Josh Robinson’s journey from Nova Scotia to Calgary is familiar to many other transplanted Maritimers.
One of the owners of the Halifax-inspired restaurant Blowers and Grafton on Edmonton Trail wanted a change.
He also, eventually, wanted a plate of garlic fingers, a donair, and clams and chips.
Since 2017, Blowers and Grafton has offered a taste of home to Haligonians-turned-Calgarians. It’s been a place to share memories, introduce Nova Scotian comfort food to others or enjoy an old-fashioned Friday night Kitchen Party. That community spirit, he said, is what East Coasters are all about.
It’s also why Robinson was hit so hard by the senseless, deadly shooting spree in Nova Scotia on the weekend.
The death toll in the country’s worst mass murder reached 23 on Tuesday, the result of a 12-hour rampage that started late Saturday in the town of Portapique, N.S.
“A devastating situation,” said Robinson, who grew up in Bedford, N.S., before moving to Halifax to attend St. Mary’s University and open a pizza and donair shop on the waterfront, and a waffle cart on Grafton Street.
“Everyone across the country is torn up about it. A lot of people that are from back home, from the Maritimes and Nova Scotia, it hits a little extra hard. We’ve been to these places. We know the type of people that live there — salt of the earth-type people that live in these small towns.
“It’s just gut wrenching.”
When the news broke, he immediately wanted to do something.
He reached out to Adam Stiles, a volunteer firefighter from Sackville, N.B., and a commercial truck driver, who started a GoFundMe page in support of the victims’ families.
Then, Robinson decided to donate to the cause all net proceeds from Monday and Tuesday’s food sales at the restaurant. As of Tuesday afternoon, the Nova Scotia Strong — Support for Victims page had raised more than $3,000.
“There are a lot of us in Alberta that came out here for all kinds of different reasons,” he said.
“People leave the Maritimes but nobody really kind of leaves the Maritimes in their heart. It hits home. Anyone that is from the Maritimes, our hearts are back there right now.
“It’s hard right now, given the COVID-19 situation, but these people are really, really going to need our support.”
Judy Bastedo remembers relocating to Calgary in 2007 and spending the summers camping in the family’s motorhome, reminiscent of their days at the family cottage outside of Lunenburg, N.S.
They would proudly display their Nova Scotia flag — a blue saltire on a white background, with a gold shield and red lion rampant in the middle — everywhere they went.
“Everybody would know where we were from,” Bastedo said. “We are very proud of it. We display our flag often so people know where we’re from. They know we’re friendly and they’re friendly to us when they see our flag.”
During Monday’s candlelight vigil — one of many tributes held in light of the ongoing physical distancing precautions due to COVID-19 — Bastedo and her daughter, Emily Rau, decided to put up the flag in their yard.
“It’s probably going to stay there for quite some time now,” Bastedo said.
Rau called the situation surreal.
“It’s heartbreaking,” she said. “The past couple days have been very, very emotional for my mom and I.”
Bastedo said she returns to Nova Scotia a handful of times per year and said “it’s just like you’ve never left.”
“Us East Coasters, we like to stick together,” she said. “The kindness that comes from the kind of people out there . . . to see the support from people that are out here and everything you’re seeing posted, it’s amazing.
“There are a lot of people suffering right now.”
Mayor Naheed Nenshi tweeted a video of Owen Bonnar, a bagpiper with the Calgary Fire Department Pipes & Drums, playing an emotional rendition of Amazing Grace on Scotsman’s Hill on Monday.
“Calgary is thinking of you,” the mayor tweeted, with the hashtag #NovaScotiaStrong.
Owen Bonnar with the Calgary Fire Pipe Band performed Amazing Grace atop Scotsman’s Hill today in honour of the national tragedy in Nova Scotia.
— Naheed Nenshi (@nenshi) April 21, 2020
Calgary is thinking of you. #NovaScotiaStrong pic.twitter.com/aJ8FuABb4g
Bonnar, a native of Halifax, said he was at a loss when he heard about the shootings.
“I felt going and bagpiping was the only thing that made sense to show that we are all standing with Nova Scotia,” he said.
Tributes continued to pour in across the province and in Calgary.
Flags outside city hall and the McDougall Centre in downtown Calgary were lowered to half-mast in honour of the victims. The Calgary Tower honoured the lives lost on Monday by postponing the regularly scheduled light display.
Alberta Health Services encouraged staff and all Albertans to share a moment of silence on Tuesday evening to honour people in Nova Scotia.
A video of the church bells at the Banff townsite playing Farewell to Nova Scotia on Monday received more than 88,000 views. Banff Mayor Karen Sorensen shared the video on Twitter and wrote, “With love from Banff.”
According to the Facebook group Nova Scotians in Alberta, which has more than 7,500 members, many have been lighting candles, leaving porch lights on at night and displaying their Nova Scotia flags and tartans to pay their respects and share their love.
“There has been a lot of support,” said Shawna Everett, the Facebook group’s administrator who hails from Digby, N.S., and is living in central Alberta. “People are posting what they’re doing with the flags, and I’m constantly approving posts. People are sharing lots of stuff, so that’s nice to see.
“Nova Scotians would give the shirt off their back for anybody.”
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Twitter: @KDotAnderson
Copyright Postmedia Network Inc., 2020
