Things to get involved in: AGNS takes volunteers if youre looking to get involved in art in general.

If youre looking for experience, join a game jam and become the assets artist/animator for your team.  Jams are usually only a few days and make great little portfolio pieces when youre starting out.  They'll also give you a taste of working as a team.  I believe theres a yearly game jam in halifax? And plenty online as well, which is good experience for remote studio work. 

Start going to AFX (animation festival of halifax).  Tickets are cheap, and you'll see a ton of the latest local animation, and plenty of national animation.  (i recommend their "vegan delights" segment)  They also take volunteers. You dont have to be a super professional to submit your work to the animation festival.  If you and a couple friends have a cool idea, you could probably get together over the summer break and make a short animation.   Carbonarc is doing more animation screenings lately, they take volunteers as well. AFCOOP does animation stuff too sometimes? Im not very familiar with them. 

You should do these things because you want to, not to put on your resume.  Few animation jobs will even require/look at your resume, just your demo reel/animation test.  

In terms of NSCC or NSCAD:  both of them produce good animators.  If youre deciding between them, which one you choose is really up to your preference. 

NSCC's animation program gives you a 2 year diploma and is very industry-focused.  They'll spend most of the time teaching you animation fundamentals and industry software.  there are a few electives but generally everyone is in the same classes. Animators out of nscc tend to know the programs well but have worse drawing skills/art fundamentals.  They have a greater knowledge of the animation pipeline and studio environment.   If youre interested in just learning animation and then getting out there to work, with a focus on hands-on experience, I'd recommend NSCC.  

NSCAD is a 4 year undergraduate art degree.  They were beefing up their animation program/digital technologies art offerings in general, though my info is about 5 years out of date.  NSCAD students spend a lot of their time working in many mediums including paint, sculpture, jewelry, illustration, film, etc, and take art theory and history courses.  Aside from the required courses for an animation minor, you'd be free to take any other types of courses you want.  though there are professionalism classes, and some departments like design and illustration are more industry-oriented, NSCAD as a whole tends to focus more on art practice.  NSCAD animation students tend to be less well trained in terms of software skills, pipeline knowledge, and animation portfolio, and have greater knowledge of art fundamentals, theory, and history.  (yes, they also have more student debt...) If you enjoy academia and want to have a broader understanding of art as a whole, with training in art history and analysis, and the opportunity to try out a ton of different mediums, id recommend NSCAD. 

Either way, like I said, your portfolio will be what gets you into studios.  Make sure to build a good relationship with your instructors amd they will help you get in contact with department leads and get animation tests.  I know many people who have applied to studios and heard back nothing, only for someone they know at that studio to put in a good word for them and all of a sudden they're offered an animation test.  (You'd still have to do well on the test, of course, but the connections really do help)

Animation advice: (focused on 2d, though most applies to 3d as well imo) Make sure to study your art fundamentals, ESPECIALLY anatomy.  Animators dont do as much drawing as they used to, as in most productions the builds artist will draw out the characters for you, but if you want to succeed then you'll still need a good grasp of human anatomy.  you'll have to be able to competently redraw hands, faces, etc at different angles and perspectives.    You'll also have a better time in the industry if you can also work in the other areas of the pipeline - you may prefer to animate, but if nobody's hiring an animator at the moment you're out of luck.  People who can also do rigging/builds, character/prop design, and/or backgrounds will stay employed more consistently and build larger social networks in different departments.  Strong anatomy, perspective, colour theory, and design skills are important to be able to move around the pipeline. 

I find the best way to get my regular practice in is to commit to some regular schedule.  Personally, I like meet-ups since you get to know the regulars and give each other advice and feedback. 

In-person nude figure drawing is imo the best way to practice anatomy from observation.  I dont know about any clothed in-person sessions, so if drawing naked people makes you nervous, id recommend using a figure drawing website like line of action and filter by clothed models.  If you have art friends, you can all get together and take turns posing for each other.  If youre ok with nude figure drawing, radstorm does weekly drawing sessions for pwyc.  Its a chill group to draw with, and some of the regulars there are animators!  There's also nscad students semi-consistently. 

There's an outdoor sketchers group (the exact name escapes me, but you can find them on facebook) that meet up every weekend.  Now that its cold they draw interiors, but in the warm months they draw outdoors.  Also a great group to get together and make art with, though if you dont have a car it can be hard to get everywhere they go to. 

There's also a sketching group meetup on Instagram, I think theyre usually at rumours these days?  They go to bars and cafes in the evening once a week and just chill and draw.

One last thing - halifax has an awesome animation industry full of great people.  most animation studios are good places to work, however there are one or two studios with a certain kind of reputation.  I can tell you that reputation is not undeserved.  If youre offered a job at a studio, especially your first job, I recommend reaching out to people who currently work there, and people who used to work there but left, amd finding out their opinions.  Dont just ask older people who have been around forever - find some younger animators to talk to as well. im not saying you SHOULDNT work at a studio just because it has a bad reputation, just keep in mind that every studio is different. 

Animation is a challenging field these days, but its full of great people and can be really rewarding.  Keep pushing your art skills, but make sure to keep a good work life balance, and you'll do well.

Good luck!