No one stood up for me to question his abhorrent behaviour, but I heard later that everyone hates the guy but puts up with him because they want to play music. I've become paranoid and don't want to join anything nor go anywhere. I'm awkward and don't fit here. Sometimes I go to jams around the valley to listen to music, but I've seen the same woman hosting the jams in order to play her own compositions. Singer songwriters are some of the most pretentious, narcisstic people I've ever met and I yawned and walked out when she stood up and said "I just wrote this little song today about my childhood sexual abuse." There is very little culture in Nova Scotia with badly sung country music your main choice of live music.
When I have an opportunity, I will be leaving.
And in spite of the nonsense in Nova Scotia, there's no denying its scenic beauty.
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