A coalition of environmental, indigenous and fishery organizations is worried that the Trudeau government will cave in to industry pressure and surrender federal powers of marine protection to the Nova Scotia Offshore Petroleum Board and its Newfoundland and Labrador counterpart. Petroleum Boards so reflect industry culture that it’s like setting the fox to guard the hen house, they say.
News release: Concerned social workers in Nova Scotia have launched a social media campaign to engage Nova Scotians and bring awareness to the significant stressors that the province’s child protective system is facing. “The current system is being stretched so thin and children are falling through the cracks. Child protection social workers continue to see high caseloads that are increasingly complex. This challenges the quality of case management and increases the risk to vulnerable children and families.”
The split between Unifor and the Canadian Labour Congress (CLC) raises questions about Unifor representation at the Nova Scotia Federation of Labour and the five local Labour Councils in the province. There are many reasons given for this split, and accusations of union raiding and catering to American-based unions are freely exchanged between the two sides. The focus of this story however is the confusion, turmoil and sometimes even anger that the breakup has caused within the Nova Scotia labour movement. And there’s lots of that.
In this updated story Ken Summers writes that when gas prices rise and if government were to cave in to the relentless pressures by the fracking industry they would be back drilling fracking wells in Kennetcook in a jiffy. Here is why, and what that would look like.
Kendall Worth on why income assistance rates should be raised not by a tiny bit but to a healthy amount like $2500 a month. “It is all about the fact that as much as any other human being people on income assistance have the right to a sense of social belonging,” he writes.
Announcing this Thursday’s founding meeting of Equity Watch, an organization that aims to keep employers like HRM and watch dogs like the NS Human Rights Commission honest.
Alex Kronstein reviews two board games rich people are bound to hate. He looks at Co-opoly, think Monopoly for people who rather cooperate than compete. Next he looks at Rise Up: The Game of People and Power, where the purpose is to build a social movement and beat an oppressive system. To cover the Nova Scotia angle for this review Alex also looks at Father Moses Coady of Antigonish, the founder of the cooperative movement and the main reason there are still so many co-ops of all sorts in Nova Scotia.
One of several very powerful moments at the Halifax Women’s March was Mi’kmaq woman, activist, and poet Rebecca Thomas’ performance of For all the women out there who were never believed. Here it is, re- published with her kind permission.
Former firefighter and justice fighter for ever Liane Tessier speaks at the Halifax Women’s March about her 12-year battle with HRM and the Nova Scotia Human Rights Commission. “For me, coming forward, speaking out, has been the sanest thing I have ever done in my life, no matter how many people try to shut me up. Remaining silent is guaranteed only to change nothing at all.”
Perhaps today’s rally at Tim Hortons in downtown Halifax, the second such rally this week, is a sign that a made-in-Nova Scotia $15 and Fairness campaign is finally gaining momentum. That’s certainly the intention of the organizers of today’s rally.