This weekend we feature a trailer for a movie written and directed by the wonderfully talented Cory Bowles. It’s about a Black cop who gets profiled while off duty. I really want to see it. Thing is, the movie isn’t quite done yet, and Bowles needs our help. So check it out, and, if you have a bit of money to spare, hurry on to the Indiegogo site to do your civic duty.
Ever since we found out about anti-Black bias in Halifax police street check practices the police department and municipal politicians have tried to make the issue go away. The hiring of an “expert” to determine whether there even is any bias at all is just the latest shameful example.
Homelessness, housing in bad repair and malnutrition can make you sick, both physically and mentally. Yet when we talk about healthcare we rarely talk about addressing root causes and mostly focus on things like wait lists and doctor shortages. Although tremendously important issues, we should not forget about these social determinants of health, says regular contributor Alex Kronstein.
Everything is harder when you’re poor and by yourself, and needing surgery, including eight weeks of rest to recover, often is a major source of stress. Who is going to go to the food bank for you? How about the laundry? And what about the loneliness? Kendall Worth reports on his meeting with a woman who is facing this scary scenario.
In a recent talk at a community meeting on welfare, Fiona Traynor, a community legal worker at Dalhousie Legal Aid raised the alarm about the state of income assistance in Nova Scotia. Cuts to allowances and an increase in poor bashing have her worried.
In that speech Traynor also called for a strategic push back against the Community Services welfare transformation initiative, something we are told will change the way income assistance is delivered, but that has otherwise been low on details. We talked with Traynor late last week to further explore these issues.
In April the Nova Scotia Human Rights Commission announced that it is hiring an expert to determine whether racial profiling explains why Black people are more than three times more likely to be street checked than white people. Because there could be other reasons, apparently. Well, that investigation is already behind schedule, that expert still needs to be hired, and the Fall is the new July.
Nine years since she first encountered gender discrimination at the NSLC Pearl Kelly is still waiting for closure. Although the Liquor Corporation fought her at every step, the Nova Scotia Human Rights Commission and the Court of Appeal both found in her favour. Now she is waiting for the chair of the Board of Inquiry to set a date for the hearing to determine damages. It’s taking a long time.
Beatrice Hunter is an Inuk land defender who refused to promise a judge that she would not engage in further protests at Muskrat Falls. Because of that refusal she is now incarcerated in an overpopulated men’s prison in St. John’s, more than 1,000 kilometers from home. Hunter said her decision to remain in prison and not comply with the order to stay away from Muskrat Falls is her way of resisting colonization in Labrador. Nova Scotia, via the Maritime Link, is among those colonizing powers.
The following is a statement by Solidarity Halifax, issued after election signs in North Preston were defaced by one or more racists. It was widely reported, but the journalists moved on, and until now no non-Black organization has condemned these despicable actions. Glad we have Solidarity Halifax to remind us that “we need to be mindful of what is happening right here in our backyards. We need to denounce outright expressions of hatred.”
Last night’s screening of Jackie Torrens’ terrific My Week on Welfare was a great success. Lots of people, and more importantly, lots of new faces. It is wonderful to witness people on welfare realize that yes, things are terrible, but there are others like them who aren’t going to take it anymore. We have lots of pictures, and the talk by regular contributor Tim Blades on being on welfare in general, and the extra struggles faced by single mothers who receive child support.