Lisa CAmeron: Workplace infections have been the primary cause of COVID-19 outbreaks in hard-hit areas across Canada, yet 46 percent of Nova Scotian workers lack guaranteed access to paid sick leave; a benefit proven to help prevent the spread of illnesses and keep the public safe.
News release: As the city council meets to discuss its strategy for engaging unhoused community members in the aftermath of last week’s mass evictions, P.A.D.S. Community Network is calling on the city to cease all removals of people living in parks.
True allies always take ownership of their own shortcomings and give 100% to overcome their biased privileged background while letting their actions speak.
Jackie Barkley: I’m no housing expert or planner, but I think we need our government to keep rent control, to be flooding the market with co-operatives, well-designed public housing, bridge financing for co-housing projects, and a requirement for all new apartment and condos to have a large percentage of set aside units at prices pegged to the minimum wage — and that’s starting now.
Danny Cavanagh: “Oh, how we forget. Mr. Erin O’Toole is no friend of workers or families. Now that there is an election, he is pretending he cares about workers’ pensions and other issues to get our votes. As Dr. Phil would say, the best predictor of future behaviour is past behaviour.”
Kendall Worth: People in my community are concerned about this new government. “What is this new government going to do for people living in poverty and for people receiving social assistance,” they ask.
Angela Giles reflects on the results of last week’s provincial election, and what it tells us about the need for electoral reform, and most importantly, the task at hand. “We need to hold Premier-elect Tim Houston and his party’s feet to the fire on issues like health care and climate. Organize in your communities and be ready to fight against any proposal to privatize health care.”
The forceful eviction of homeless people in Halifax isn’t the only occurrence of violent policing in Nova Scotia at this time, but if it wasn’t for the journalism of Angel Moore of APTN we would never know it. Yesterday Moore reported how Mi’kmaw lobster harvesters were arrested and had their boat seized by fisheries officers on unceded and stolen territory of the Mi’kmaq Nation.
Martyn Williams: “By initiating violence against a protesting but unprotected crowd in a public area, police did not acknowledge their responsibility to ensure events didn’t escalate harmfully in a way that ultimately endangered everyone in this central pedestrian area including children, seniors and people with disabilities.”
Media release: P.A.D.S. Community Network is a group of unhoused people, community members, and volunteers sharing space at Chebucto and Dublin Streets (at the space formerly known as Meagher Park now renamed People’s Park).