Halifax man and 'trailblazer' admired for love of wearing high heels has died at 86 | Canada News Media
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Halifax man and ‘trailblazer’ admired for love of wearing high heels has died at 86

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HALIFAX – Harold Anderson, a Halifax man known and admired for the elegant stilettos he wore on his jaunts around the city, has died at the age of 86.

His longtime friend Lisa Cochrane says the fashion-lover who challenged gender norms will be remembered for his brave self-expression and style.

“He really didn’t like the term cross-dresser. He didn’t like the labels that were put on people. He’d say: ‘women wear pants all the time, why aren’t they called cross-dressers?’”

“He just didn’t have time for any of that. He didn’t think his fashion choices should be defined by his gender. He really was a sort of trailblazer,” Cochrane said in an interview.

Cochrane, an artist and filmmaker, first noticed Anderson walking around Halifax in the 1980s, wearing a suit and four-inch heels — either yellow or red. She felt drawn to the man who seemed so happy, and in the early 2000s she introduced herself. Shortly after, she started working on a documentary film about Anderson, which she dropped when she realized Anderson had become nervous about how such a documentary might impact his work as a security guard.

Then, more than 10 years later, she wrote a play about a filmmaker and a reluctant documentary subject who wears elegant high heels and reached out to Anderson to see what he thought. This time around, he was happy with the idea, and the play called “Well Heeled” was commissioned by the Halifax-based LunaSea Theatre Company. It ran as a workshop production, though it didn’t go on to a full production, and Anderson and Cochrane were good friends from then on.

Cochrane continued to film Anderson throughout his life, and she intends to make a film about friendship inspired by her fashionable friend.

On Tuesday, Cochrane attended a small celebration of life that was held for Anderson in Middle LaHave, N.S., where he was born. Anderson’s brother Borden Anderson and his brother’s wife Bev Anderson were in town from Ottawa for the occasion.

Borden Anderson said he’ll remember his older brother for his kind nature and love of country music, something they shared and bonded over.

He and his wife learned about Harold’s affinity for feminine fashion and high heels just 10 years ago.

Bev Anderson said they noticed that for years every time they visited Harold would wear the same slacks and men’s dress shoes. They figured he was short on cash, and sent him a cheque.

Harold called the couple and told them he needed to return the money, and that in fact he had plenty of clothes — a collection of pencil skirts, hosiery and high heel shoes. “We said: ‘So what? Makes no difference to us,” Bev recalled.

Borden, who was a longtime member of the Canadian military, said, “being in the military, these kinds of things would have been kept hush-hush, so I imagine that’s why he never told me about it.”

“It didn’t change the way we looked at him,” Bev added. “And you know, dressing as a woman really suited him.”

From that point on, Harold wore his high heels and skirts when he was out with his brother and sister-in-law.

Cochrane said Harold’s shoe collection is massive, and he didn’t mind being approached on the street. “He loved attention, he loved compliments,” she said.

Harold’s death sparked a wave of activity on social media, with many Haligonians sharing their memories of the fashionable man. Many posts describe him as a “fixture” of the city and an “icon” who was friendly and always smiling. One person shared that he could be seen wearing his sky-high stilettos in all weather, even during a 2004 blizzard known as White Juan.

Bev Anderson said his affection for high heel shoes continued until the end of his life. As recently as last week, about two weeks after Harold suffered a stroke, she was visiting him in the hospital and he pointed to his shoes to ask that she put them on him in his hospital bed.

“He was so happy to have his high heels on while laying in his bed,” she said.

Harold Anderson died in hospital on Sunday.

Throughout his life, he never gave any indication that he was LGBTQ+, Cochrane said, and he always said his desire to wear high heels sprang from a love of fashion.

“And what he liked most were stilettos, elegant, minimum three inches. And he never expressed any discomfort wearing them … he wore them from the minute he got up until he went to bed,” Cochrane said.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published June 27, 2024.

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Canada’s Denis Shapovalov wins Belgrade Open for his second ATP Tour title

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BELGRADE, Serbia – Canada’s Denis Shapovalov is back in the winner’s circle.

The 25-year-old Shapovalov beat Serbia’s Hamad Medjedovic 6-4, 6-4 in the Belgrade Open final on Saturday.

It’s Shapovalov’s second ATP Tour title after winning the Stockholm Open in 2019. He is the first Canadian to win an ATP Tour-level title this season.

His last appearance in a tournament final was in Vienna in 2022.

Shapovalov missed the second half of last season due to injury and spent most of this year regaining his best level of play.

He came through qualifying in Belgrade and dropped just one set on his way to winning the trophy.

Shapovalov’s best results this season were at ATP 500 events in Washington and Basel, where he reached the quarterfinals.

Medjedovic was playing in his first-ever ATP Tour final.

The 21-year-old, who won the Next Gen ATP Finals presented by PIF title last year, ends 2024 holding a 9-8 tour-level record on the season.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 9, 2024.

The Canadian Press. All rights reserved.



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Talks to resume in B.C. port dispute in bid to end multi-day lockout

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VANCOUVER – Contract negotiations resume today in Vancouver in a labour dispute that has paralyzed container cargo shipping at British Columbia’s ports since Monday.

The BC Maritime Employers Association and International Longshore and Warehouse Union Local 514 are scheduled to meet for the next three days in mediated talks to try to break a deadlock in negotiations.

The union, which represents more than 700 longshore supervisors at ports, including Vancouver, Prince Rupert and Nanaimo, has been without a contract since March last year.

The latest talks come after employers locked out workers in response to what it said was “strike activity” by union members.

The start of the lockout was then followed by several days of no engagement between the two parties, prompting federal Labour Minister Steven MacKinnon to speak with leaders on both sides, asking them to restart talks.

MacKinnon had said that the talks were “progressing at an insufficient pace, indicating a concerning absence of urgency from the parties involved” — a sentiment echoed by several business groups across Canada.

In a joint letter, more than 100 organizations, including the Canadian Chamber of Commerce, Business Council of Canada and associations representing industries from automotive and fertilizer to retail and mining, urged the government to do whatever it takes to end the work stoppage.

“While we acknowledge efforts to continue with mediation, parties have not been able to come to a negotiated agreement,” the letter says. “So, the federal government must take decisive action, using every tool at its disposal to resolve this dispute and limit the damage caused by this disruption.

“We simply cannot afford to once again put Canadian businesses at risk, which in turn puts Canadian livelihoods at risk.”

In the meantime, the union says it has filed a complaint to the Canada Industrial Relations Board against the employers, alleging the association threatened to pull existing conditions out of the last contract in direct contact with its members.

“The BCMEA is trying to undermine the union by attempting to turn members against its democratically elected leadership and bargaining committee — despite the fact that the BCMEA knows full well we received a 96 per cent mandate to take job action if needed,” union president Frank Morena said in a statement.

The employers have responded by calling the complaint “another meritless claim,” adding the final offer to the union that includes a 19.2 per cent wage increase over a four-year term remains on the table.

“The final offer has been on the table for over a week and represents a fair and balanced proposal for employees, and if accepted would end this dispute,” the employers’ statement says. “The offer does not require any concessions from the union.”

The union says the offer does not address the key issue of staffing requirement at the terminals as the port introduces more automation to cargo loading and unloading, which could potentially require fewer workers to operate than older systems.

The Port of Vancouver is the largest in Canada and has seen a number of labour disruptions, including two instances involving the rail and grain storage sectors earlier this year.

A 13-day strike by another group of workers at the port last year resulted in the disruption of a significant amount of shipping and trade.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 9, 2024.

The Canadian Press. All rights reserved.



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The Royal Canadian Legion turns to Amazon for annual poppy campaign boost

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The Royal Canadian Legion says a new partnership with e-commerce giant Amazon is helping boost its veterans’ fund, and will hopefully expand its donor base in the digital world.

Since the Oct. 25 launch of its Amazon.ca storefront, the legion says it has received nearly 10,000 orders for poppies.

Online shoppers can order lapel poppies on Amazon in exchange for donations or buy items such as “We Remember” lawn signs, Remembrance Day pins and other accessories, with all proceeds going to the legion’s Poppy Trust Fund for Canadian veterans and their families.

Nujma Bond, the legion’s national spokesperson, said the organization sees this move as keeping up with modern purchasing habits.

“As the world around us evolves we have been looking at different ways to distribute poppies and to make it easier for people to access them,” she said in an interview.

“This is definitely a way to reach a wider number of Canadians of all ages. And certainly younger Canadians are much more active on the web, on social media in general, so we’re also engaging in that way.”

Al Plume, a member of a legion branch in Trenton, Ont., said the online store can also help with outreach to veterans who are far from home.

“For veterans that are overseas and are away, (or) can’t get to a store they can order them online, it’s Amazon.” Plume said.

Plume spent 35 years in the military with the Royal Engineers, and retired eight years ago. He said making sure veterans are looked after is his passion.

“I’ve seen the struggles that our veterans have had with Veterans Affairs … and that’s why I got involved, with making sure that the people get to them and help the veterans with their paperwork.”

But the message about the Amazon storefront didn’t appear to reach all of the legion’s locations, with volunteers at Branch 179 on Vancouver’s Commercial Drive saying they hadn’t heard about the online push.

Holly Paddon, the branch’s poppy campaign co-ordinator and bartender, said the Amazon partnership never came up in meetings with other legion volunteers and officials.

“I work at the legion, I work with the Vancouver poppy office and I go to the meetings for the Vancouver poppy campaign — which includes all the legions in Vancouver — and not once has this been mentioned,” she said.

Paddon said the initiative is a great idea, but she would like to have known more about it.

The legion also sells a larger collection of items at poppystore.ca.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 9, 2024.

The Canadian Press. All rights reserved.



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