Woman charged in racist incident on Halifax bus makes brief court appearance
Reporter Rebecca Hussman attended this morning’s court appearance of Stephanie Rogers, who allegedly made racist threats on and off a Halifax Transit bus last October.
The lack of health care for women in Nova Scotia prisons
Rebecca Hussman went to a talk by registered nurse and activist Martha Paynter about the shocking lack of health care for women in Nova Scotia prisons. Paynter dedicated her talk to two women who died while in Truro’s Nova Institution for Women in 2015: Veronica Park and Camille Strickland-Murphy. “… this is what happens when we inadequately care for people inside,” Paynter said.
High uranium content in water at Harrietsfield Elementary School has parents very worried
Uranium levels at the Harrietsfield Elementary School are seven times over the provincial guidelines, and kids aren’t supposed to drink tap water there. Understandably parents are very concerned. Rebecca Hussman, who has been covering the issue for the NS Advocate for years now, went to a public meeting to find out the latest. Scary stuff…
Drinking water fears confirmed at angry Harrietsfield community meeting
Rebecca Hussman reports on last night’s angry community meeting at Harrietsfield where a Dalhousie professor confirmed residents’ long time drinking water quality concerns and politicians once again refused to commit to clean up the mess they allowed to fester for so long.
The weakest link: panel tackles legal options against environmental racism in Nova Scotia
Reporter Rebecca Hussman braved last Tuesday’s snowstorm and attended a panel on environmental racism and the law. “The weakest link, they thought, is the African Nova Scotian and Mi’kmaq communities, so therefore we will locate anything and everything we’ve got to get rid of in and around those communities. We know they have no large incomes. We know their levels of education is lower. So let’s locate this dump over here…we don’t care.”
A small step, but a very important step — Judge gives go ahead to Harrietsfield private prosecution
Harrietsfield resident Marlene Brown decided to start a private prosecution of the polluters of her and her neighbors’ wells. A judge decided she has a case. This will be the first private prosecution to enforce environmental laws in Nova Scotia. Brown feels she had no choice, since the Department of Environment wasn’t enforcing its own ministerial orders.
Harrietsfield homeowners win in court, but drinking water concerns remain
Rebecca Hussman reports on the Harrietsfield homeowners who, after nearly eight years, have won the legal battles involving a contaminated recycling site in Harrietsfield. They are not celebrating yet. The companies responsible for the pollution have stopped court-mandated water monitoring, and residents are still waiting for water treatment systems that the province promised would be in place by February. The story includes a video that shows the devastating effects of the contamination.
“In our own community here, every moment of every day is consumed with the contaminated water, either when you go to have a shower, brush your teeth, whatever… It’s always there in the back of your mind, and it’s very frustrating.”
Beyond belief: Empowering sexual assault survivors
Reporter Rebecca Hussman with the second part of her series on sexual assaults in Nova Scotia. “There’s a whole societal change that needs to happen for victims to feel believed and supported enough to be able to report that to police.”
Beyond belief: numbers of unfounded sexual assault cases inconsistent across Nova Scotia
According to data gathered by journalists at the Globe and Mail, of all cases in the country, 12% of sexual assault cases were cleared as unfounded from 2010 to 2014. In Nova Scotia, in contrast, 25% of sexual assault cases were cleared as unfounded. The “Unfounded” classification means that police determined that the reported violation did not happen. Reporter Rebecca Hussman talks with the chiefs of police of the Truro, Amherst and Bridgewater detachments where the number of unfounded cases is exceptionally high. And we compiled a list with data from all police detachments in Nova Scotia.
“They were lights.” Walking With Our Sisters memorial visits Halifax
New NS Advocate reporter Rebecca Hussman attended the opening of the Walking With Our Sisters memorial at the Mount Saint Vincent Art Gallery. “They were lights, even if their life circumstances were such, and there’s disregard for these women. But in there, that’s taken away, and they’re together, and the light shines there.”