More on the threat to rural Nova Scotia’s public libraries. They’re free. They’re for everybody. They’re the lifeblood of many communities. And they are slowly being squeezed by governments that don’t understand their value. But wait, it’s election time! Maybe it’s time for a good chat with your local candidates.
After a successful community meeting in Dartmouth Nova Scotia ACORN is launching a province wide online survey on rental housing conditions and landlords. It needs the data to pressure municipalities on landlord licensing and the province on rent control.
We need writers. We have money to spend. What are you waiting for?
People on welfare will have an even harder time making ends meet in the upcoming year, thanks to a provincial budget that ignores their plight.
This weekend we feature a video about the Westray mine disaster, in recognition of Friday’s National Day of Mourning. But it’s two for the price of one, as I also editorialize about lessons seemingly never learned, and the godawful safety record of the company that is opening the Donkin mine in Cape Breton.
This year’s budget may be balanced, but the a small group of people on social assistance and their allies who gathered in front of Province House wondered at what cost. Protesters hoped to talk about poverty in Nova Scotia with MLAs entering the House to take part in this afternoon’s budget discussions. Demonstrators were studiously ignored by Liberal and Conservative MLAs, while NDP MLAs stopped to chat.
Shelburne activist Louise Delisle says Shelburne councillor Rick Davis should issue a real and public apology to the entire Black community in town, not just post some weasel words and a lot of self pity on her personal Facebook page. Meanwhile people elsewhere are speaking out in her support and other activities are being planned.
We talk with disability activist Gus Reed about (successfully) taking the NS Human Rights Commission to court, and why the Commission appears so reluctant to fight on behalf of people whose human rights have been breached. “I think there is a reluctance to take on tough issues that involve systemic problems. I also don’t think they like to take on the government,” says Reed.
The Nova Scotia Human Rights Commission is taking the lead in a narrow investigation into carding by Halifax police. An expert will be hired to determine if discrimination actually occurs. Meanwhile Black people will continue to be targeted.
Town of Shelburne councillor Rick Davis says African Nova Scotian residents worried about pollution from a town dump need to stop playing the race card. That dump was a good thing for Black residents, he suggests, “after all, “the reality is, that many black people relied on that dump for a living, because they, unlike many others I suppose, were the only ones that would deal with the removal of town trash.”