Quentrel Provo's Mission To Stop The Violence Needs More Support Than Ever

A single march in the rain changed everything. After losing his cousin to a senseless act of violence, Quentrel Provo turned grief into a mission: Stop the Violence, Spread the Love. We sit down with Q to unpack how a community showed up, how forgiveness sharpened his purpose, and why June 10 is now Stop the Violence Day—wear red, do one kind act, and make compassion visible.

We go deeper than slogans. Q explains how youth mentorship became the centre of gravity for the movement, why “one caring adult” can redirect a life, and how he tailored his talks from elementary classrooms to correctional facilities. He shares the unseen costs too: threats, burnout, and the hard boundary work required to protect your peace while serving others. Along the way, we revisit milestone moments—from speaking across North America to meeting Barack and Michelle Obama—and the quiet, consistent wins that matter most.

Then we zoom out. We challenge performative community policing and top‑down policy that ignores lived experience. Q lays out a clear blueprint for trust: listen first, co‑design with neighbourhoods, and build feedback loops that lead to action. We tackle media‑driven trauma, bias and street checks, de‑escalation training, and the line between self‑defence and excessive force. We also contrast punitive prison models with rehabilitation that actually lowers harm through education, mental health care, and reentry support.

This conversation is part origin story, part field guide. If you’ve wondered how to move from outrage to impact, start small: a door held open, a question asked, a promise kept. If you’re ready to go bigger, mentor a student, support a local program, or host a kindness drive on June 10. Subscribe, share this with someone who needs hope today, and leave a review with the one act of kindness you’ll do this week.

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Transcript

Setting The Stage: Why Solidarity

SPEAKER_01 0:15

Welcome to the afternoon point. I'm Mike Dolman.

SPEAKER_04 0:18

I'm in Matt Commanderman.

SPEAKER_01 0:22

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 0:26

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 0:26

Okay, first question before we get into anything. Who won the Super Bowl? It's this is recorded before. The Patriots? Matt, you're on the Patriots.

SPEAKER_04 0:35

Patriots, Patriots. Yeah.

Quintrell’s Origin Story And Loss

SPEAKER_01 0:37

I'm going to play the odds here. I'm going to say Seahawks just because I I don't really know anything about football, but but if I'm right, you guys owe me the next round. You guys owe me the next period. I got you. I got you. And I'll buy you guys around if I'm wrong, okay? All right, cool. All right. Well, anyways, so Quintrell, tell us a little bit. I mean, I just, you know, I'm really happy you're here. It's Black History Month. I don't think Matt and I ever really did a proper Black History Month show. And realistically, this one really isn't either. It's a it's a human rights episode, in my opinion, because that's where we are right now. You know, I I we try to not make this show political, but the buck kind of has to stop somewhere, right? Like there's some point we have to say, you know, the enough is enough. So what we hope this will be is an anti-racism, an anti-bigotry, and uh pro-equality episode, right? Just kind of getting back to the basics a bit. I think these are foundations we should all agree on, regardless of political spectrum. Our neighboring country right now is at war with its own people, right?

SPEAKER_00 1:41

Yes, that's sad.

SPEAKER_01 1:43

And we got to double down on our own solidarity to make sure this type of violence and hate does not happen in Canada.

unknown 1:50

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 1:50

Right? I mean, unfortunately, some of it exists now, but we, you know, fortunate for us, I think the positive is much, much less of it, right? So we got to focus on the love. That's something you've done a terrific job of through your mission, through your movement. Stop the violence, spread the love. So for those that don't know about the movement that you created here, that I this is how I learned who you were. I saw you on Twitter years ago and started liking your tweets. Didn't know you from the hole in the ground. Matt, you guys were long friends were playing football and stuff, right?

SPEAKER_04 2:25

Yeah, yeah. Q's a brother in ball. We've played uh several teams together at the at this point now. Right on.

SPEAKER_01 2:33

Very cool. So before we get into anything, I really want you to kind of walk us through the origin story, the Batman story of uh the stop the violence, spread the love, what happened, and what founded that movement that turned into something pretty pretty cool.

SPEAKER_00 2:49

Well, what started out as tragedy, I mean pain and anger and frustration, losing my close cousin, who was also like the best friend to me, that's like a brother, more so like, you know, when your first cousins, you know, and we went through high school, elementary, junior high, army cadets, you know, we ran a platoon in army cadets together, summer camp in Argonaut, you know, and I I lost him uh in August of 2012. It broke me in a way that had never been broken before. You know, I lost family members before, but you know, to lose someone who was such a great person that, you know, was just that type of guy that would make me smile and could light up a room and hurt me differently. And I wanted to do something so that his death wasn't in vain. And basically in my pain, I decided to do stop the violence march a month after he was killed.

SPEAKER_01 3:52

Obviously, he died in a violent act. What happened?

SPEAKER_00 3:57

Basically, going to the pizza corner after being at the dome, where I was actually with them that night, and ended up, you know, at the dome getting my jacket, and they were going up. Him and another one of his friends, close friends, was going up to the pizza corner and ended up being sucker punched, which knocked him out. He didn't throw a punch or anything and hit his head off the curb, which ultimately killed him. And and to to go through that and fun night at the dome.

SPEAKER_01 4:31

Like so the dome's a nightclub for people listening, don't know. That's a popular spot in Halifax. Everybody goes there every when you're growing up as a kid. That's the first place you go when you're allowed to have when you're when you're 19 or whatever, right? On the East Coast.

The First March And Community Response

SPEAKER_00 4:44

And it actually happened out around 20. And so going through that, I wanted his death knot to be in vain. And I wanted something good to come out of this horrific tragedy and decide to do a march. I didn't know what I was doing. I was grieving at the time, and this was my way of processing. And so I decided to do a march. I planned it and was having the march a month after he was killed. And it was crazy. You know how Nova Scotia weather is, you can't predict it. So it's September, and you know, September's usually are hurricane type sure. Yeah. Um, so the day came after I planned this, you know, stop march and promoted it, and it came and it was a rainstorm. Like a hurricane rainstorm, and I got really discouraged. Felt like no one was gonna show up. And uh I remember, you know, my parents were saying if one shows up, you've made a difference. And you know, I showed up and hundreds showed up in a rainstorm to march from Sullivan's Pond in Dartmouth all the way to Halifax Commerce. So across the bridge in this rainstorm, you know, and that's what five kilometers are a good walk, right? And it was such a powerful moment. Such a powerful moment because people showed up, didn't matter the weather, people just want to see a difference in the community. And that's how the violence all started. It was just a single march.

SPEAKER_01 6:17

That's amazing. Now, did they find this guy, like the guy that killed, killed, killed your cousin? Did they find the killer?

SPEAKER_06 6:23

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 6:24

He actually, you know, did his time, went to jail, and did time, and you know, he's you know, back out in society. And, you know, I don't really like talking much about you know that part of it, but you know, I just you know, I continue to pray that he continues to to, you know, be a better man and and and you know be out there in life doing good things, you know what I mean? So, you know, sometimes you get a second chance. And and that's that's you know the the hardest part for me is that he didn't get a second chance.

SPEAKER_01 7:04

What do you think Caitlin would be doing right now if he was still with us? You ever think about that?

SPEAKER_00 7:10

Probably be married, have a family, yeah. Uh just you know, just enjoying life. He was one person that just enjoyed life, you know, living in the moment. Um and and just always a funny guy and everything, and just bring his mouth and and you know, we we're gonna talk about, you know, how the world is today when you need more people that shine light and and and bring light to darkness. And he was one of those people, you know what I mean?

SPEAKER_01 7:42

So uh he brought a good energy where we went. Yeah.

Justice, Forgiveness, And Healing

SPEAKER_00 7:46

Very good energy. Um, so so we lost someone that had that energy, you know what I mean? And so it's hard, you know. I think the hardest thing for me was just going through the whole process with the anger and the being upset, and you know, I remember just forgiving and letting go because, you know, I I was told growing up that forgiveness is not for the other person, it's for you. Yeah, it's forgiveness. In order for you to grow, and in order for me to and this was like when I had just started to stop the mouse, I was doing all this stuff, but I was still not seeing how it could grow because I was still holding on these emotions and and everything. And it wasn't until I was at his, you know, grave in 2014. 2014, and I just let it all go. I was crying, I was tears coming down my face, and I just said, you know, it is what it is. And that's when Stomp the Balance really truly started to blossom and start to grow because now my vision was clear, my focus was was on, you know, making a difference and creating positive change. And so that's how everything came about.

SPEAKER_04 9:05

That's a that's a hard thing to justify, right? Like the the whole desire for justice, but also the needing for forgiveness so you can move on, right? Because it it it's it's not gonna do any good. Like the the guy who who killed your your cousin is not gonna care that you're mad at him, right? Right? That's the thing, right? It's so there's there's a there's that that real hard struggle and balance between that desire for justice and the needing for forgiveness, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 9:36

And and that and that was the hardest thing for me. It's like you want justice, but then also being the type of person I was, raised in the church, you know, faith in God and just wanting to let go. And you know, it felt like a whole weight came off of me. Yeah, I mean, yeah. Being able to just let that go and understand, and I became better because of it.

SPEAKER_01 9:59

So I'm sorry if I missed this, but how old were you when this happened?

SPEAKER_02 10:04

Twelve. I would have been about twenty five.

SPEAKER_01 10:08

Oh my gosh, yeah. So this is a regular night out. I mean, if you're not listening from Halifax, everybody in Halifax, when you're around that age and you're still single, you go down to the dome, have a few beer, every time we didn't get beer drinking, then after that you head up and do a get a slice of pizza so you're not super hung over work the next day. That's a regular, a regular maritime Saturday night, right? So and you probably would have never seen that horror show coming, right? You know, for your friend. So that sucks. What you did with it was beautiful. Tell us how you, you know, you had this moment, obviously, when you were walking down the street, you saw people come out and they they cared, they didn't know you, but they cared enough to support you. That's that must have been pretty a pretty strange feeling. Is that the moment where it became like a mission? Like, how did you get it to the next step? What did you kind of keep going with it?

SPEAKER_00 11:01

So after doing the first ever march, yeah, I had there were mothers that reached out to me that had lost their kids to violence. There were people that had been survivors of violent acts that reached out, and you know, they all had that similar feeling that this for the first time brought some hope. No one had ever did like stop the violence march and and and speaking out. And so it brought hope for you know a better future, and they were like, you can't stop doing it. Because I was just gonna do one march, and that was my thing, and then now I'm gonna go greet. Um, and I don't like to do things 50%. I'm either all in or nothing. So I had to take take some time to think because if I'm gonna do this, I gotta do it. You know what I mean? It's not like I'm gonna be half in and half out. Ended up taking, you know, almost a month to think about it, and I ended up doing it. I ended up, you know, stepping out on faith and just said, you know what, I'm gonna do it. Little did I know that, you know, there would be you know, you would get some hate on doing something good. What happened there? Just you know, like you know, five months after I was assaulted at a party, five months after starting and stop the violence. And you know why? Still to this day no, but went through that and that process actually, you know, kind of really shook me up and kind of made me realize January 2013 and was like, yo, not everyone's gonna like what you do.

SPEAKER_01 12:43

Were they mad because you kind of became like a poster boy and they just wanted to kind of tear you down a strip? Do you feel like that was the that was the beef?

SPEAKER_00 12:50

Honestly, to this day, I do not know the real cause. And I'm not gonna, you know, try and figure it out. I never tried to figure it out. Um but then moving on from there, like, you know, you should have seen the amount of threats I've dealt with over the years, the amount of hate, the amount of racism I've dealt with over the years.

SPEAKER_01 13:13

I don't understand that. Like, why are you getting that for like trying to support your buddy who just like because I mean this would be no different if it was that I lost that night, right? Like, I mean, I would want to stand up for my friend, right?

SPEAKER_00 13:25

Unless and you would never think it. But that's been the the side of Stop the Bottles that I don't talk about that a lot of that people don't see.

SPEAKER_02 13:34

Yeah.

Turning Hate Into Programs For Youth

SPEAKER_00 13:35

And I remember just trying to fathom like why is this happening? Why are people hating? Why are people upset? Yeah, I mean, but I don't know. For some reason, I turned it into more feel for me to do Stop the Bounds. And it just made me more resilient and made me go do more. You know, so that's how I pushed on, you know, doing a mentorship program, doing uh the school supplies drive, doing the Christmas toy drive, doing uh, you know, a free fun day on the commons. That's how I'm gonna be. Yeah, I mean, when I started speaking, that's why I started speaking in the schools more and traveling and speaking at events because that hate just filled me to spread more love. Right.

SPEAKER_04 14:24

Yeah, Q, Q actually, Q went and spoke at my wife's class one time, and yeah, it which was pretty nice of him because he also came in and surprised them. He gave the whole class tickets to uh was it the Rain Man at the time, I think is what it was. Yeah, yes, yes.

SPEAKER_01 14:39

So that was what grade did your wife's class kids uh man?

SPEAKER_04 14:42

Grade three.

SPEAKER_01 14:43

Grade three, cool, yeah.

SPEAKER_04 14:45

So it was it was pretty it was pretty cool and pretty special, actually, that you know, that for him to go in there because she teaches at a French school and they normally don't bring in English-only speakers. So he's he was he definitely he he got the exception kind of thing, right? To go in there and speak in English to speak to her class, which I mean was pretty cool, but also I just appreciated that he'd do that kind of for me and for my wife. And yeah, it was pretty awesome.

SPEAKER_00 15:10

It's been amazing that my message has been able to be the same, but it travels. You know, I've been to Prince Schools, I've been to Niels Harbour at the Pop of Cape Breton, I've spoken to kids in the US. You know what I mean? Uh yeah, it's it's get to meet Obama. You get to meet Obama to meet Obama, I've got to beat Michelle Obama. Yeah, holy shit. Would you meet Obama?

SPEAKER_01 15:32

Hold up, where'd you beat her? Him and her.

SPEAKER_00 15:34

Yeah, yeah. So I I've I've got to experience that because of doing the work and being able to share this special message. Going to United Nations and and you know, receiving top 100 most influential person of African descent under 40 in the world, you know, the only elected Canadian. So being able to I didn't know none of this.

SPEAKER_01 15:54

I just knew you did a good thing, yeah, uh. Oh my gosh.

SPEAKER_00 15:58

Yeah, so I've been, you know, named on a list with Drake and Rihanna and you know, Chadwick Bozeman, and you know, being named that, and then coming back and meeting Barack Obama weeks later has been, you know, uh a crazy experience. And then walking into Obama and Obama's, you know, I was in shock, and you know, him telling me he heard of me, and you know, I'm just like confused. But then I tell him about my biggest heroes, and you know, I I talk about it all the time. My biggest heroes are my parents. You know, seeing how they provided for me and my siblings and growing up and that example that they set made me who I am today. And, you know, we tend to look up as celebrities and stuff when our real heroes are right in front of us, sacrificing for us. And so, you know, he autographed uh Obama hat from my parents. They were celebrating 25 years of marriage that year. He said, Happy 2025 and Barack Obama, so they have that hat, you know, and it was just an amazing moment. Then we took a picture with the hat and me and Obama.

SPEAKER_02 17:00

So, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 17:03

Yeah, so so just seeing how Stop the Violence was able to go from a single march and be able to have an influence and and and in so many people's lives over the years, you know, to a point someone actually named their kid after me.

SPEAKER_03 17:22

Wow, I didn't know that.

SPEAKER_00 17:24

Yeah, and and you know, it was a huge, huge honor. You know what I mean? Naming your child Quintra, like I I've clarify, was it your child?

SPEAKER_01 17:34

No. Sorry, yeah, I just don't know. I know you wanted to get that joke in here.

SPEAKER_00 17:41

But yeah, just like hearing that and and like, you know, being able to go into prisons and speak, you know, looking at birds line and and being able to have that and being able to speak to inmates, being a positive voice from the outside in, you know, and and helping.

SPEAKER_01 17:56

How do they perceive that in like a correctional facility when you walk in going stop the work?

Speaking In Schools, Prisons, And Big Moments

SPEAKER_00 18:00

It's been it's actually been crazy because a lot of them know who I am. Yeah, they've seen it, they've heard it on the news or radio, and they're you know, they they they know who I am, but how I connect with them, because I I know they're not sometimes gonna listen to my words, is connecting. You have a family member that's outside waiting for you. You might have kids. You don't want no one else raising your kids.

SPEAKER_03 18:23

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 18:24

So if you you have to get your life together, not for me, for them. Right. You don't want to waste your life in here. So my my words are uh I it changes my message, but it's all the same. It's just different wording when I'm speaking to elementary, to high school, to inmates, to to to anyone, you know what I mean, that would listen.

SPEAKER_04 19:09

So, Q, you know, I'm hearing all this stuff, and and I do also know, like unfortunately, there's other acts of violence that are happening in the city, and I see you speak out about it a lot and everything. With all of that that's going on, and you getting pulled in so many different directions. Do you feel any type of weight or burden on your shoulders where it's like, man, this happened again, and now I gotta stand up here and and talk about it again, kind of like not that it's a bad thing, but you know what I mean?

SPEAKER_00 19:41

I used to feel like that because this thing is for me is personal. Yeah. So I used to feel like I could literally stop the violence. Yeah. I used to feel that, you know what I mean? I used to it used to be really personal. And then I had to kind of separate myself and take care of myself and my mental and just be like, yo, you can say as much, but some people are so far gone that it's gonna continue to happen. But if I can reach these kids before they get to picking up a gun or going down the wrong road, that's who I'm gonna reach. That's the generation that's gonna change. You know what I mean? So that's when I start to focus on the youth. I'm not gonna, these guys that are already out here shooting or doing this, they're not gonna listen to my voice. They're not even listening to those closest to them in their circle. So my voice is not gonna mean anything. But if I can get to that young person and instill in them positive thoughts and about themselves and and about their their family and being able to inspire them to be successful and do great things, then they're not gonna make those decisions. So that's where my focus with the Stop Violence movement became a focus on just youth. And you know, I always say that every youth is one caring adult away from a success story. Oh, yeah. All it takes is one of us to grab that youth when they're trying to go down the wrong road to really care and to show up. But we don't have that no more. People give up too easy. Oh, he did one thing wrong. Okay, now I give up. We forget that we all make mistakes. Yeah. That we can all change, you know what I mean? So that's that's how I focused stop the violence because I used to get so personal with it. And it used to hurt me. I had to put a post up last year because violence was happening, and people were like, oh, Mr. Stop the Violence. They were putting, oh, where's Mr. Stop the Violence? I had went silent because I started to protect my peace. I was dealing with stuff in life that I have to go take care of because I was so focused on everybody else and and allowing everyone else to have a piece of me. But I was I had stuff that I had to deal with myself. No, you know what I mean? And so, and I had to prepare myself and take a step back and protect my peace. And I had to rate a post to understand people under didn't know that I went and I had threats. They didn't know I dealt with all that type of stuff and everything, because I don't speak about it and I'm not looking for attention about it. My main focus was the violence. Being able to just refresh last these last couple months, I was able to just kind of refill my cup. And so twenty twenty six is gonna be a busy year. It's gonna be the tenth, tenth year of Stop the Violence Day this year. Yeah, that's right. We yeah, June. Yeah. June 10th, it was it was proclaimed in 2016. So it'll be 10 years for that day. So that's a big, big moment. So I'm trying to, you know, plan that out right now. And just slowly get back into the grind. The brand, the clothing brand is gonna be released, re-released again. So you know, it's been years since I done that. So, you know, just trying to get back on to you know, putting that positive message out into the universe. Yeah, that's awesome.

Boundaries, Burnout, And Protecting Peace

SPEAKER_04 23:08

Yeah. Yeah, so the yeah, and I mean, if uh we're we're happy to help promote whatever you got going on on June 10th. And uh, you know, yeah, absolutely happy to promote it.

SPEAKER_01 23:20

It's amazing you made that a holiday, like or not a holiday, but you know what I mean. It's amazing you you you manage from what star as a march down the street that day because you were fed up, actually legitimately became the first of its kind stop the violence day, dude. That's awesome.

SPEAKER_00 23:35

And it's it's it's crazy because like, you know, it's a simple day. It's wear red and do an act of kindness for someone else. It's just simple as that. And you know, it's like people were like, oh, well, you got a day. You know, it I remember in COVID when Dr. Strang and Premier McNeil was on, and you know, they were like, today stop the violence day, and they gave it shadow. And Dr. Strang had red in his tie, and Steve and Premier McNeil had red on, and it was just it was just a moment for me to see, like, yo, you just really have a whole day to spread love. And it's not for and and and I'm trying to get people to understand, this is just not June 10th. As simple as holding the door for someone. You don't know what that person may be going through that day. Yeah, you simply holding the door may change your whole mood.

SPEAKER_01 24:26

Be your friends. Yeah, the dollar before you brush by someone, hey, how's it going? You know, yes, exactly. Exactly.

SPEAKER_00 24:32

Or give someone a smile, something. Because you know, to these last few years been a lot mentally for a lot of people. So you're being able to be kind is is it goes along.

SPEAKER_01 24:44

You go to the grocery store, the unaffordability. I'm always cracking jokes about the price of stuff, getting people laughing in the grocery store. I mean, kid doesn't like going with me anymore because they talk to everybody when I go walk around, right? You know? But yeah, no, I think that's the way you gotta be. You gotta be you gotta try to push a lot of love in this world wherever you go and try to be kind. And I mean, yeah. I was la having a laugh with a lady in that windstorm there outside of Walmart parking lot the other day, right? And we just saw some windy age, she's almost blown it away. We're both laughing about it, right? Like, but what, you know, this is a stranger and what a cool moment, right? You know. That person now feels maybe her day got a little bit better too, right? I hope. Right. So I I love what you're doing. Canada's place in the world right now. I want to shift it a little bit. Like, you know, take this very small Nova Scotian theme we have, you know, you've established and putting this on the like I seeing what's going on in Minnesota in recent weeks, seeing what's going on now. I I I heard now this show's gonna come out a couple weeks later, but you know, the uh ice is going up into patrol areas of Boston where the border is, almost explicitly for the purpose of imit intimidating Canadians as they come through now, right? So it's it's a really it's a war on all fronts, right?

SPEAKER_04 26:00

And I don't think Yeah, they're they're going up into Maine, you mean?

Stop The Violence Day And Acts Of Kindness

SPEAKER_01 26:04

Yeah, sorry, thank you, Matt. Yeah. And I don't think like I mean, it this is obviously a very racist model that they're working on. Like there's no there's no way around it, right? Like it's like it's crazy to think that all of a sudden, you know, your color means show me your identification, right? This is this is you know what this is what World War II was like. This is what happened in Nazi Germany, and we're seeing it playing out in real time, right? And this is not, like I said at the beginning of this episode, this is not a political thing. This is not if you vote one team or the other team or the admittal team. This is like, what the F? Like, how are you going to really, you know, let your own country just have the have that happen on your street or your block or your neighborhood and be okay with it. Because if it's okay that they pick on that person this day, it's you tomorrow, right?

SPEAKER_00 27:00

And that's the sad, messed up part thing about it because people do want to speak up, but now they're seeing that they're killing citizens.

SPEAKER_01 27:07

Right. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 27:08

They're they're killing citizens.

SPEAKER_01 27:09

They were always citizens, but like now it's to the point where it's everyone, right? Or it doesn't matter in a way, right?

unknown 27:17

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 27:17

Like this whole these whole shootings that we're watching now via phone video where all the evidence is right there of complete murder. Oh, no, no, no, no, that was not murder.

SPEAKER_06 27:32

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 27:33

Literally, you know, this last one of you know, the nurse guy being killed and how God dude, yeah, it was turned around that he was yeah, there was like six guys on him.

SPEAKER_01 27:44

Yeah. And they took his gun. And you saw it.

SPEAKER_00 27:47

And they, yeah, and you took it in. He never, he never grabbed his gun.

SPEAKER_01 27:53

That was like a literally protecting. I couldn't believe it. I felt sick when I saw this, right?

SPEAKER_00 27:57

I I seen him protecting a woman that was pushed.

SPEAKER_01 28:01

Mm-hmm.

SPEAKER_00 28:02

And then they just got really ultra-aggressive. And I'm hearing, you know, that these ICE agents aren't even trained. They're just picked off the street. One of them in a video said that he only got a high school diploma.

SPEAKER_03 28:13

Yeah. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 28:15

And now I'm a federal agent.

SPEAKER_01 28:17

Yeah. And I mean, you got women defending children's uh elementary schools, yelling at the ice police, like, no, you're not coming in my school. And they're trying to use those kids to lure the parents out so they can get the whole lot and lock them up.

SPEAKER_00 28:33

And it's it's this has been, you know, watching this unfold, and and like I was saying, it's gonna, it's getting to a point where it doesn't matter what color your skin now, right? We are all targets now. And when when you know, I know how I said black people were targets, you know, by policing. You know, now it's now it's anyone. If you step out in those streets and you're trying to protect anyone, welcome to the club, you will be shot.

SPEAKER_01 29:01

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Like it's everyone, everyone is vulnerable now that resists, right?

SPEAKER_04 29:07

Yeah, and then and and to to add kind of insult to inner injury, or I guess injury to injury, really. Now we're stuck with we're we're talking, we're here talking to you know, someone who's talking about stopping the violence, and now our phones, our source of entertainment is being flooded with violence, real violence, real violence, and that's the thing that you know, like to think, you know, my kids saw Carly Charlie Kirk get shot like on a TikTok.

SPEAKER_01 29:36

Right?

SPEAKER_00 29:36

Yeah, my son's seen the George Floyd video, right? Yeah, I mean it was all over TikTok.

SPEAKER_01 29:47

I'm not sure how old you are, but Matt and I are I'm I'm 42. Matt's Matt's what, you're 50, Matt? Is that what fuck off?

SPEAKER_04 29:53

Q and I was the same age. Q and I are the same age.

SPEAKER_01 29:56

I'll be 40 this year. Yeah. So you'll be 40 this year. Okay, so like we were all kids. Like, you have to think of how hard it was for us to see a violin video. Yes, right?

SPEAKER_00 30:06

It was very, it was very hard. I didn't get a cell phone until like high school, high school, and it was an audio box.

From Local To Global: Rights And Policing

SPEAKER_01 30:12

No, you couldn't legally watch UFC in Canada when we were kids, eh? Yeah, so like so we remember the ZHS and used to watch the home. Like, it's crazy how how much it's changed.

SPEAKER_04 30:23

I think the earliest memory that I have of like actual seeing like actual like kind of street violence on TV was probably Rodney King. I'd say that's probably my yes, yes.

SPEAKER_01 30:33

Yeah, yeah. That was probably my earliest mainstream yeah, that uh yeah. I can't remember seeing that though, Matt, I'll be honest with you, right? But no? Oh, geez.

SPEAKER_00 30:44

Listen, the most violence I seen on TV was wrestling.

SPEAKER_01 30:47

Oh yeah.

SPEAKER_00 30:48

WW WWF before it was WWE.

SPEAKER_01 30:52

Right on, yeah.

SPEAKER_04 30:53

I mean, I did watch a lot of I did watch a lot of that too, but yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 30:57

I call it I call that T.

SPEAKER_00 30:58

You know how what's crazy to me about the whole thing that's going on within the US is we had the January 6th thing happen.

SPEAKER_02 31:07

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 31:09

Where they stormed the Capitol.

SPEAKER_02 31:12

Yeah, dude. And crazy.

SPEAKER_00 31:14

These people were pardoned by the president. These people are out here protesting in the streets, which is their right to, and being killed. What's that other young fellow that showed up to with uh Carl Wittenhouse?

SPEAKER_04 31:33

Yeah. Yeah, he showed up with that.

SPEAKER_00 31:35

And then now all of a sudden, now all of a sudden, you know, the president comes out and all and the FBI and everyone's like, well, you know, you show up to a protest with a gun, you're gonna this is the re No, this is that's their second amendment, but he also did not touch his gun. He did he was no threat to you guys. He was protecting a woman and that you guys, and then you guys pepper sprayed him and jumped on him and shot him eight to ten times.

SPEAKER_02 32:01

Yeah. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 32:03

I was so I was I my heart dropped because it was just like it was literally an execution right in front of us.

SPEAKER_01 32:09

Right. And I'm sure these ICE agents are scared in the in the situation that they're in. Not that I have sympathy for them, because I think if you sign this contract, you're a monster, to be honest. I don't have any sympathy for ICE agents, make that clear. But I mean, obviously these guys lack of training, super scared. They get a crowd around them like that, they're just fucking skittish, and then it's just pop, pop, pop, right as soon as, you know, as soon as anything goes down, they don't know how to do anything but panic because again, they haven't been trained correctly, like you were saying earlier.

SPEAKER_00 32:37

Yeah, so they're not, they're picked off the street, and these could be people that, you know, are racist and everything just coming in. Oh, I get to I get to be hide behind my badge now.

SPEAKER_01 32:47

Yeah. And a literal mask. And you're gonna wear a mask.

SPEAKER_00 32:50

And they literally, I've never seen agents that walk around with a mask on. No. Well, you literally cannot see their face.

SPEAKER_01 32:57

Well, that's just not been the norm for the last 30 years. Like we would associate uh law enforcement with identity, right? They would show you who they are. If you ask, they'd have to show you a badge or badge number, right? Yeah. It's just, you know, massively, it's massively disgusting.

SPEAKER_00 33:18

I mean And the sad part about like law enforcement in general, you know, we have those that are racist within policing, even here in Nova Scotia.

SPEAKER_02 33:28

Yes.

SPEAKER_00 33:29

I dealt with it. A lot of people have dealt with it, and I, you know, I I I spoke to a class at Dow the other day and was telling them, you know, you gotta understand perspective. A lot of these, I try and tell these police officers, when you come to, you know, someone in African Nova Scotia, where we had the, you know, street checks that came out and and and facts that show that black people in Nova Scotia are like four or five times more likely to be pulled over when our population is really minimum. It's crazy because I was pulled over so much, profiled so much for driving my Mercedes. I was profiled, yeah. I mean, but at the same time, I'm trying to work with policing and trying to bridge that gap and build trust. But it's so hard when you experience it. You're yeah and and and how do you trust law enforcement when you keep seeing videos like we see in the States, like we see around Canada, of how law certain law enforcement, it may not be here directly, but the mistreatment of citizens.

SPEAKER_01 34:34

Well, yeah, I mean, I think some of it does start with law enforcement. Like there's so many good people in law enforcement. There's so many. I know so many personally. It's it's like the vast majority, I would say, probably that I've met are are pretty good people, right? That being said, that being said, it's like you gotta wean out the bad. You gotta look at your own. And when you see someone that's not on the team, uh like, you know, keeping the public safe, then you know, there has to be clear ways to get rid of that idiot, right? Like, you know, there has to be clear ways to get rid of those people that are not there for the right reasons.

SPEAKER_04 35:08

And you know what? That's kind of like like my thought process behind it all is like, you know, I work in insurance, so I'll use that as a profession, right? You know, if I if we had a racist insurance professional, not really gonna make a huge impact on on someone's life, really, right? You call you make another phone call, you're gonna get another person and then move on with your life. But someone who has authority in the way that you know, officials with police officers that have authority with weapons, they have a greater responsibility because you know there's there's a fear. I mean, you can trust you could trust cops all you want. The fact is still, you know, there's still a fear inside. Like I'm a law-abiding citizen, but you know, there's still something to be said. Like when the lights come on behind you and you're just kind of like, oh shit, what did I do, or whatever. Yeah, I can I can I can always I can only imagine being in a situation where like because I you know I've been pulled over and before getting gotten speeding tickets and things, but I can only imagine what it must feel like to be in a situation where whether you're doing something wrong or not, right? You you know, having a police officer come in with with a weapon drawn or something like that. Yeah, it's it's it's a situation that you know you you you don't know how you may react sometimes, right? You don't know what to do.

SPEAKER_01 36:22

And the difference between what's mad is I can turn down my rap music and push my glasses up and be okay, be like, how you doing today, sir?

SPEAKER_04 36:29

And I can't. And I can't do that. You can't do that. And and that's a an honest thing. I can't remember where where was it? I saw something where basically the tip was that if if you're black in America, you should walk around with a Starbucks cup because that means you're non-threatening. Yeah, yeah. Right?

SPEAKER_00 36:46

And that ain't even helping because you know, we've seen black people killed in neighborhoods that they live in. And, you know, that's the sad part that I've never thought that, you know, I thought after you know Martin Luther King and all that, that you know, things would change and we say that things change, and you know, being a black person just in society has been so hard. We have to work twice as hard in professions. You know, I've I the the profession that I work in with, you know, federal government, you know, in my unit, you know, I was the only black hired the past 12 years. The only diverse hire. Yeah and then I've seen people, you know, that I've come in that, you know, that have come in after me, you know, get positions over me and go other.

SPEAKER_01 37:37

So it's kind of like Mika Brown said, Matt, in our recent just to be good. Yeah. You gotta be great just to be good, is what he said. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 37:45

Yeah. And that's so true that we and you know, I hold myself to a standard, so we all do. And, you know, I try and do my best, but I shouldn't be looked over because of the color of my skin.

SPEAKER_02 37:58

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 37:59

I shouldn't be only given a position because we need someone black in that position.

SPEAKER_04 38:03

Right.

unknown 38:04

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 38:04

I I you know what I mean. I should be able to earn that position because I deserve it, not because the color of my skin. You know what I mean? So it's it's bad. And then you look around the world and you I don't know why my my skin color seems to be a threat.

SPEAKER_02 38:20

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 38:20

That's the scariest part that just being a little darker skin when we all bleed red. We all bleed red.

SPEAKER_01 38:28

And just think of go back to think of that story about how that could have just been me and Matt out that night, had too many beers, got some pizza after, right? To clean ourselves up the next day. That's a Matt and Mike story. That's happened. Like we've done that. We've had that exact, I don't know, from the dome, but probably like went to the dome, went to get a slice of pizza after the night was out. Yeah. Right? Same, same thing, just two good bites, right? Like Frank, right? Back to the scenario.

SPEAKER_04 38:55

Q, in your experience now that like, you know, you because you've had a lot of interactions with with government officials and been involved in some of the like policy talks and things like that, and refocusing back here in Nova Scotia, even slash Canada, whatever. But what do you think that governments can do at this point that can really move the needle in a in in re in a real way? Like, like what you said, like you don't want to be given a position because of your color, but you also don't want to miss out on a position because of your color. What can we what can we do?

Media, Trauma, And Desensitization

SPEAKER_00 39:26

So so for that, it's just I find authorities no longer listen to those they serve. That's a big problem with government policing. Like we we have community policing, we have a lot of community policing offices. And in especially in black communities, and they're asking why hasn't it worked? Why is it still violence? Well, because you guys came and put your offices there with your own model, but you never asked the community what did they need? How can we serve you? Right. And sometimes we get into a position where we think we're too high to listen to those that we're serving. Same with government. A lot of communities want to work with government, but the problem is the reason why the trust and and everything is not there with law enforcement and government is because they don't sit down with us. They don't ask us what do we need? How can we help? What do you think would change? They get experts that never grew up in these communities, that never have the perspective, come in and oh, well, this model worked in Chicago. Well, let's figure this out and bring this together, put funding here or whatever, and it's gonna work. No, because Chicago is not the same as North Preston. Chicago's not the same as East Preston. You know, East Preston is not the same as Uniac Square. You know what I mean? It's it's different. You have to be able to listen to the community, listen to the people that you're serving. That's the first step. You know, I learned I learned when I started stop the violence. You know, it was hard. I thought, you know, I'm going to do this, I'm gonna do this, that. I learned how to listen. I learned how to take constructive criticism on how to change. My speech when I first started was like a PowerPoint, giving statistics, this, this, this, this. And kids weren't as receptive. And then I took some constructive criticism and it changed into telling my real life story, opening up, being emotional. I changed the whole thing of stop the violence and how I speak, and was been able to share that message in so many different ways. We do not listen. We think we're experts because you know, someone wouldn't got a degree in this, they're gonna what they teach in university is not gonna teach you what you're seeing in these communities. You have to be there, grassroots level. Understand how we grow up, understand how we process things. That's why the trust is so broken, you know what I mean? And it's because no one listens, they just do and think, well, we we can throw money at this, they'll be happy. No, it doesn't fix the problem, it's a band-aid. When you put a band-aid over open wound, what does that do?

SPEAKER_04 42:29

Yeah, no, that's true. No, no, it's I I I believe that, man. I mean, uh the the experts are the people living in it, you know, the front frontline people are are the the ones we should be taking kind of worried. I mean, that speaks for communities, that speaks for companies. Companies, exactly, companies are the same thing, right? Yeah, you know, our front our front line, I'm a firm believer that our frontline people in a company are the most important people in the industry because the fact is that you can remove a CEO. The fact is that you know Joe Smith down the street doesn't know the CEO, doesn't know the vice president, doesn't know the the director, like probably doesn't even know a manager. But what they do know is they know that they work with Q, who answers the phone calls and they have the relationship with, right? And it's like the minute you leave, all of a sudden it's like, well, the person who's attended my every need for the last 30 years. So it's like the the higher you go up in that chain, honestly, even though you get to make the decisions, you are actually the least important person in the chain.

SPEAKER_00 43:41

Exactly. Exactly. And that changes everything. If the government would sit down with policing and sit down with me and community, you know how much stuff we could change.

SPEAKER_03 43:55

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 43:56

You know how many how much how much things can be changed, even within the justice system. It's just they they don't want to sit. I don't want to say they don't, it's just they think that sitting in front of a community hearing, they don't want to hear the criticism. And sometimes you got to understand this criticism is not personal. It is not personal. Understand that these people have dealt with deaths, young people that are not making their 20th birthday, their 30th birthday, 40th birthday. They are trauma the trauma and the grief that's passed down generations. It's not to you. It may come out angry, but it's not directed at you. Be able to listen and understand and empathize with them, but it's not directed to you. But somebody don't want to hear that.

SPEAKER_04 44:47

That's a hard that's a hard thing on I think to do in general. Exactly. Like to take to take anger from someone. And understand that it's not anger with you, it's just anger, right?

Bias, Street Checks, And Everyday Profiling

SPEAKER_00 45:03

It's yeah, it's so hard to think if we got to a place like that as government, so many can things can change in our communities and and and and then the trust. Because now you listen to me. Now you understand what I'm dealing with. Right, right. So now we gotta we got a deeper connection than than me just seeing you on the news or whatever, and because now, okay, mayor, mayor feel more, okay. He sat in and heard me be all upset and everything, and he understood and he said, put your nose down. And then they went and did what the community came together and and and came up with, they went and did it. So they know me now. They I I feel a little connection now. Now we can build trust. Right.

SPEAKER_01 45:48

Right. So I guess the framework for this, you got to go back to you know, day one. If people want to do this in their cities, if people want to do this in their communities, like yeah, I mean what I would love to see in a perfect world is Nova Scotia tied more closely together, right? Exactly, you know, than it is today. I mean, we still have such segregation and such different places with almost different ways of life, and not just black to white, it could be white to white, it could be white to indigenous, like so many different subcultures that just kind of stay sheltered. But the thing is, we gotta start taking care of each other today, or tomorrow we could be looking at the exact same Americas happening because a little bit of rage can go a long way as we see right now. Right.

SPEAKER_00 46:34

Well, technology has changed the way we act in life. People will be sitting on a bus every day and don't even know the people around them. The same people on going to work every day because we're stuck on our phones.

SPEAKER_01 46:49

That's so fair.

SPEAKER_00 46:49

Because when we're with family, we're on our phones. You know what I mean? And that disconnect has changed everything. You kids don't even play outside no more. When I was growing up, we were told, be in before the street light comes on.

unknown 47:04

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 47:05

And if you didn't come in before the street light, you know the problem. We loved outside. I agree with all that.

SPEAKER_01 47:10

And I think that's how that's that's a horse that's been, you know, kind of beat to death, right? You know, the old, you know, oh, there the kids just screen now. And uh I I don't disagree with you, but I mean there we we do have to start to find a way around this. Yeah because you know what, the screens aren't going away. I think the augmentation is just going to get closer and closer. Where I mean, I use ChatGTP now. It's like my therapist, my counselor does my banking. Like it's uh it's uh it's almost everything. Like, so think about how much closer I'm getting and drawn into this technology as I get older. And we're all gonna go that way. So we have to find a way as we do that. I think what you said, it starts with super small steps, saying hi, holding the door. But to get to a little bit broader than that, we have to we have to get to events like yours in our own communities. We have to take them a lot more seriously, maybe, than we do now. And we have to realize that like the value behind us getting having each other's backs will make us so much stronger than us turning our backs on each other in times of need. Right? So it's like I think that's what you gotta really look at. We gotta, you know, we we I don't know how how you do this, how you start this. I mean, I can't believe that, you know, all of you've done with with marching down the street, because you know, I mean, that's a that's uh almost sounds like a crazy guy, like you know, at the very beginning of that story, no disrespect, right? But like, you know, to go from that to what you've created is absolutely wonderful. And that means that should be something that should be repeated in as many places as possible and get those organizations, like no person left behind, kind of mentality, right? And human beings. And and and like I said, you said a lot about second chances, which I really appreciate too. And I think we got to be more open to that, right? What's the severity of what the guy or girl did, right? Okay. Like, can we can we build on that if we get them back into the can we can we still bring them with us, right? Even though that they did they they stole something with these shit, right? Like, not not saying that that's a good thing to do, just saying, you know It's just saying, yeah, exactly. Were they dumb? Was it just a thing, you know, was it were they poor? What was the situation that they took that thing, right?

SPEAKER_00 49:31

And that's what we have to get to. It's understanding where that person grew up, what's their perspective? Yeah, I mean, maybe them stealing whatever was because they needed it. They literally needed it. You know what I mean? And they had no money for it. But at the same time, how do we I find, you know, especially when I was speaking at the prisons, we're not we're not getting these people to a place to come back in society and be successful.

SPEAKER_02 50:01

Right. Right.

SPEAKER_00 50:03

You know what I mean? We're going in jail, they're getting put in jail to become better criminals.

SPEAKER_01 50:07

There was a Mike Moore documentary. I don't know if you ever saw it, man, but like it came out a few years ago, but it showed all the prisons over like in Europe, and it showed these particular prisons that they weren't harsh, like the dudes were like literally like crocheting and stuff.

unknown 50:18

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 50:19

And like they were all in Norway that's like that where they're open and it's pretty nice and everything. Like they got them living pretty good and everything in jail.

SPEAKER_01 50:32

Exactly. Why wasn't that the model? Why wasn't that the goal, right? I know you can't fix everybody, right? Like you can't fix crazy. You know there's dudes in there that are just not gonna not gonna comply, right?

SPEAKER_00 50:44

Like, but but there are there are a lot that are in there that just went down the wrong road. Right down the road with their buddies or or you know, things like that. You know what I mean? That can be fixed.

SPEAKER_01 50:55

And I mean, if you if you think that's bad in Canada, I mean, we think about how bad that is in America, where it's so institutionalized, right?

SPEAKER_04 51:02

There's so many people in prison in America where they have a three strikes and you're out rule.

SPEAKER_01 51:08

Out, yeah, right? And the third strike could be like you had a joint, right? Like the third strike could be like, yo, is that an open bear in your hand there? You're out on the street.

Policy That Listens To Communities

SPEAKER_00 51:16

Just look at it like this like armed robbery in Canada, you might be looking at seven to ten years, maybe. In the US, that's 30 years. Yeah. Life in Canada is only 25 years if it's first degree. Yeah, I mean second second degree is t is is 25, but after 10 is a possibility for parole. Right. In in the States, that's life. That's a hundred years. And they add the hundred years on to a hundred years. You kill three people, that's three hundred years you're getting. Or even worse, death penalty. And I find Canadian Canadian justice system is a too lenient. People are getting murdering people and killing people and going to jail, and then they're getting out on good behavior within five or six years. I just seen a gentleman that's being released after a hit and run in Kate Breton that killed that 10-year-old on the bicycle in 2019. And now he's able to come out on parole.

SPEAKER_03 52:22

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 52:23

Yeah, I mean, and he hit hit a killed her and left.

SPEAKER_03 52:29

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 52:31

And then we've seen.

SPEAKER_01 52:33

I guess that's the ugly side of second chances, too. I mean, that's that's like that's a conundrum, right? Because I mean, you have to then take the things you don't want, right? And I mean, you know, when I when I think of how how it should be, if I was, I don't know, helping with this stuff, I would be like, you know, the ones that are a danger to others, the public danger, public danger to others would be the the number one people I'd lock up.

SPEAKER_04 52:58

Well, I think I think that's the big thing though, is like you can make a you can draw a line in the sand at violent and sexual crimes versus other crimes.

SPEAKER_01 53:06

Yes. Yeah. Yeah. I and I don't think that I think that's a pretty easy thing to to see, right? Like, you know, this that or what and and and then where what was their role in it? Were they, you know, were they an accomplice? Were they did they have a history? You know, what you know, all this stuff shouldn't take very long to figure out, you know, this person should definitely be in this, you know, maximum institution, or this person needs to be real rehabilitated. They fucked up and did something stupid, and and they need to kind of, you know, get we need to give this person another chance, right? Like uh, you know, one more roll of the die before we we throw them in.

SPEAKER_00 53:43

You know what I had I said the other day, I said uh, you know, what if families of victims had options to choose the sentence? Oh you gave the families options, oh, 50 years, 20 years, 30 years, and they pick an option. Imagine that. That would be a very interesting experiment. I I think it would be very interesting.

SPEAKER_01 54:09

I don't think there'd be many second chances.

SPEAKER_00 54:12

Depend depending on the crime. Like if it's if it's if it's manslaughter, it wouldn't be in a manslaughter case where you didn't intend, but if it's murder, murder.

SPEAKER_01 54:24

Mm-hmm. Yeah. I mean, someone loses a loved one. I I feel like that's a life for a life.

SPEAKER_00 54:31

I mean, yeah, that's what I that's what I feel too. Even in manslaughter is kind of frustrating for me because even though you didn't intend to kill them, you knew that actions could possibly end in a death. So that for me has been always like And slaughter's a tough one.

SPEAKER_06 54:47

Yeah, like you gotta be a good thing.

SPEAKER_00 54:49

You still gotta do time because we have a life that is gone because of you.

SPEAKER_01 54:53

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 54:55

You gotta do a lot of time.

SPEAKER_01 54:56

Now let me ask you this. What about when it comes to a mode of true self-defense? Like it was an invasure, invasion in my home, and then I I kill that person. How do you feel?

SPEAKER_00 55:05

Like, should I that self-defense one is actually it's tough.

SPEAKER_01 55:11

It's a tough one.

SPEAKER_00 55:12

I said, if you're in your own home and someone's coming to kill your family and you ended up killing them, I don't think you should have to pay consequences for for protecting your home.

SPEAKER_04 55:21

So I actually there there was a case, there was a case on this actually, I don't know what it was, five years ago. And I know there's a lot of kind of rumors or misinformation that's going around in Canada about this kind of recently. And they say, like, oh, I should have the right to protect myself. You do in Canada. So anyone listening to this, it is a fact, you do have the right to protect yourself within within reason, right? Only with lumber. But no, but the thing is, is that you know the thing is is like so what happened in the case that happened, I believe it was in Nova Scotia, is someone shot somebody who was attempting to rob their home.

SPEAKER_00 56:02

They broke in and I remember this, I remember, yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_04 56:05

And that person was arrested for murder, or I don't know if they died, maybe attempted murder. And the people were like, why? They're just defending. It's like the difference was is they shot the person in the back while they were running away. Yes, you don't get to do that because the the threat is ended. You they are leaving, the threat is over.

SPEAKER_01 56:24

So that's the crisis averted.

SPEAKER_04 56:26

Yeah, if that person, if that person was shot front on while still in the house, probably would have went a different way.

SPEAKER_00 56:34

Yeah, they did shoot him a couple times in the back, I believe.

SPEAKER_01 56:37

And that goes back to the training. Like if you got a gun in your hand, you should know when the crisis is over and you should know when not to pull the trigger, like they charged you know how to do down in Minnesota, right? Like, you know, like, you know, so it's like you have to weigh that out. Oh, so but that's interesting, Matt. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 56:54

You know, yeah, you know what my thing with that whole shooting in Minnesota was how come they never put handcuffs on him? Right. All those guys no one was trying to put handcuffs on him. So what was the purpose of you guys being on him? They didn't go to school for that, dude.

SPEAKER_01 57:10

They didn't know how to do it.

SPEAKER_00 57:12

That is true.

Rehabilitation Versus Punishment

SPEAKER_01 57:13

That is true. I mean, no, they're not doing any stuff in the bedroom because they probably don't have uh no. I'm gonna I'm not gonna go too far deep on how much I hate ice right now. I won't go too much on the burn train air, but but anyways, like all I'm gonna say is like it's disgusting. They need to end it. I hope by the time your show comes up, this is a mute point and an appropriate world will be dismantled. Let's let's make that the real prey for this episode. That's and I hope that there's no more deaths that this episode's irrelevant by the climate errors and or for for for for the hate on ice. But like, you know, like I said, I love Americans, I love American friends, I have Americans friends on both sides, man. I've had friends that I love traveling to the U.S. And but this this is one thing I just can't be cool with, right?

SPEAKER_00 57:59

So, you know, I I think anyone with a human heart shouldn't be cool with what we're seeing.

SPEAKER_01 58:03

No, no. So not not not not my president, as as some people say.

SPEAKER_04 58:09

Yeah, yeah. So I think uh I think it's time for us to lighten it up a little bit and move into our tent.

SPEAKER_01 58:18

So thank you so much for no things. We get to the stupid part now of our show. We do this all the time, like so. I like the dumb part of the show. It's my favorite part. I like just having fun. There's there's a couple like more serious ones in here, Matt, but most of them are getting to the uh getting to the hard questions. So you gotta you gotta put your thinking cap on for some of these, man, because they're gonna be tough. Okay.

SPEAKER_04 58:40

So you take are you taking odds or I'm evens or what?

SPEAKER_01 58:43

I'll do evens. You can do odds.

SPEAKER_04 58:45

All right, I'll do odds. So I'm kicking it off. So here we go. Question number one. So if someone wanted to start their own stop the violence campaign in their city, where do you recommend they start?

SPEAKER_00 58:57

So a guy actually started one in Louisiana, Alexandria, Louisiana Fred. He actually reached out to me. So he actually has my logo on the side of a truck, big, big truck that he drives around the community. He's an older guy, you know, and he said in partnership with Quintrell Provo, stop the violence. And he just started speaking out on the violence, and he's doing things with the youth. And to start to stop the violence, just speak up in your community. It's not it's it's hard for a lot of people, or just do something with the youth. You don't even have to be visible out there. Like, you know, I wasn't expecting to be visible, but it became bigger than I ever expected, and and and and pushed me to the forefront and being the voice. But just do things in your community, the little things with the youth. And and I I'll always go back to that one youth is is only a caring adult away from a success story. And so if you're putting the work in, you know, just show up. And that's a big thing, showing up, being visible and doing things with the youth, being a positive role model in the community, and just trying to do anything like that. So love it.

SPEAKER_01 1:00:10

Good answer. Question number two. This is going a little more left field, dude. If gravity itself became a subscription service and you were only allowed 20 minutes a day to walk the earth while you otherwise just floated around, what activity would you do while on the ground with your 20 minutes a day?

SPEAKER_00 1:00:29

Probably play football.

SPEAKER_01 1:00:31

Play football? Yeah. Play football.

SPEAKER_00 1:00:34

That's probably what I'm gonna do. It's either football or go to the gym.

SPEAKER_01 1:00:38

I'd lie down. You guys are crazy. Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 1:00:41

No, I I'd play football. I was right there. I was like, I was like, if Q's not running next to me on the gridiron, I don't know what's up, right?

SPEAKER_02 1:00:47

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Definitely football.

SPEAKER_01 1:00:49

My God, it's like it's like a football month here, Matt. You're not picking the guests anymore.

SPEAKER_04 1:00:53

Yeah, fair enough.

SPEAKER_01 1:00:55

I was just teasing. I was just teasing.

SPEAKER_04 1:00:57

Okay, so question number three.

SPEAKER_01 1:00:59

So I couldn't answer this.

SPEAKER_04 1:01:01

Good luck. All right, quit all right. Question number three. So if one of these musical legends had their entire musical catalog vanish overnight and never to be heard from again, who are you choosing between the three? Prince, Michael Jackson, Marvin Gaye.

SPEAKER_02 1:01:18

So one of them gotta go.

SPEAKER_01 1:01:25

I wrote this question. And when I found I was like, who else could I add besides Prince and Michael Jackson? And I was like, I have to get her. Right.

SPEAKER_00 1:01:35

It would have to be Marvin Gaye.

SPEAKER_04 1:01:37

I agree. I know I agree with that.

SPEAKER_00 1:01:39

As hard as it is, it would have to be Marvin Gaye because Prince's fingers are on so many other objects, and it means this. He was amused, just a genius when it comes to playing. He could play any instrument.

SPEAKER_01 1:01:52

Yeah. You'd have a lot more variety of music with Prince because he made it exactly.

SPEAKER_00 1:01:56

Marvin Gaye. Like yeah, Marvin Gay had his his time, but he ain't Prince and Michael Jack. There's Michael, there's Prince, and then there's everybody else.

SPEAKER_01 1:02:08

There you go. That's the good answer. All right. Question four to you, Tobin. Fun question. Just anything you saw recently or even when you're a kid. What's one movie that you think everybody should see?

SPEAKER_02 1:02:22

Could just be a favorite movie, whatever you want to say. Or a movie you want people to see for other reasons. Whatever you want to, whatever you want to say. I don't even know. I I I don't have a favorite movie. Oh my god. What's one movie people can You know what I actually watched recently was The Passion of the Christ.

SPEAKER_00 1:02:49

Okay. I never saw it. And that movie, man.

SPEAKER_02 1:03:02

I'm not trying to watch it this year. I never try to identify it.

SPEAKER_00 1:03:10

And I heard they're working on a part two now. But the Passion of Christ is a really, you know, you're seeing real life Jesus Christ stuff happening. I I would, you know, that that movie was pretty. I just, you know, watched it again recently, so it was really good. I'm checking out the show. Have you seen it, Matt?

SPEAKER_04 1:03:30

Oh, yeah, I saw it in theaters. Yeah. Okay, cool.

SPEAKER_00 1:03:34

I remember when we came out of the theaters when that happened. Crazy though, we were driving back to North Preston, and the church had booked out the whole theater, and we come back and the power had went out, so it was pitch dark. Everyone thought that like it was the second coming of God. It was crazy.

SPEAKER_01 1:03:49

That's a weird movie to eat popcorn to, though. I just couldn't see myself like enjoying like theater popcorn.

SPEAKER_00 1:03:55

Nah, it was actually pretty detailed. Like, you know, there's been many Bible movies, but then there was that one that kind of like, bam, it's right in your face, kind of thing.

SPEAKER_06 1:04:06

Right.

Self‑Defence, Training, And Accountability

SPEAKER_01 1:04:07

Okay. Well, I'm gonna I'm gonna try to watch it. I think I saw that they should make like a teenage Jesus movie. I'd love to see that. Like, what the heck is this guy up to? Like, you know, you never saw, you never saw, like, we never seen that that those years. I want to see him like kind of on the road, you know, be a little wild. Yeah. But, anyways, all right.

SPEAKER_04 1:04:25

Question number five. Okay. So if you could pick one superhero to work alongside you to help stop the violence, who would you pick?

SPEAKER_02 1:04:35

Let's see.

SPEAKER_04 1:04:36

I know exactly.

SPEAKER_02 1:04:37

Black Panther.

SPEAKER_04 1:04:41

I I knew that. I knew that was coming. Yeah. Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 1:04:44

Let's be able to do that.

SPEAKER_01 1:04:48

Yeah, for sure.

SPEAKER_04 1:04:49

Well, and yeah, exactly. Yeah. So you did you took a crew of kids to go see that dude? I did.

SPEAKER_00 1:04:54

I took four 400 youth. It raised$7,000 in five days to take 400 youth, you know, 18 to 10, to see Black Panther together. And it was a monumental moment that was actually ascension in the Nova Scotian Museum of Natural History on their 150th anniversary. And so they're going to bring it out for the 200th anniversary. So I gave them a ticket. There's a big picture of from the theater with all the 400 of us. Such an amazing moment. And so when I'm like 80, when they bring this back out, I go to the Nova Scotia Museum of Natural History and I see this picture of me, you know, year years ago. It's going to be crazy. Matt's going to be a good one. You know what?

SPEAKER_01 1:05:34

It'll be a historic for us too, because it was the one Marvel movie we all managed to get our wives to. That's why we all went as we took the couples, although, yeah, everybody wanted to go see it. And usually, like my Andrea doesn't care about Marvel movies, so I leave her alone. But she thought I wanted to look interesting. So I went and my partner went, Matt and his partner, Mark. We got a whole band of us going.

SPEAKER_00 1:05:56

And I heard they're working on one right now.

SPEAKER_01 1:05:58

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah, another big Marvel movie coming out. I'm excited for at the end of this year.

SPEAKER_00 1:06:02

I know.

SPEAKER_01 1:06:03

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 1:06:04

Yeah, the one that's coming at the end of the year. I've seen the I've seen the preview. I'm just ah losing. So we gotta wait all year for this.

SPEAKER_01 1:06:10

Well, yeah. Oh yeah. It's gonna be crazy. I hope, I hope it's as good. And it's the Russell brothers made it. They did Endgame and Infinity War, so I think they they actually introduced Black Panther with Civil War because that's the first movie he made his appearance in. I think they I think they gave him the best like intro ever. Like that movie was incredible. His introduction in Civil War was awesome, right? Like he he created that world, they created that world so perfectly and so quickly, and then it just made it perfect for movies to come. So kudos to the Russo brothers for making making that one first one happen, right? But okay, where are we?

SPEAKER_04 1:06:47

So question number six.

SPEAKER_01 1:06:48

Six over to you. Do you think a tomato should be classified as a fruit or vegetable?

SPEAKER_02 1:06:57

I'm getting lazy here.

SPEAKER_00 1:06:59

I think it should be classified as a as a vegetable.

unknown 1:07:02

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 1:07:03

Even. Yeah. I think it should be a vegetable, right?

SPEAKER_01 1:07:06

They call it a fruit, but it doesn't make any sense.

SPEAKER_00 1:07:08

I know. It makes no sense. I'm not slicing up, hey, you're gonna I'm not walking with a tomato around with you know eating it like an apple.

SPEAKER_04 1:07:18

Yeah. It's like fruit salad and kind of thing, right? So yeah.

SPEAKER_00 1:07:22

Yeah, it's you don't put that in fruit salad. Apples and stuff with a tomato. No.

SPEAKER_04 1:07:27

No.

SPEAKER_00 1:07:28

It's more of a vegetable.

SPEAKER_04 1:07:30

Yep, agreed. All right, question number seven. So speaking of classified, who is the most inspiring Nova Scotia artist to you?

SPEAKER_02 1:07:42

The most inspiring Nova Scotian artist. In the music world, or it could be someplace else if you want, man. Just um.

SPEAKER_00 1:07:58

You know, I love I love a lot of local artists that are, you know, here grinding. You know, there's Rainy Smith from my hometown, you know, Gary Beals, the Canadian Idol.

SPEAKER_05 1:08:10

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 1:08:15

I can't pick just one. Those guys, you know, classified himself. Quink Matthews, Pat Stay, I went to high school with and was a big battle rapper and, you know, just a great guy.

SPEAKER_04 1:08:28

Another guy we lost, the violence, right? Yes, exactly.

SPEAKER_00 1:08:32

So there's so many. I can't pick just one. You know, they all inspire me, you know, especially someone that grew up singing. They inspire me to, you know, work hard out at whatever I'm doing. And so, you know, Jordan, Croucher, you know, those people, they all, you know, inspire me to, to, you know, and they should inspire other people, you know, just to keep grinding. You know what I mean? Because it's hard to make it in the music industry. Um, especially coming out of Nova Scotia. So we we gotta push harder, and you know, we seen Classified and how far he went. And then Classified came back, and you know, Rhea May as well, another amazing artist, you know, just being able to come back and him to put other people on. So, you know, it's mad of respect and love to all Nova Scotia artists that are out there grinding.

SPEAKER_04 1:09:24

Yeah, yeah, all right. Question number eight over to you.

SPEAKER_01 1:09:29

Question number eight. Okay, we gotta we gotta hurry things up because it says I'm running out of storage space. Okay, okay.

SPEAKER_02 1:09:37

Favorite number eight. Favorite all-time meal. Steak and lobster. All right, okay.

SPEAKER_00 1:09:46

I can get down there or seafood platter, or rasta pasta, or ox tins and peas. It all I'm I I'm really it depends on my belief.

SPEAKER_01 1:10:00

All of the food would sound good to me.

SPEAKER_00 1:10:02

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 1:10:02

Question question number nine is tell us a place or even someone that you think about often.

SPEAKER_02 1:10:15

Place or someone that you think about often.

SPEAKER_00 1:10:18

My kids. Oh, okay. My son's 14, my daughter's three and a half. You know, they're on my mind every day.

SPEAKER_02 1:10:27

Great answer.

Building Trust Through Co‑Design

SPEAKER_00 1:10:28

I think that would be the the people, you know, I think most is is my kids. They're the life of me. Um those two. Okay.

SPEAKER_01 1:10:38

This question you gotta answer real quick here because we're running out of time. What's your credit card number?

SPEAKER_00 1:10:46

555-0006666.

SPEAKER_01 1:10:50

Thank you. Perfect. You're good at this game. All right. Matt, Matt, you got the last one, buddy. Last question.

SPEAKER_04 1:10:56

Last one, last call is what will you do this year to help others? I think I have an idea, but take it away.

SPEAKER_00 1:11:03

Basically, stop the balance day. You know, I'm gonna get out, we're gonna feed the homeless, we're gonna, you know, we're gonna spread more love. And I'm just gonna try and continue to be the best version of myself and be a role model for the youth and inspiring and motivating them to be the best version of themselves as well. And and Nova Scotians, you know, right? Maritimers, we're the best type of people when it comes to being kind and such, you know, nothing against the other parts of Canada, but you know, when you come to the East Coast, it's gonna be love. People are gonna be waving to you while you're driving. You're gonna be like, why is people waving, or why are people holding up the door? They didn't do this for me in Ontario. It's different here. But yeah, just trying to spread more love and be kind and be the best version of myself.

SPEAKER_01 1:11:48

We want to help you on June 10th. Please keep us honest on that. We're there for an afternoon point. Any and and anyone else in our little afternoon point gang, too. Please come come up.

SPEAKER_00 1:11:57

And I'll get you guys some t shirts for the put on.

SPEAKER_01 1:11:59

Sounds great. I love it. Yeah, thank you so much. This was an awesome conversation. Uh you, my friend, and that's it.

SPEAKER_06 1:12:07

Thank you. I'm pretty good, brother. All right.