Pamela Lovelace writes on the elimination of school boards. “The long, sordid history of racism and sexism in Nova Scotia continues to simmer with this oppressive decision. Women and African Nova Scotians will no longer have a seat at the local decision-making table.”
Kendall Worth is a tireless anti-poverty activist who lives with disabilities and tries to make ends meet on income assistance. This is the speech he delivered yesterday afternoon on the occasion of the Nova Scotia Rise Up rally at Province House.
Suzy Hansen, District 5 representative on the Halifax Regional School Board, speaks at today’s Province House rally about the lack of consultation with the Black community, and the loss of important African Nova Scotian voices, while the government pursues the Glaze Report recommendations. “It’s challenging enough for African Nova Scotians to run for politics, the obliteration of an entire level of electoral representation without consultation with the communities they serve demonstrates the government no longer wants their voices included in discussions about them.”
Nova Scotians Rise! is a topical poem by El Jones , written on the occasion of today’s Nova Scotians Rise Up! rally. Read El’s take on doctors’ shortages, nurses’ walkouts, the Glaze report, Abdoul Abdi, Alton Gas, poverty, union busting, and much more.
The Nova Scotia College of Social Workers in this news release adds its voice to those opposed to the Glaze Report recommendations.
“Our province consistently fails to truly understand the structural issues that impact child and youth welfare. Nova Scotian children and youth education is profoundly impacted by stressors including income and food insecurity, colonial and racial biases, and our failure to understand trauma.”
With all the talk about the impact of the Glaze Report on teachers it’s easy to forget about the elimination of school boards. “Damn right the teachers should strike — what else will wake up this neo-liberal and nasty government,” writes Judy Haiven.
Delilah Saunders writes about the pain and emotional labour involved in speaking in public about her murdered sister Loretta and other missing and murdered indigenous women and girls. “My problem lies with the for-profit multi-billion-dollar industries/universities that penny pinch when a speaker provides expertise when their pricey textbooks fail to do so.”
Cindy Littlefair, Halifax Regional School Board member for district 4, reflects on the Glaze Report and how board members should respond. “I suppose if I was a good board member, a dutiful board member, I would “go quietly into that good night,” the night described by the newly adopted Glaze recommendations. For that matter, I would also do as required of me by my duly assigned board member role and responsibilities. I would not resist.”
Judy Haiven looks at the similarities between the Gerald Stanley and Raymond Cormier trials. “In each case, a white middle-aged man thinks nothing of ‘getting rid’ of his “problem” by committing a crime. Both victims were poor and Indigenous, from First Nations’ reserves. If an Indigenous person is murdered, it seems the benefit of the doubt goes to the white guy.”
“In the words of Martin Luther King: “One has not only a legal but a moral responsibility to obey just laws. Conversely, one has a moral responsibility to disobey unjust laws.” Nova Scotia Parents for Public Education on the the Glaze Report.