Legal arguments in the appeal of a Nova Scotia human rights board decision about the institutionalization of people with physical or intellectual disabilities continued today. Intervenors in the case argued that the systemic nature of the discrimination must be acknowledged. There is no discrimination, lawyer Kevin Kindred countered for the province.
A Nova Scotia Human Rights Board of Inquiry was wrong when it denied the systemic causes underlying the institutionalization of people with disabilities in Nova Scotia. It was also wrong in how it determined the damages it awarded to three individual complainants. That, in a nutshell, is the case against the province being argued in front of Nova Scotia Court of Appeal judges today and tomorrow. This is what happened on day one.
After days of pressure from the African Nova Scotian community the Chronicle Herald made some changes to its story on boxer Jaye Byard . The story contained many anti-Black stereotypes.
“”Not all these characters are nice people, but they’re all going through interesting things, and so I just want to see the world through their eyes. It often leaves me with a different point of view on things, or a different way of thinking.” An interview with Chris Benjamin about his excellent short stories collection A Boy With a Problem.
Designating the Ingram River Wilderness Area near St. Margaret’s Bay will protect some of the most pristine publicly owned forests and waterways from logging and industrial activities. The process has reached a stage where the province is looking for public input. It’s important that we show the politicians we care, Helga Guderley, a member of the St. Margaret’s Bay Stewardship Association tells me.
Honouring all victims of war anywhere – not excluding the military, but very much including civilians, women, children, refugees, hospital workers, animals, and the environment – members of the Nova Scotia Voice of Women for Peace placed a wreath of white poppies at the Grand Parade cenotaph in Halifax this afternoon.
Easily 400 people gathered at the Grand Parade in downtown Halifax to listen to speeches and march on Province House, demanding that the Liberal government enact rent control. That so many people took time out from an exceptionally warm and sunny Saturday to show their support for rent control suggests how urgent the situation has become.
APTN reports, in a story by Angel Moore, how a Halifax university professor wrote an article in which he rages against support in place for Mi’kmaw students at his university. In the article the professor clearly crosses an ethical boundary by writing about one such student in an identifiable way.
“This lady was given a $600 a month increase to her rent. Now I don’t know all the details, but I imagine she’s another renoviction victim. She’s also a single mother.” A shortage of good quality affordable housing has been an urgent problem in towns like Antigonish long before it reached its current peak here in the city of Halifax.
Book review; The True Cost of Coal is a beautiful little book that helps children of all ages explore the devastation of the Appalachian landscape by exploitative coal mining practices.