This article analyzes the creation and implementation of mothers’ allowances in New Brunswick from 1944-1966. After exploring the ideological framework and national context of this social welfare legislation, Mothers’ Allowance Board case files are examined to highlight the agency and advocacy of women recipients as they navigated gendered and class-based challenges to claiming their rights.

The Local Initiatives Program (LIP) illustrates the problematic character of the relationship between the liberal state and community activists during the early 1970s in Halifax. The LIP was part of a new trajectory of federal programs that was intended to facilitate community and participatory action while addressing unemployment. The Movement for Citizens Voice and Action (MOVE), a coalition of community and social action groups that came together in the Halifax area during the early 1970s, initially made use of LIP funding to support its objectives. Its interaction with the LIP carried with it, however, a series of unforeseen and problematic effects.

Mi’kmaq have used Maligomish (a small island located in the Northumberland Strait near Pictou, Nova Scotia) for many purposes over time, including fishing, farming, harvesting hardwood, and hosting important social, spiritual, and cultural events. In recent times it has been increasingly associated with the annual Catholic Feast of St. Anne. This article views the missionization of Mi’kmaq through a lens that prioritizes the Mi’kmaw history at Maligomish and recognizes it as a place that has survived attempted colonial erasure of Mi’kmaw culture and spirituality by institutions like the Catholic Church and the Canadian government. The Feast of St. Anne is part of the island’s history that needs to be understood as part of the longer history of Maligomish.

Using direct testimony from those engaged in the 19th-century Gulf of St. Lawrence mackerel fishery, this article suggests that closer examination of the industry’s history challenges both traditional and recent scholarly writing on the fishery. It argues that social and geographical influences led to the development of a shore-based fishery on Prince Edward Island. This fishery was primarily controlled locally and demonstrated an adaptability on the part of Islanders. Their adaptability, however, could ultimately not overcome competition and other external market factors controlling the mackerel trade.