This month’ excellent poem is Rock, by eco-poet, writer and theater artist Elizabeth Glenn-Copeland. It was written as part of a residency at the Joggins Fossil Institute in Parrsboro.

Today, Saturday, June 26 at 5pm, an Emergency Rally for Palestine is being held. At Halifax’s Grand Parade Square, Free Palestine Halifax and activists will be calling on the media in Halifax to commit to fair coverage of Palestine and the federal government of Canada to stop selling weapons that are being used to harm and kill Palestinian civilians. We call for the right to self determination, and the right to sovereign rights in a supposed democratic state.

Media release: Members of the Public Service Alliance of Canada employed by Harbour House, a transition house that provides temporary housing for women and their children who are victim of abuse, reached impasse while trying to bargain a new collective agreement. The employee’s collective agreement expired on September 30, 2019 and they could begin strike action in the coming weeks.

“Queer and trans youth understand that reporting sexualized violence is not a safe option for them because they feel, and rightfully so, that they will not be believed and that their cases will not be understood within the current legal system.” Carmel Farahbakhsh of the Youth Project addresses the Subcommittee to Define Defunding the Police.

Martha Paynter in her submission to the Define Defunding the Police working group on behalf of Wellness Within: “Defunding requires changing how we think about security. It means removing these responsibilities from police and returning them to government and community resources offered by individuals trained in supporting our most vulnerable. Defunding should respond to the needs of the community and could look like support for local safe injection sites, sobering centres, restorative justice programs, and mental health crisis teams.”

Yesterday afternoon Dr. Jamie Livingston presented to the members of the Subcommittee to Define Defunding the Police. ” I believe that the majority of crisis calls in Halifax can and should be diverted to non-police-involved teams, ideally led by trained peer support workers since health professionals possess coercive powers that may replicate police-like approaches.”