Our series ‘Lives on Welfare’ continues. Here Joe, one the most gentle and soft spoken people I know, talks about becoming the target of a verbal attack by a Community Services employee. Being treated disrespectfully by Community Services staff and feeling powerless as a result is another common theme in the stories people on welfare tell.

There will be a large rally for diversity in the Town of Amherst tomorrow. George Baker, the racist councillor who used the ‘n’-word will not be the focus of the rally, but his behaviour definitely was a wake-up call.