N.S. Man Shares Tribute To Those Lost In Mass Shooting

James Dyson stood in the middle of his Dartmouth road last week, belting out ‘Amazing Grace’ on his bagpipes for all of his neighbors in isolation to hear.

Little did he know, days later that performance would become a touching tribute to those who lost their lives and all Nova Scotians affected by a mass shooting that took place over the weekend.

Dyson had been posting videos in a Facebook page dedicated to sharing musical performances during the COVID-19 pandemic for the last month, but as he was about to post his most recent performance he learned of the mass shooting that had happened on Sunday and knew this one needed to hit people a little different.

“I was talking with my girlfriend about the shooting and she mentioned it might be a good idea to post my Amazing Grace video to the kitchen party page now,” he said.

“I thought it was a great idea, because when I heard about what had happened, all those people lost, I just felt like I had to do… something.”

Dyson posted the video, and within the hour, the video went viral and began making its way across the province.

“I was absolutely blown away by the reception,” he said, “Within 10 minutes there was like 1,000 shares on it and now its sitting at over 20,000 shares. It feels really good that I was able to reach and touch that many people in this dark time.”

Dyson said music has always seemed to be a connection shared by all Nova Scotians whether or not they play an instrument or perform.

“Music carries an emotional element with it and is really rooted in Nova Scotia culture,” he said.

“So when you see all these people putting out musical tributes to those lost, it touches everyone different than a heartfelt message would.”

Like many Nova Scotians, Dyson said he was able to draw connections to some of those who lost their lives, including Const. Heidi Stevenson, whose husband was one of Dyson’s former high school teachers.

“I had many conversations with and knew Dean Stephenson quite well, my mom graduated school with him and my sister was also a student of his,” he said.

“So it was really quite emotional to think about that family, what they were going through that night and what they were going to be going through, especially with this pandemic happening.”

Dyson shares the same emotions and feelings of fear, sadness and anger as many Nova Scotians right now, and said the events that took place has harmed the ‘safe’ feeling the province once had.

“It’s quite uncomfortable and sad that something like this happened here,” he said.

“The fact that one of us, one of our people got to this point, and that all of these lives were lost so unnecessarily, I think we all as Nova Scotians take this personally.”