Forest & Trees
A radio documentary about the decades-old leases allowing forestry companies to clear-cut on Crown land in Nova Scotia.
Bernadette Eisenhower’s Story of Surviving Shubenacadie Indian Residential School
Sadly, Halifax Magazine shut down its website of archived articles. Some issues are still available at Issuu.com. Below are screenshots of one article I was most proud of, a collaboration with Shubenacadie Residential School survivor Bernadette Eisenhower to tell her story. It is a hard story, a true story, and it is told by someone […]
The Art of Forgiveness: Stories of youthful male angst populated by characters struggling to prove their worth
“Chris Benjamin’s mode of writing is raw, unvarnished, heartrending dirty realism. His characters are tormented youngsters left to navigate the fallout from family tragedy on their own while struggling to locate a moral compass to guide them through the emotional minefield of adolescence. The Art of Forgiveness is heady stuff, a careening ride without guardrails through chaotic […]
Why I Wrote Indian School Road
This is from my introduction to Indian School Road: Legacies of the Shubenacadie Residential School, regarding my thought process on why I felt compelled to write a very difficult book: Here is what I found first: a recurring nightmare. Me wandering the black and white halls of the old building, as seen only in photographs, […]
Exclusive by Design
Originally published in Coastlands: The Maritimes Policy Review, in December 2007, on pages 26-27. By Chris Benjamin In August I moved back to Halifax after an eight-year hiatus in Toronto. I was surprised to find that not much has changed. The north end is gentrifying somewhat and I see a few new buildings going in, but, by and […]
Climate Change and Terrorism
This story first appeared in The Coast on November 26, 2015: Halifax to Paris, by way of Syria Climate change is driving conflicts across the world, and we’re starting to see the results. By Chris Benjamin “When you have drought, when people can’t grow their crops, they’re going to migrate into cities, and when people […]
My life behind the welfare wall
One woman’s struggle to move forward in the system that holds her back The following is an excerpt from the March 2016 Halifax Magazine feature called “My life behind the welfare wall,” by Kyla Derry as told to Chris Benjamin: Here’s something you may not know about poverty: when you get off welfare and get […]
Going Down the Indian Road
Esteemed poet and author Gary Geddes, once described as “Canada’s best political poet,” has written a thoughtful and thought-provoking review of Indian School Road: Legacies of the Shubenacadie Residential School. The review will appear in his forthcoming new book, Medicine Unbundled (Heritage House Publishing), which is a
Lessons learned on the Iranian Railroad for Queer Refugees
This Q&A originally appeared in The Coast, July 23, 2015. Ashram Parsi has saved thousands, but still has a ways to go. By Chris Benjamin In 2005, Iranian queer activist Arsham Parsi became a refugee in Canada. Through his Iranian Railroad for Queer Refugees, he’s helped more than 1,100 other LGBTQIA Iranians escape a country […]
