Our featured poet this month is Annick MacAskill, an amazing poet. Her poem November 11 is one of nine poems selected as a result of a call for poems we issued in May. I love how this poem ends, so fiery and colourful. I am also featuring a monoprint by Nova Scotia printmaker / artist Bonnie Baker. I thought Bonnie’s piece goes well with the poem.
Teachers Union president Paul Wozney is not impressed with the first meeting of the government-appointed Provincial Advisory Council on Education (PACE). Presented as somewhat of a a replacement for disbanded school boards, it turns out PACE’s ‘meetings will not be public, and based on the sparse minutes of its first meeting the government intends to limit any actual influence the group can have on its decision making process and sweeping power over public schools.
A Nova Scotia Human Rights enquiry reached a crucial stage last Wednesday after closing statements were delivered by the Province of Nova Scotia, the respondent in the case. If the enquiry chair finds that the way government deals with housing needs of people with disabilities is indeed discriminatory, then, and only then, will there be a second phase, to determine to what extent the Province must make changes in its policies and activities.
A couple of years old, but excellent and well worth the read, here is a manifesto of sorts on climate change submitted by the Nova Scotia Federation of Labour to to the Minister of Environment and Climate Change, Catherine McKenna.
We have seen seven accidents where cars hit pedestrians since last Friday, two of those incidents happened on well-mrked crosswalks. “How important is making sure pedestrians are fully protected at crosswalks versus the need for traffic flow? My view is that improving or maintaining traffic flow at any location is not worth a single life-affecting injury or death. When a friend or family member is hit and is injured, that priority becomes very clear,” writes Martyn Williams.
Erica Lewis documents the minuscule increases in shelter and living allowance that she received since she first went on income assistance in 1990, and writes about a sleigh of hand by Community Services that made $28 disappear.
PSA: The Fondation Fabienne Colas Foundation is launching a call for applications for its program “Youth and Diversity”, in collaboration with the Halifax Black Film Festival – HBFF !
Judy Haiven attended a talk by Mi’kmaq lawyer and activist Pam Palmater on the topic of reconciliation. “We are running to do ‘good stuff’ but we haven’t done the hard stuff,” she told the audience.
Kendall Worth catches up with a young woman who lives in Beaver Bank and finds out how the bus pass has improved her life.
He stood up straighter. In a patronizing tone he told me, “I think I know the law. I just have to pay them double time for today…” On her Remembrance Day trip to the Annapolis Valley Judy Haiven explains the law to workers and bosses. Many employees are entitled to a day off with pay, but employers don’t know that, she finds. This is an updated version of a story originally published on November 13, 2017.