KJIPUKTUK (Halifax) 2017 has been a truly amazing year for the Nova Scotia Advocate. Our readership more than doubled compared to 2016, we published over 400 articles, and many new financial supporters joined to help us out this year. Thank you, readers and kind-hearted sustainers, we’re so grateful, where would we be without you?
We’re also pleased that so many new contributors have written for us this year. We count 49 of them, many of them published more than one story. Some of these contributors just want to get their message out, others we pay. That’s where our sustainers come in, we paid freelancers about $6,000 this year. And by the way, here is how to pitch a story to us.
Here are our top ten most popular stories for 2017. Showing once again that this is no longer a one-person website, four of these stories were written by somebody other than me, five if you count that one we pulled (not because it was incorrect but because of scary lawyer stuff).
1 – Where the poor people live. Stats Canada puts poverty on the map
2 – Know your rights. More on bosses breaking the law on Remembrance Day, by Judy Haiven
3 – This post has been removed That’s right, we got a threatening letter from a lawyer! Click on the link and follow the trail.
4 – Nova Scotia MLAs challenged to try living on a welfare budget
5 – Social Assistance dispute may close Lower Sackville safe place for LGBTQIA+ youth
6 – Town of Shelburne councillor throws Facebook tantrum after Black residents raise pollution fears
7 – History of Halifax, a Mi’kmaw perspective, by Michael McDonald
8 – Community strikes back after transphobic attack on Venus Envy, by Lara Lewis
9 – Fraud charges by Community Services leave former welfare recipient terrified, by Brenda Thompson
10 – There is always someone crying. Former child welfare worker charges caseload too high
If you can, please support the Nova Scotia Advocate so that it can continue to cover issues such as poverty, racism, exclusion, workers’ rights and the environment in Nova Scotia. A pay wall is not an option, since it would exclude many readers who don’t have any disposable income at all. We rely entirely on one-time donations and a tiny but mighty group of dedicated monthly sustainers.
