Lawson Roy’s Pinion on Syn-thetic Polymers, a poem by Nova Scotia poet Cory Lavender, is the third of eight poems we will publish during the remainder of the year, selected as a result of the call for poems we issued in May. The poem is in the voice of Lawson Roy, his lobster-fishing grandfather from Port Mouton.
Rana Zaman, on the lessons we must draw from latest sexual abuse cases within the Catholic Church. “My response – blame the predators, the higher ups and the institutions that protect these despicable abusers, but don’t blame the religion. The religion is not to blame for the vile acts of some of its practitioners.”
Judy Haiven spoke at today’s rally in support of the striking Community Justice Society workers. “The average pay of probation officers is $66,000 a year, while all RJ workers still earn only just over $37,000 a year. How can the McNeil government justify a 56% pay gap for similarly qualified professional workers?”
Kendall Worth: Wouldn’t it be great if Community Services were to support people on income assistance who want to exercise and get fit?
Poet and author Guyleigh Johnson on anxiety, depression, and being Black. ” I thought I was so strong, I could never break, until I reached my breaking point, and then I broke.”
I keep thinking we need a public enquiry into racism and bullying at the city’s workplaces. Council and city management had years to fix the widespread malaise. They were awful at it.
Danny Cavanagh: “One must consider the cost of keeping an individual incarcerated and the savings we see because of the work these six workers do every day. This program seems to be a win, win for everyone, everyone except the six workers who now have little choice but to stand up for what they believe in. These six workers just want a living wage and to be treated with respect and fairness. These six workers want the expanded restorative justice program to work.”
Day two of Community Services deputy minister’s testimony at the human rights enquiry: When it comes to community living, government inaction is the operative word, and that hasn’t substantially changed with the end of the so-called moratorium on small options homes. Individuals continue to languish in large institutions, and parents continue to worry about what will happen to their loved ones when they die.
Cape Breton Regional Police (CBRP) have charged eighteen men with communicating for the purpose of obtaining sexual services in Sydney, Cape Breton, the Chronicle Herald and the Cape Breton Post report. As usual, police is quoted extensively, and sex workers are never asked how they feel about it.
Community Services deputy minister Lynn Hartwell testified all day today at the human rights inquiry into the lack of community living options for people living with disabilities. We learned that very little has been accomplished since the department published its disability roadmap some four years ago. She’ll be back at it tomorrow, and so will the NS Advocate.