When late night television gets political, it usually doesn’t come with a Halifax connection. Tonight, it does.

Sarah McLachlan, born here in 1968 and raised in Halifax, is the featured musical guest on Jimmy Kimmel Live as the show makes its high-profile return. It’s a moment that ties our city into one of the biggest conversations in North American pop culture.

McLachlan’s story is deeply rooted here. She studied classical guitar, piano, and voice at the Maritime Conservatory of Performing Arts, then fronted a local teen band called October Game. It was in Halifax that Vancouver-based Nettwerk Records first discovered her, though they made her finish high school before she left the city to record her debut. Those early years gave her the foundation that would lead to international success, Grammy wins, and global tours.

Her appearance tonight comes only weeks after she joined other artists in protesting Disney’s suspension of Kimmel’s show, pulling out of a planned performance at the premiere of her Lilith Fair: Building a Mystery documentary. That stance was about free speech. Her decision to take the stage now shows she’s ready to bring her music back to a platform that millions will be watching.

For Haligonians, it’s another reminder of how far a homegrown artist can go. Every time she returns for concerts at the Scotiabank Centre or the Rebecca Cohn Auditorium, she brings her career full circle, back to the place where it began. And every time she performs on a global broadcast, it’s a little piece of this city in the spotlight.

So when you see her under the studio lights in Los Angeles tonight, remember: that voice started here. And it’s still ours to cheer for.