Meet Joanne (not her real name). Joanne lives in a mid-sized town somewhere in rural Nova Scotia with her three kids, two boys and one girl. Her teenage son has intellectual disabilities and requires special care. Several years ago she fled an abusive relationship and she has not yet been able to resume a public live, something most of us take for granted. She is on Income Assistance. “I am poor,” she says, “but I budget well.”
“To have a roof over your head and to not go hungry are fundamental human rights,” NDP leader Gary Burrill told the Nova Scotia Advocate to explain the party’s proposed amendments to the Human Rights Act. Lawyer Claire McNeil tells us why this would be a very significant change, and one that is long overdue.
October 17 is International Day for the Eradication of Poverty and a group of people living in poverty and their friends descended on City Hall. The Mayor was in…
“What do I miss most about the place? The fun and the beauty. It used to be a very beautiful place,” says elder Molly Denny of Pictou Landing First Nation. Boat Harbour, or A’sek, Mi’kmaq for the other room, is a documentary about the transformation of Boat Harbour from a beautiful body of water, great for swimming, fishing and hunting, to a poisoned dumping ground for first Scott Paper, and now Northern Pulp.
Once in a while the Nova Scotia Advocate likes to remind its readers that the Muskrat Falls development, of which Nova Scotia is a major beneficiary, is destroying the traditional ways of indigenous peoples and other marginalized people.
Some ordinary people fighting environmental hazards in their backyards, and a bunch of students as well, showed up at the start of the fall session at Province House, and they aren’t very happy with the Liberal government.
ACORN Nova Scotia asked municipal candidates in North End Halifax, Dartmouth East, Dartmouth Centre and Spryfield where they stand on issues that matter to people who live in poverty. Things like affordable housing, slum landlords, and pay day loan sharks. Here are their responses.
Matthew Meisner, a young man who spent the last 12 years at a locked down unit within the Nova Scotia Hospital, recently had a pillowcase placed over his head by staff, his mother says. This is only the latest in a series of staff abuse complaints involving Matthew, as the Nova Scotia Advocate reported in March of this year.
Just about a year ago Mi’kmaw hunters at the Cape Breton Highlands National Park were confronted by angry protesters referring to “irresponsible indians slaughtering the entire moose population.” This weekend’s video tells a very different story.
Last week we reported that Mainline Needle Exchange in Halifax is facing a budget crunch, this week the news is that its Cape Breton counterpart may well close its doors early next year because the federal government is no longer funding the organization. Time for the province to step up to the plate.