Extinction Shroud for the Canons of Halifax

The public is invited to participate in assembling squares of woven, crotcheted, or knitted squares in the shape of a shroud made to cover the canons at Province House. Members of Nova Scotia's Voice Of Women connected with womens' organizations and services in Halifax to gather and prepare these woven, crotched, or knitted squares in preparation this evening. The two canons at Province House that are to be covered include the canon from HMS Shannon and the canon from the American vessel Shannon captured in the War of 1812, USS Chesapeake. This project springs from a previous year of Nocturne when NSVOW was not given permission to cover the canons in white Peace poppies. Throughout the evening, the squares will be assembled and labelled with information of the contributing womens' groups or allied organization using yarn and crochet hooks. Participants are encouraged to include their own messages of peace and also to make a white felt poppy and attach it to the shroud or keep it to wear. This project aims to open conversations about the canons and the message they are sending; canons are meant to maim, destroy, and dominate. What systems and structures do the canons represent? And how can these representations be altered to call out a more honest representation of colonial suppression? On unceded, unsurrendered Mic’maq land, settlers should question this message and imagine how to use the space differently.