Premier Houston appointed an old white man to lead the department responsible for African Nova Scotian affairs and the office of Anti-Racism initiatives. A decision made is a direction. A decision steers and maneuvers future actions towards certain ports of call and leaves other harbours in its wake.
On Oct. 13 last year RCMP officers stood by as 200 people interfered with Mi’kmaw fisherfolk. That mob was 200 individuals that did not appear out of thin fog. They ate their supper, put on their coats and boots and no one stopped them at the door. Fathers didn’t stop their foolish sons. Mothers turned the other way and sisters nodded to get approval. Church leaders knew. Teachers knew. Neighbors turned on neighbors whose histories are still as tangled as the fishing twine of the sinking lobster traps.
After occupying a Lands and Forestry office in Halifax, and her subsequent arrest, Kathrin Winkler writes an open letter to Minister Chuck Porter, the man in charge.
Letter: There is an empty plate at this table and an honoured guest , a youth, has been left out in the cold and he is hungry for change. Jacob Fillmore’s name and cause and courage have flashed around the world. The world is listening and he has been heard and now it is your turn to invite him in, to listen and meet the challenge of climate change.
A rally on Monday Jan. 25 will target Raytheon, the US company whose bombs kill Yemeni children and civilians. The company has close ties with Halifax through its participation in the Canadian Navy modernization project. Kathrin Winkler explains the connection and asks some hard questions.
“Bomb carrying jet makers are clinking their glasses as they hope to bring the fighter jet ‘deal’ to IMP in Enfield, Nova Scotia,” writes Kathrin Winkler. But such fighter jets, armed to kill, are part of the arms dealing pandemic that we can no longer ignore.
Peace activist Kathrin Winkler spoke at Saturday’s rally against the Halifax International Security Forum at the Peace and Friendship Park in Halifax. “A climate of care cannot integrate the protection of our children with masks on the one hand and accept the bombing of children and hospitals on the other hand.”
Kathrin Winkler: “Why motor willingly to climate disaster? How is purchasing 130 diesel buses consistent with a climate emergency and evidence based decision making, that were declared unanimously by council?”
When it comes to buying 88 new fighter jets $19 billion is just a start, total life cycle costs are closer to $123 billion according to the Auditor General. Canada’s defense spending is projected to reach $32 billion by 2026, while the budget for environment and climate has flatlined around the $1 billion mark since 1997. You get what you pay for, writes Kathrin Winkler.
Kathrin Winkler reflects on a virtual-nation-wide Peace Camp in August 2020 hosted by Canadian Voice of Women for Peace. “I felt and saw how the feminist path continues to mean questioning everything because everything needs to be questioned,” she writes.