News release: The Campaign to Protect Offshore Nova Scotia (CPONS) calls for an open public meeting with media present so all Nova Scotians can hear clearly from the Canada Nova Scotia Offshore Petroleum Board (CNSOPB) the rationale behind their project review and licensing process.

Another day at the NS Human Rights Enquiry into the lack of supportive housing for people with disabilities. We learned that people conditionally discharged from the East Coast Forensic Hospital can’t leave because Community Services cannot provide them with the supportive housing options that they require. Waits can be longer than six years, averages are around 840 days.

This weekend’s weekend video is Etlinisigu’niet (Bleed Down), by Mi’kmaq filmmaker Jeff Barnaby. its theme is the violent destruction of indigenous identity in Canada by white settler culture. It’s quite terrifying to watch.

Oral speech may not be the best method of communication for the non-speaking autistic, writes Alex Kronstein. “Mainstream autism organizations are unwilling to admit that they are choosing to ignore non-speaking autistics.  Non-speaking autistics have always been around, just like autistics who do use oral speech. And everyone – the medical and psychological professionals, the non-autistic parents, the mainstream media – needs to STOP pathologizing non-speaking autistics and using functioning labels.”

Picture yourself as a poor person, 125 years ago in Nova Scotia. Brenda Thompson, author of a wonderful book on poor houses in Nova Scotia, on what it would take to be accepted in a poor house, a place so horrible it would always be your last resort.